Staff Spotlight: Lauren Worrell

Lauren Worrell is the graduate program coordinator in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) and has been a staff member in the college for about six and a half years.

Her main responsibilities are focused on helping students from pre-admission to graduation. Lauren does advising, but also works with funding, policy and procedures, student milestones, recruitment, admission and anything related to the graduate program and graduate student experience in CEE.

In this edition of the College of Engineering’s Staff Spotlight, we get to know more about Lauren.

Tell us about your path to UC Davis.

I grew up in Davis, and while I have spent some time in other places, I just kept coming back. My partner and I always knew we wanted to live near family, and when I was accepted to UC Davis for my doctorate, we moved back to Davis again and I started working for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.  Throughout my career, I have worked with all ages of students, starting with kindergarten early in my career and slowly working with older students, going through middle school, high school, undergraduates and now I work with graduate students.

What is your current position at UC Davis?

I am the graduate program coordinator in the Department Civil and Environmental Engineering and I’ve been here about six and a half years.

What are your major job functions and responsibilities?

The administrative side of the Graduate Program. I help students from pre-admission to graduation. I do a lot of advising, but also work with funding, policy and procedures, student milestones, recruitment, admissions and anything and everything with the graduate program and graduate student experience in CEE.

What skills are most important in your job?

Communication would probably be most important.  Not only advising students, but also working with faculty and staff across campus. 

What are some of the things you enjoy most about working in your department?

The people!  The students, staff and faculty in CEE are the best, and I enjoy working with such wonderful people who help put a smile on my face every day.  I can’t wait to come back to campus and get to see everyone again. I miss the times before and after meetings when you got to catch up with people, or when students would just drop by my office to get a piece of candy and say hi and tell me how their day was going.

What is your favorite thing about working at UC Davis?

Again, the people.  I have such wonderful colleagues across campus, and it makes a world of difference in my day to day work. 

Tell us something most people don’t know about you.

My family just welcomed a new baby!  I now have two little boys; Jensen is four and Kieran is three months.  My sister lives a block away from me and she also has two boys; Nathan is four and a half and Arthur is two months. Over the last year of staying at home together, our boys have become best friends, and it’s pretty adorable.

If you could do any job in the world what would it be?

Other than my current job?  I guess I’d want to oversee an advising unit, or work on advising issues at a higher campus level. I think it would be cool to have a greater impact on improving student success and equity through advising.

What are your hobbies/interests outside of work?

Spending time with my family would be one thing. We love going to places where we can explore and run around like museums, aquariums, zoos and parks. Also reading. Now that I am finally done with school, I have time to read for fun again.

Is there anything else you would like to share?

I like to keep candy and snacks in my office always (you never know when you are going to talk to a hungry student, or need to bribe a faculty with chocolate to get a signature). I never got around to cleaning out my office while working from home, and I am really hoping my co-workers got in there while I was out and ate my candy before it went bad.