Welcome to the #DragonFamily: Adam Szalacinski

Meet MSUM’s new area director for Snarr Complex, Adam Szalacinski. He is looking forward to interacting with students and supporting the Resident Assistants, Dragon Mentors and Learning Community leaders any way he can!

Start date: Jan. 2, 2020

Q: What drew you to MSUM?
A: I was in New York the last year and a half and wanted to get back to the Midwest, and I happened to see MSUM had an opening. I started going through the website and seeing everything MSUM listed as values and as resources for students. I talked to friends who have worked in the Minnesota system and everyone had good things to say about MSUM. Everyone I interacted with reaffirmed everything that was said and that was on the website.

Q: What unique experience or skills do you bring to MSUM?
A: My first role out of graduate school was a transfer retention specialist for UW Lacrosse in multicultural student services. I bring a lot of experience working in diversity, equity, inclusion, financial aid, and academic advising.

Q: What energizes you at work?
A: The students energize me! It’s great to get here in the morning and see cheery students at the desk setting the mood for the day. They’re checking in throughout the day, and I know I can always take a little break to interact with them.   

Q: If you could trade places with anyone for a day who would it be and why?
A: I would trade places with someone working on the Kenobi mini-series coming to Disney Plus. I’m a sucker for Ewan McGregor and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Q: Where is your favorite place you’ve visited and why?
A: My favorite place was Turkey. I split the trip up and spent half of it with a long-time pen pal and the other half with a friend from college. It was a trip where I said yes to everything. We had an all-out experience throughout the whole country. We woke up at four in the morning one day to take hot air balloons over the desert in the middle of winter.

Welcome to the #DragonFamily, Adam!