Celebrating the UCLA Library's 2022 graduates

Please join the Library in congratulating UCLA’s class of 2022, and especially our graduating Library employees! As one of the largest student employers on campus, we are indebted to the talented Bruins working in many roles across our Library ecosystem. Some of our graduates — including full-time staff members completing advanced degrees this year — have shared their favorite memory of working for the Library.

Kaitlin Alcontin
B.A., Public Affairs
Powell Library
"My favorite memory is every day I got to take pictures of the People-Animal Connection therapy dogs in Powell Library.”

Dana Binfet
B.A., English
Library Communications
“One of my favorite memories has to be when Marley and I had the opportunity at the start of fall quarter to take photographs of all the library locations. It was so fun to get to know campus better and learn so much about the UCLA Library!”

Emery Grahill-Bland
B.S., Astrobiology and Science Communication
Powell Library / Cluster Program
"I love spending time with my coworkers playing games in 220 after we finish training or meetings.”

Maxwell Grollman
B.S., Human Biology and Society
Powell Library / Cluster Program
“I really enjoyed having the chance to give tours of Powell Library to students who it was their first time seeing it! I was always in awe of the architecture and loved sharing the resources I used within the building's walls, but still manage to get lost ‘til this day haha.”

Daniel Jacobs
B.S., Biophysics
Charles E. Young Research Library
“I will miss the other people at the Library, who have always been friendly and supportive of me as a student!”

Fayez Kanj
B.S. Computational and Systems Biology
Powell Library / Cluster Program
“Being able to work with freshman students who came from a diverse spectrum of educational backgrounds, cultures and interests and helping them adjust to college life.”

Patricia Ledesma Villon
Master of Library and Information Science
Digital Library Program
“It was great to be a part of IIIF initiatives at UCLA Library and strengthen my knowledge of metadata work. I also very much appreciate the support of Geno and Dawn and all the professional development workshops T-Kay organized for us last summer, which I still reference constantly as I now go through the academic library job search. All of these things were instrumental to my time at UCLA, and I'll be forever thankful for all I've learned from working at the Library.”

Wendy Lei
B.A. Economics
Library Department
“My favorite memory working at the Library is when my supervisor introduced me to using Canva. I spent hours just playing around with the platform and I loved designing birthday cards for my team members!”

Michael Lima-Sabatini
B.A., Public Affairs
Powell Library / Cluster Program
“I always loved hosting writing workshops in InqLab 1 at Powell Library. Presenting on peer review best practices and supporting Cluster students as they worked through their writing challenges together... it filled me with pride to see how thoughtful and conscientious each student was in supporting their peers!”

Ryan Ling
B.S. and M.S, Mechanical Engineering
Campus Library Instructional Computing Commons (CLICC)
"Working under the shade during the summer outside YRL and making new friends."

Julie Miller
B.S. Astrophysics
Campus Library Instructional Computing Commons (CLICC)
“It's hard to choose a favorite memory! My coworkers have definitely been my favorite part of working for CLICC - I always love catching up with them!”

Anju Mitchell
Master of Library and Information Science
Resource Acquisitions and Metadata Services
“My favorite part about working in the Library is being able to meet people from all different locations on campus, we have such amazing colleagues!”

Quinn O'Connor
B.A., Theater
Library Special Collections
“Looking through the archives and getting a tattoo based on one of the UCLA student activism records from the 1970s!”

Eric Olsen
B.A. Geography and Environmental Studies
Library Special Collections
“My favorite memory of working in the Library was meeting my good friend Tara Oldenburg and my mentor Octavio Olvera on my first day of work in Library Special Collections four years ago."

Ashley Rose Olmsted
Master of Library and Information Science
Powell Library
“My favorite memories of my time working at Powell were with other LSRAs! There are so many other students I would not have met if we hadn’t worked together at Powell, and now I can call them my friends.”

Gissel Rios
Master of Library and Information Science
Charles E. Young Research Library
“Working on a digital exhibit about UCLA Library's return of Nazi-looted books to the Jewish Museum of Prague.”

Marley Rodriguez
B.A., English
Library Communications
“My favorite memories of working in the Library have been walking into libraries to study and seeing signs or graphics that I made posted throughout the buildings! I loved seeing my own work displayed in person.”

Monica Rosales
B.A. Sociology
Powell Library
“I remember being so excited to start working at Powell my 2nd year. Estéfani, Art, and Ashleigh always made the library feel like a safe place and it was so much fun getting trained by them. I’ll never forget all the late shifts I worked pre-pandemic, those were definitely my favorite!”

Haley Roeser
Master of Urban and Regional Planning
Center for Primary Research and Training
“Working at the Library was such a joy! As someone coming from outside the discipline, being around such a wide variety of archival material felt like a once in a lifetime opportunity. Coming across old Frank Lloyd Wright hand drawn plans for Los Angeles was certainly a highlight along with exploring the cookbooks!"

Magaly Salas
Master of Library and Information Science
Charles E. Young Research Library
“My time at YRL has been the highlight of my MLIS program. I’m so grateful to my supervisors, who have supported me unconditionally these past two years. A special shout out to the folks that started this journey with me (Dana & Daryl) love you both and will miss you terribly. It has been a gift to learn and grow with you all!”

Otto Stuparitz
Ph.D., Ethnomusicology
Music Library and Powell Library
"We kept each other on track with Friday Zoom training sessions, learning about new Library tools but also checking in on each other. It provided me a lot of support to use the tech creatively and have some fun learning about different teaching modalities!"

Kaitlyn Vu
B.S., Astrophysics
“What I enjoyed most about working in the Library was meeting all the brilliant and friendly people who work there!”

Julia Wood
B.S. Statistics
Data Science Center
“Getting lunch with my coworkers at Plateia, some of whom I’d only worked with virtually.”