Staff Spotlight: Meet Adriana Chacón

Name: Adriana Chacón Job title: Project Manager, Guinea Equatorial Geosciences Program, Department of Geological Sciences Hometown: Palmira, Colombia Tell us about your job. I help coordinate the Guinea Equatorial Geosciences (GEGEO) Program in the Department of Geological Sciences that is training Equatorial Guinean geologists to work for Guinea’s oil industry in cooperation with the National University of Equatorial Guinea (UNGE) in Malabo. At the beginning of the project I helped recruit and select instructors for the program. Now I manage the logistics, travel, housing, budget, and other administrative matters for instructors in Malabo. I also help coordinate the curriculum, maintain a Web page, provide a point of contact for potential program partners, and coordinate the GEGEO Steering Committee, a group of geology faculty members who assist in providing direction for the program. I’m assisting with getting publicity for the program, and I am helping with the start-up of on-line courses between USC and UNGE. In November, I’ll be traveling to Equatorial Guinea to help garner program support from oil companies operating in Equatorial Guinea. How long have you been with the program? One and a half years. Do you have any previous USC experience? Yes, I attended USC’s English Program for Internationals (EPI) for six months in 2001. Before coming to USC, I worked in marketing in Colombia after receiving a degree in advertising and marketing from Catholic University in Manizales, Colombia. What made you want to come to the U.S. from Colombia? I was working for a sugar company in Cali, Colombia that wanted to expand its sales into the Caribbean and other areas. I wanted to improve my English so I decided to attend the EPI program and then return to Colombia. I also thought about getting a master’s degree at USC in mass communications. I hope to enroll in the master’s program later. Is there such a thing as a typical day in your office? No, every day presents a new and different situation and that’s one of the things I love about the work. Everything has been new, from the beginning of the job when I helped find faculty members at universities in Spanish-speaking countries who could teach in Malabo, to the arrival of the first Equatorial Guinean students this semester. What advice would you give a college student who is studying Spanish and wants to find a job where he or she could use Spanish and English on the job, as you do? Try to understand the culture of each country. That can help open doors everywhere you go. And it can help you understand and be successful in any kind of job. What’s the best part of your job? The opportunity to meet people from a variety of countries who have different perspectives from our own. I also like the idea that the exchange program is helping to educate the people of Equatorial Guinea. How do you unwind? I like to listen to Latin music from Colombia, Spain, Mexico, and the Caribbean. One artist I enjoy is Carlos Vives from Colombia who performs worldwide. He takes a little bit of Colombia everywhere as a kind of musical ambassador. 10/04