Tam: I enjoy introducing people to resources at MIT that they did not know existed. Sometimes there is a travel hiccup for a faculty member, and I get them on the next flight. If a catering order does not show up for an event, I check which preferred vendor has availability to come up with bagged lunches on a tight deadline. I'm here to answer questions that make my colleagues’ travel and events as seamless as possible. I want the community to know that I am here to be a resource. It's a little-known fact that the VPF website is a great tool available to the community that has every possible piece of information not just for travel planning and hospitality, but for expense reports, budget planning, and more.
Q: What do you like the most about the people at MIT?
Tam: I am a member of the strategic sourcing and contracts team, and everyone is so friendly. When we come together on in-office days it feels like a family. Our Vice President of Finance Katie Hammer is approachable and will ask, “How was your weekend? How are your kids?” I can walk to her office and ask a question, which is nice and probably different from other universities where you might hear about your VP but you could never ask them a question directly or say hello.
I also love that at MIT you might not initially know the accomplishments of the person you are working with. I have been talking to Professor Tod Machover, who is a composer, and it turns out that the popular video games “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” grew out of Machover’s group at the Media Lab — something that never came up in our work conversations. My first year at MIT I had to reach out to Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who is the inventor of the World Wide Web. You never know who you’re going to meet or talk to.
Q: What advice would you give to a new staff member at MIT?
Tam: Try and meet the people you will work with in person, even if your job is hybrid. This is my first job in higher education, and I had heard that working at a university can feel like you work in a silo. In hospitality I learned that a five- or 10-minute conversation goes a long way, even if it is just to say, “I’m Jessica, I’m in this role, and I look forward to working with you.” When I first started, I found a list of departments and people that I knew I would be working with and visited their offices to introduce myself and have a brief conversation. Meeting in person gives you a good understanding of how people communicate.
