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Get to know a fellow member who is on the leadership team for our YoPro Community

A Look at Maice’s Risk Management Role

Maice Clanton is the coordinator, risk management and safety for Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida. She’s been in URMIA for just over a year and recently became a co-champion of URMIA’s YoPro Community’s leadership team, where she helps plan and facilitate community events. Let’s get to know Maice outside of her risk management role.

Tell us about your path to higher ed risk management. Did you grow up wanting to be a risk manager?

As I’ve come to learn of many of my peers in risk management, I happened into the field by accident. I graduated from Eckerd College with my bachelor’s in ancient studies with a minor in economics. Originally, I had planned on going to law school, but a semi-existential crisis in my senior year had me panicking about what I should do. I decided to take a few years before graduate school to figure out a clearer path.

My first job out of undergrad was running the recreation department at Eckerd. In that role, I worked closely with our risk manager as I oversaw all the risky things a recreation department does. After one and a half years in that role, the risk management department posted a position for a coordinator. I was ready to move out of recreation and into something I could steer into a path that would lead to a career – and now here I am!

Having now been in the role for a year, I can definitely say that I’m on the right path to what will eventually become a career – which is the best I can say for someone who still doesn’t really know what they want to be when they grow up.

Honestly, I did not grow up wanting to be a risk manager since I didn’t know it was an option. However, after being in higher ed risk management for a year, it feels like a good fit. I’ve always been a “rule follower,” often creating my own rules for situations, people, or events, and I have found that I’m quite good at telling people what to do (or at least have collaborative conversations with people about what they should do).

What's something you wish more people understood about risk management?

I wish more people understood that risk management isn’t just here to protect the college from a lawsuit. While yes, that is a factor of managing risks on campus, a lot of the time when we are acting as “the fun police,” it’s in the best interest of everyone. As our department's mission statement states, “Our aim is to proactively manage risk, support the well-being of the community, and protect our most valuable assets: our people and our future.”

If you could work remotely from anywhere for a month, where would you go?

If I could work remotely from anywhere, I would want to do it from Athens, Greece. I’ve visited there twice (so far), and it’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. The combination of all the history plus its modern evolution, I can see myself working remotely quite easily. With views of the Acropolis or the Aegean Sea, taking day trips to work remotely on one of the nearby islands, and of course eating the amazing Greek food, I don’t think a month would be long enough.

What's your favorite campus tradition?

Eckerd College has many unique traditions, so it’s hard to pick a favorite. I would say one of the most memorable traditions I participated in was jumping off our pier into the bay after walking across the stage at commencement. We’ve been hosting our commencement ceremony on our recreation field on campus, which borders our on-campus beach with beautiful views of the bay. After all the seniors walk across the stage and toss their caps, they migrate en masse to the campus pier, ready to take one last jump before they leave their college years behind – and yes, still clothed in graduation robes. Throughout the four years one may spend at Eckerd, it’s commonplace to jump off the pier at least once or twice (or 30 or 40 times). To have one of your last moments on the campus as a college student doing one of the many things you enjoyed while you were a student is truly special, and doing it with your friends, not knowing when you may see each other again, is a moment that cannot be forgotten. All things considered, it’s quite an appropriate metaphor for graduation itself: standing on the edge of the pier, hand-in-hand with the people you just spent the last four years with, taking a jump into the next chapter of your lives. It’s a memory I’ll cherish forever.

Although now being on the risk management side of the equation, I can’t help but think of this tradition in a new light and all the potential exposure to risks…

What's something that always makes you laugh?

My 1.5 year old nephew, Zane, has got to be the funniest kid I’ve ever met. From hours-long Facetimes, visits home for the weekend, or even funny videos or pictures sent by my sister, he’s always cracking me up. His flair for the dramatics and love of attention is something that I laugh at and encourage wholeheartedly – much to my sister’s chagrin. Whenever I’m feeling down or frustrated, I know he’s sure-fire to cheer me up and get me laughing quickly!

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