Meet Your Service Unit Member: Brian Maul

January 25, 2023   |   By WCER Communications

Brian Maul works in the Business Office Annex as an Administrative Assistant III. Hired a little over 7 months ago, he’s part of the Client Services Team, which helps WCER’s research projects with their purchasing and travel needs. (Update: Brian began working in the interim role of Financial Specialist in May 2022 and was promoted to Procurement Specialist II in July 2023.)

Brian graduated from UW–Madison in 2020 with an English Creative Writing major, and previously worked on campus as a student and after graduation for the University of Wisconsin Survey Center. Read more about Brian in his own words:

Q: Where are you from?

A: “I grew up in Denver, Colorado. My parents moved to Chippewa Falls (in northwestern Wisconsin) my freshman year of high school, so I went to high school there, and then I’ve lived in Madison since I started college.”

Q: What made you choose UW–Madison for college?

A: “So I don’t want to sound too mercenary, but it was largely the in-state tuition. It was the nicest school I got into that was still affordable. It was much cheaper than any of the other options in that same category, for the size of school and level of education it can offer. And after going from Denver to Chippewa Falls—a really small town—l knew that I wanted to go somewhere bigger for college. Madison was definitely a great experience for me.”

Q: How would you describe your work in administrative services?

A: “On paper, we’re supposed to do mainly purchasing and travel. But in reality if there’s a project that needs help, we do our very best to help them regardless of what that entails. Sometimes that involves planning trips and booking hotels and making flight reservations. But other times it’s helping them set up conference rooms or prepare meeting spaces or just about anything. And if we’re not the right people to help, we can direct them to where they need to go. We’re usually a first point of contact, and we’re there to make sure that it’s as easy a process for them as possible by giving them all the information they need.”

Q: What parts of your job do you like the most?

A: “It’s satisfying to help people out and make sure things run smoothly. What I like the most is that I get to meet so many new people and talk with them and get to work on interesting things. There’s a lot of really interesting research that goes on here. I really enjoy just being boots on the ground in the middle of the activities at WCER and getting to play whatever small role I can in making sure things go well.”

Q: What sorts of things do you like doing outside of work?

A: “I do a lot of creative writing in my spare time, sci fi and fantasy short stories. I do like to try and get my stuff published, in small presses mostly or in quarterly magazines that do open submissions. I also really enjoy playing tennis. I am on and off in a local tennis league.”