April 14, 2020
Nisreen Singharaj, who serves as assistant director for the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics (ASE/EM), is one of thirty staff members at The University of Texas at Austin selected to receive a 2020 President’s Outstanding Staff Award. The Outstanding Staff Awards Program recognizes non-teaching UT Austin employees who have made outstanding contributions to the continuing success of the university. Recipients receive certificates and an honorarium of $1,500.
Singharaj began her career at UT Austin in 2006 where she worked in the Accounting Office at the Division of Recreational Sports processing accounts payable/receivable, purchasing and payroll. Following that position, she moved to the Business Office at the Jackson School of Geosciences where she managed finances for the Department of Geological Sciences. She joined the ASE/EM Department in her current role in January 2017 where she oversees department finances, human resources, staff affairs and day-to-day operations. Her role also includes also assisting with faculty affairs including promotion and tenure, recruiting, reviews and awards.
Singharaj answered some questions about what it’s like working in her current role in ASE/EM, including some details about how she’s managing since the COVID-19 pandemic has required most UT staff to work from home.
What do you find most rewarding about your position in ASE/EM?
The people I work with are wonderful—we’re very much like a family and we all have to strive to be the best we can be. The people are the heart and soul of the department and if we’re successful, the department is successful. I also love how the position is so broad—one day I’m creating budgets and the next I’m working on the building renovation!
What do you find most challenging about this position?
The most challenging thing about this position is that each day is never the same. The position encompasses such a wide range of duties that I can either spend all day working on one large project, another day working on multiple small projects, and another day putting out fires—sometimes without tackling anything on my to-do list. But it’s a challenge I thrive in—I don’t know what I’d do if each day were the same!
The most challenging time since I’ve been at ASE/EM was in the fall of 2018. Our new building renovation, ASE, was near completion and we were starting to move our labs out of WRW. At the same time, the university implemented Workday, our new HR system. Managing those two major projects was a massive undertaking but I felt like I learned so much from that experience that I’ll carry with me for the rest of my career.
How did you feel when you learned you were selected to receive a President’s Outstanding Staff Award?
I felt incredibly happy and very proud. It’s a wonderful feeling knowing that your efforts have been recognized.
The current COVID-19 pandemic has forced many changes to how UT Austin staff operate, with most staff now working from home. How has it changed the way you do your job? How do you juggle the day-to-day of working from home alongside family?
The shelter in place orders brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic has really changed how we think about remote work and how we utilize telecommuting. It’s no longer a temporary, Monday through Friday, 8am-5pm job. We have to balance our home lives, including our children and their homeschooling needs, with our own work needs. I find myself scheduling my Zoom meetings around my kid’s Zoom meetings, and modifying my work schedule so that I can still be a mom, too. Plus, they’ve also made an appearance or two in my work meetings. The balance between remote work and being with my family is a work in progress; we’re still trying to figure out what our new normal is. Aside from managing time, it’s also managing emotions.
What do you look forward to most when we can all return to working on campus?
I look forward to seeing everyone again, from the staff to faculty to students. We all work so well together and our ideas feed off one another. It’s also much easier to have a thoughtful conversation in person; there are so many non-verbal cues that are easy to miss out on when we’re meeting virtually.
Singharaj holds a B.S. in communications from UT Austin and is also a recipient of the 2019 Cockrell School of Engineering Staff Excellence Award.
