Ninety minutes before the start of the 2023 School of Medicine Gala at the new SOM Education Building II, a blown circuit breaker in a nearby building threatened to derail campus catering’s plans. But the more than 300 guests in attendance had no idea that anything was amiss, thanks in large part to the Strategic Initiatives (SI) events team.

“Guests are supposed to just show up and enjoy the event,” said Kate Dorff, manager of External Relations and Protocol in the SOM Department of Strategic Initiatives. “They’re not supposed to have to think about all of the work that goes into it.”

Dorff joined the SOM in 2018 in part because she believed in the medical school’s mission to improve access to healthcare in the Inland Empire. “I live in the Inland Empire and I experience the physician shortage every time I have a kid with an ear infection, and I can't get them an appointment with a pediatrician and have to sit in urgent care for five hours so that they can get antibiotics,” she said. “The mission is to get more primary care physicians for this area… and I absolutely believe in that and want to be a part of it.”

Her work in organizing a variety of SOM events, Dorff said, directly supports the school’s mission. For instance, “Open House is a recruitment event where we're showcasing the school and its mission to potential students or younger students who are looking to go into medicine one day,” she said. “And we're celebrating the mission or trying to expand upon it when we're having some of our groundbreaking ceremonies or ribbon cutting ceremonies, or even when we're holding the community advisory board meetings because we're trying to bring our community partners in to discuss initiatives for the school.”

Dorff looks forward to seeing the impact of her work on guests at events. “It’s nice bringing to fruition something that is really exciting and meaningful for people,” Dorff said. “Commencement can be really challenging with lots of moving pieces, but…it’s extremely rewarding to see that you've had a hand in helping everybody celebrate such a huge accomplishment for somebody who's so important to them,” she added. “That is my favorite part of everything.”

Brian Blackburn, an alumni and external relations coordinator on the SI events team, also enjoys seeing people celebrate their achievements at events. He finds White Coat particularly rewarding.“We get to be involved in these special moments that these students are having, and we get to work to give them a really special experience for these great milestones in their life that they’re going to remember for a long time,” Blackburn said.

Blackburn joined the SOM in December 2022, a few months after graduating from UCR with his bachelor’s degree. “I really liked the area, the community, and I felt like it would be very interesting for me to be able to come back and give back to an institution that I felt had given so much to me,” he said. “I'm actually very happy that for my first job out of undergrad, this is the place where I landed,” he added. “Kate’s been in event coordination for a long time and is an expert at what she does…so it's been really beneficial to work with her and learn from her.”

Making events seamless

Events appearing to run flawlessly is the result of significant prior planning–sometimes up to a year in advance. Dorff and Blackburn work together on tasks including finding and securing a venue, as well as contacting and working with vendors for furniture, food, decorations, and anything else needed for the event. They also confirm and coordinate event programming such as speakers or entertainment, ensuring they understand where to go and what to do once they arrive, and often put together a cue book detailing each step of the event, including speakers’ remarks, some of which the event and SI team drafts for UCR speakers. And of course, they communicate event information to attendees, sometimes including arranging transportation or parking and providing directions for getting to the event.

Even with extensive planning, changes or issues often require the ability to adapt on the go. “There's always going to be something that comes up at the last minute where maybe a vendor is showing up late, or somebody really important to the program is not there, and it's five minutes before the event,” Blackburn said. “It’s just making sure that you have your ear to the ground and you understand what’s going on with the event at the time, and then if we need to pivot in any way, how we should do that.”

The events team relies on help from the rest of the SI team to make events a success. In addition to the work they do outside of events, members of SI help draft remarks, design invitation and programs, set up and troubleshoot live streaming and sound systems, write articles promoting or recapping events, take photos, share event highlights on the SOM’s social media accounts, and set up and break down on the day of the event, in addition to other responsibilities.

“The SI team is an all-hands-on-deck kind of unit,” said Dorff. “When it comes to events, everybody shows up and helps out, and I think we have that teamwork mentality for the whole school and assisting other units,” she added. “I don't think that the larger school sees how much Strategic Initiatives does, especially because a lot of our work, like with events, is behind the scenes.”

Focused on building community

An essential component of the team’s role in organizing events is serving the community and creating connections. This also applies to the second aspect of Blackburn’s position in alumni relations, which involves developing the SOM’s alumni engagement strategy to keep graduates involved with the school while building the SOM community.

“A really important element is understanding that if you come into the UCR School of Medicine family, it's not just something that should last for four years and then it's done; it should be lifelong,” Blackburn said. “You're still part of this intrinsic community here, and I think that it's really important to build and foster those connections, so that you establish this strong sense of community among both your students and your alumni.”

The SI events team also establishes connections and enhances the SOM and wider campus community by offering expertise or collaborating on events with SOM partners. Examples of this include the 2024 Western Group on Educational Advancement (WGEA) Conference and the 41st annual Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA)-West Regional Conference in January 2025, as well as working with Student Affairs on Match Day each year.

“They're always willing to do what they can to make an event a great experience,” Nancy Hernandez-Guillen, student life and events coordinator in the SOM Student Affairs Department, said of the events team and the SI team as a whole. “If you approach any of them, they're always willing to help, and I feel like they're one of the core teams that ensure that our SOM-centered and at-large events are a success,” she added. “Although they're behind the scenes, their efforts are extremely valuable to the School of Medicine.”

Contributing to campus

Beyond her SOM role, Dorff was recently re-elected to a third term as the director of events for the UCR Staff Assembly. “I'm a big believer in supporting the staff and staff professional development,” she said.

Blackburn also volunteers his time to give back to the campus community. In addition to serving as a wellness ambassador at UCR, he coaches the undergraduate mock trial team, which he previously participated in as a student. Blackburn has an interest in law and hopes to attend law school in the near future.

Whether in their official or volunteer positions, the events team regularly contributes to UCR. “I think that everything we do is in some way either supporting the School of Medicine as an institution, or directly supporting our students,” Blackburn said. “I think that's all very important when it comes to supporting these graduates who are going to go out and do this amazing, incredible work for the community.”