A special congratulations to Paul Ciotta!
Tucked in an office on the fourth floor of the Physics Building, you will find Paul Ciotta who can claim the title of UMBC’s Senior Exempt Employee. Though Paul officially joined the UMBC community on February 5, 1973, his affiliation began sometime before then.
While pursuing his undergraduate degree at UMCP, Paul served as a construction worker and literally helped to build our campus while mixing cement, carrying bricks and erecting scaffolds for the Administration and Social Sciences Buildings. Paul also has fond memories of joining friends attending UMBC at dances held in the Academic Services Building during the late 1960’s.
Paul came to UMBC as a Lab Technician in the Physics Department. He has remained with the same department the entire 43 years, currently serving as the Technical Coordinator & Facilities Manager. While he remembers and is grateful for the many relationships with professors he has had over the years, he specifically recalled Dr. Alvin Meckler who hired Paul and became a mentor to him in the early years, when the Physics Department was very small.
As you can imagine, technology has changed quite a bit since the 1970’s when computers took up entire rooms and punch cards were used to program. One memory Paul shared is when he helped build a Motorola 6800 computer from a kit. The computer was used to take data in a research lab before commercially available machines running DOS, Windows or Mac OS were available. But his most ambitious project was acting as the Physics Department’s point of contact during the design and construction of the Physics Building.
Paul credits his longevity at UMBC to the many Physicists he has worked with over the years…his education continued by working with them in labs, auditing and taking courses, and being able to apply learned skills to his work environment.
To his knowledge, no UMBC exempt employee has been here for 45 years or more…he has thrown down the gauntlet to all of you that are close…he is planning to stay around for a while longer and claim another record!
“Something I appreciate about working at UMBC is there is always something new to learn.” —Paul Ciotta, UMBC’s Senior Exempt Employee February 5, 1973 – Present
While pursuing his undergraduate degree at UMCP, Paul served as a construction worker and literally helped to build our campus while mixing cement, carrying bricks and erecting scaffolds for the Administration and Social Sciences Buildings. Paul also has fond memories of joining friends attending UMBC at dances held in the Academic Services Building during the late 1960’s.
Paul came to UMBC as a Lab Technician in the Physics Department. He has remained with the same department the entire 43 years, currently serving as the Technical Coordinator & Facilities Manager. While he remembers and is grateful for the many relationships with professors he has had over the years, he specifically recalled Dr. Alvin Meckler who hired Paul and became a mentor to him in the early years, when the Physics Department was very small.
As you can imagine, technology has changed quite a bit since the 1970’s when computers took up entire rooms and punch cards were used to program. One memory Paul shared is when he helped build a Motorola 6800 computer from a kit. The computer was used to take data in a research lab before commercially available machines running DOS, Windows or Mac OS were available. But his most ambitious project was acting as the Physics Department’s point of contact during the design and construction of the Physics Building.
Paul credits his longevity at UMBC to the many Physicists he has worked with over the years…his education continued by working with them in labs, auditing and taking courses, and being able to apply learned skills to his work environment.
To his knowledge, no UMBC exempt employee has been here for 45 years or more…he has thrown down the gauntlet to all of you that are close…he is planning to stay around for a while longer and claim another record!
“Something I appreciate about working at UMBC is there is always something new to learn.” —Paul Ciotta, UMBC’s Senior Exempt Employee February 5, 1973 – Present
Posted: September 15, 2016, 1:12 PM
