Jules Ash, coordinator, Department of Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, is a firm believer that everyone should fully own their position. 

For her, this could mean creating guides with specific instructions for different University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) systems, such as the travel system Concur. Or it could mean taking on the roles of other staff members when there are vacancies or absences in the department. 

“We’re here to help everybody. Part of the admin position is to handle whatever happens,” Ash said. “And then that way, the more you learn, the better you are for the next time.”

On March 26, Ash was surprised by UMB President Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS, with the news that she was named the University’s March Employee of the Month. Joining Jarrell on the videoconference were Ash’s supervisor, Judith Edelman, MA, administrator, and department chairman, Asaf Keller, PhD.

“You have some very impressive accomplishments. It’s a great tribute to you about what you bring to the department,” Jarrell said. “And I want to thank you on behalf of the University and hope that you continue to aspire in your career and develop new skills and move up at this University.”

Ash’s primary duty is to handle the grant proposals for her department. This involves helping the principal investigators (PIs) to provide the necessary documents, format the documents correctly, and work on the budgets based off the grant requirements.

“I kind of look at myself as editor in chief,” she said. “I work with the PIs so that nothing is missed.”

But as a part of administration, she also does a little bit of everything. 

She is the first point of contact welcoming all staff and faculty and ensures they have the tools to complete their job. Edelman said this is especially valuable with UMB’s new systems.

“I am very grateful Jules has come to the department. She’s made an awful lot of contributions in all the administrative work, online manuals, all the details, helping out when another staff member is out,” she said. “The faculty really appreciate her because she’s very service-oriented, and she’s always available to assist them with whatever they need.”

Ash has made her own procedures documents for use in the department for many of UMB’s operating systems, such as Concur, the travel system the University started using recently. She took the trainings available in person and online. Her guide has instructions regarding the traveler’s profile, delegates, expense preferences, system settings, entering a travel request, and links to the University’s training. 

“I look at it as realistically, most people are not going to go through all of the training. They’re just going to jump in,” she said. “I take all that training. I break it down into more simplistic steps with a lot of screenshots. I have my instructions go from start to finish. It took a lot of time, but I knew especially with the new system, it was going be that much harder since it requires much more work from the travelers in the beginning. I just wanted to try to make it as easy as possible for them. And then ideally, that flows back to me, and makes it easier on myself.”

Ash, who has a degree in accounting, also created her own system to check that corporate purchasing cards are reallocated correctly since charges sometimes remain on the holding account. She set up a new system in the department for reviewers to contact her before they sign the corporate purchasing card reports. She reviews the funding source, verifies the attachments are correct, and confirms the totals from the bank statement, transaction log, and expense report match before letting the reviewer know that it is OK to sign. 

Ash also has filled in for different vacancies in the department, Edelman said, sometimes on her own initiative.

“Jules is committed to UMB’s core values and is always willing to extend herself for others,” Edelman said. 

For example, shortly after Ash joined the department in late 2021, the academic administrator announced she was retiring in several months after decades in the position. Ash met with her to ask questions so that she could take over any responsibilities until someone was hired. 

“I tried to be proactive and did a lot of my own research,” she said. “And then when she did leave, and we didn’t have anyone yet, I had to jump in and take over planning seminars and new hires paperwork, things I’d never done before. But I was just determined to make it is as easy as possible so nothing would get missed.”

Keller told Ash during the videoconference that she is a “huge asset” to the department.

“You bring so much positivity to our culture and to our interactions with everyone in the department,” he said. “We appreciate you.”

Ash said those types of interactions are her favorite part of the job.

“I love talking to postdocs and the faculty,” she said. “It’s just nice to be in an environment where it’s such smart people and learning what they do, because science is completely foreign to me. I’m a numbers person, and I like interacting with all the people around here.”

Ash, who thanked Keller and Edelman for their support, will receive a certificate, a letter of commendation, and an extra $250 in her next paycheck.

“I’m completely humbled and flattered,” she said. “I was delighted that Judith thought enough of me to submit a nomination, but to actually be picked? That’s a great honor.”

—Jen Badie