Jill Pasewark, Academic Affairs and Programs Administrator
What I Do
I oversee course planning and scheduling for the department and support the Academic Affairs Committee as they decide what is being taught in the department quarter to quarter and year to year. Working with faculty in this capacity to help ensure that the department offerings are cohesive is always dynamic; the longer I’m here, the better I understand patterns in areas like enrollment and subject area interest, which helps me to better support and advise the committee. I also hire the Teaching Fellows, CAs, and graders for the department, and work with the Grad TA to host workshops each quarter for the CAs. During the summer, I oversee our Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program; I don’t interact much with EE research or undergraduates during the academic year, so I value being able to work with both through the REU program.
Origins
I’m from a small town in south-central Pennsylvania, a place with great antique malls that’s intersected by the Appalachian Trail, and I moved around quite a bit before landing in CA. My sophomore year of high school I lived with a host family outside of Lille, France, and I took a gap year before college, half of which I spent waitressing in my hometown and the other half of which I spent as a teaching assistant in Rabat, Morocco. After that, I moved to New York to go to Barnard College, where I studied Medical Humanities; a few days post-graduation, I drove to Whitefish, Montana with one of my closest friends from college to work in a reproductive healthcare clinic. I had been on a pre-med track in college, and as much as I enjoyed my work at the clinic, it helped me realize that I didn’t have the same passion for the medical field as I did when I started school. I worked in the Dean’s Office throughout undergrad and had a great experience doing so — it’s fulfilling to be able to understand and contribute to the gears that facilitate learning and research. When I moved to San Francisco to be closer to friends and family in the area, I knew I wanted to go back into higher education.
My EExperience
I’ve learned a lot in this role, and I’m fortunate to have so many colleagues who are consistently collaborative and supportive. There’s a lot of camaraderie on my team and in the department in general, and our work is better for it. By nature, I’m always looking for ways to streamline systems or introduce new means of efficiency into established processes, and being in this role has taught me a lot about when traditional procedures work best and when new practices are necessary. Balancing legacy with innovation is also a part of the EE industry, and it makes sense to see that pattern reflected in the academic setting that serves a precursor to the larger field of EE.
Outside of Work
I spend a lot of time reading, most recently Colson Whitehead’s Crook Manifesto, and I love so many contemporary fiction writers — Miranda July, Sheila Heti, Ling Ma, Jon Fosse, etc. Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of movies in theaters, but anytime and anyplace I can watch a movie, I’m content; one of my all-time favorites is The Great Beauty, but most recently I saw A Room with a View for the first time and couldn’t stop laughing, until the end, when I cried. What a rollercoaster. I run most mornings and cook most evenings, my favorite bookends to any day. Generally, I’m happy doing anything in San Francisco with my friends — there are so many good movie theaters, music venues, museums, places to eat, dance, etc. I also love vintage and antique shopping, but only when I’m back in PA, where all the best finds are.
Favorite Spot
I love walking in the arboretum, but Andrew Goldsworthy’s Stone River might be my favorite part of campus. The sculpture itself is incredible, but the plaque makes it even better. I won’t spoil all the details, but essentially, a team of English builders put the sculpture together out of rock salvaged from the ’06 and ’89 earthquakes for weeks on end. In the valley around them, all these monumental events were happening or had recently happened; the dot-com bubble had burst, and the first iPod was about to be introduced. There’s a bit of man vs machine tension in it, which I find myself thinking about often on this campus. How could I not – there are literally robots learning to do laundry underneath my office! Off campus, I’m lucky enough to live near Golden Gate Park, and I spend as much time there as I can. Less locally, Glacier National Park is one of my favorite places, and I would love to live close to it again someday.
Being cool with the balance of legacy and innovation.