Dana Hope, administrative secretary for the dean of the School of Natural Sciences, likes to think of herself as a clearing house in her department. Hope said concerns filter through her in the School of Natural Sciences so the dean can do his job more efficiently. On a normal day, this means taking care of writing contracts for the adjunct faculty of the Natural Sciences and acting as office administrator to make sure everything is running smoothly.

Students and faculty know Ken Atkins as the office administrator for the Music and Theatre Departments; however, they might not know that behind his administrative work ethic is the creativity to compose music and years of experience in the music publishing business. Before touching the adjunct professor payroll for the theatre and music departments, even before he attended college, Atkins was composing and arranging pieces of music for various classical ensembles. “The first piece I arranged [for orchestra] was the theme from Star Wars,” Atkins said, with a chuckle. “Back when I was in seventh or eighth grade, the orchestra from Scribner [Middle School] performed it.”

Mariana Farah, director of choral activities, said she wanted to sing from the time she was a child. “When I was about five or six I told my parents that I wanted to sing,” Farah said. “My parents aren’t musicians, so it was kind of awkward for them to know what to do with me.” Farah is a Brazilian native and said public schools in Brazil do not offer music programs there, so her parents placed her into a conservatory of music.