The Secret Life of a Research Administrator | Kara MacVean
“The Secret Life of a Research Administrator” column is meant to facilitate more personal connections between SRAI members through the Catalyst newsletter. If you would like to share with the community or know of someone who will, please submit your article here.
Research Administrators are creative problem solvers, unknown territory navigators with strong communication and critical thinking skills, who are accustomed to working in a level-headed space even as a deadline is quickly approaching. It is almost as if escape rooms were made with us in mind. If you have not tried one yet, please see if there is one near you and try it out! And, no, it’s nothing like the Escape Room movie franchise – you don’t have to be scared for your life.
I started doing escape rooms with my husband and a few friends back in 2016 and it quickly became our favorite hobby. We were already gamers but this was a new level of entertainment. Each room is a story with a different theme, typically lasting up to one hour, and there are an amazing amount of puzzles out there to solve. We have done 75 rooms in total and I enjoy it because each one is unique. Once you get out of a room, there is no reason to figure out the same answers, so it is always a fresh journey. You should not need any outside knowledge to finish the room and it is a matter of understanding the temporary environment a few steps at a time. I have picked up more knowledge or gained more pattern recognition in every room that has helped me in future rooms to figure out a puzzle or be able to move through them quicker. Luckily, I have always gotten out within the allotted time!
The best rooms are typically the homegrown ones, the rooms created by other people who also have a sincere passion for escape rooms. My top three escape room suggestions are Lost Room in Helen, GA (Master Key), Escape Artist in Greenville, SC (The Starlight Hotel), and Lock, Clock, and Peril in Sumter, SC (Paranormal Investigators). I have no affiliation with any of them, other than just truly enjoying the multiple rooms I escaped from at each establishment! Escape rooms highlight that creativity knows no limits, which is part of what draws me to them. It is great when we get out of a room and talk for a while with the owner, giving feedback and compliments on their work, and just share the creativity we have seen in the rooms any of us have done. Whenever my husband and I travel, we always look if there is a nearby escape room to try and sometimes even plan our getaway around them! I love supporting local businesses when we travel, and this is a great way to do it – especially when they make me feel clever for an hour!
Escape rooms are also a great team-building tool where everyone is focused on the same goal, and no one is distracted by their smartphone (the novelty!). Even the staff at my dentist office now have an annual outing to a local escape room each winter – they didn’t get out the first time they tried, but they did “by the skin of their teeth” the second time. (And, yes, my dental hygienist actually did stay on brand when we were excitedly talking about the hobby.) Escape rooms require listening to details, sharing details, and quickly communicating a concept that you suddenly understand which makes the confusing puzzle you are looking at suddenly make sense. It also is a chance to recognize and honor someone’s strengths. For instance, if it is an encryption or wordy riddle, I will hand it off to my husband who can crack those in seconds. If it is anything with word play or an anagram, he is quick to hand it my way for a fast answer. As Research Administrators, I am sure you can easily see the parallels in the hobby – and why having the right people around you can make a huge difference!
Authored by Kara MacVean, MBA, Grant Development Specialist II
Augusta University
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