May 2000

Random Profile: Elaine Kingston Every other month, Staff Notes Monthly spotlights a stochastically chosen staff member. This month we profile Elaine Kingston, who works as Mesa Lab receptionist on Saturdays and daytime desk supervisor for Barton Security at NCAR Mondays through Fridays.

Elaine Kingston. (Photo by Carlye Calvin.)

Where's the coldest place in Canada?

According to local folklore, it's Elaine's home town, White River, Ontario. "My town had about 700 people. The closest city was 250 miles away--we were at the end of the road." White River's about 650 miles northeast of Minneapolis. "So we're right in the middle of the country. And that's why it's so cold. . . . There're few moderating influences."

How cold was it?

"I used to walk to school and about every block my eyelashes would freeze shut, so I'd have to quickly take my warm hand out of my mitten and melt the ice off my eyelashes." The story they tell in White River is that the man who kept temperature records for the town went out one morning, looked at the thermometer, and saw that it read -60°F. "The next morning he went out, and the thermometer had broken. So he said, 'I think it must be about 72 below.' " The record is "not very scientific. But we do know it was cold."

What brought her south of the border?

Elaine came to the United States to attend college in Utah. She left school in her junior year to get married. After four children and a move to Boulder, she and her husband divorced. That's when she went back to college. "I was a single mom, working full time and going to school. As I look back, I don't know how I did it. My children and I would all sit at the kitchen table and do our homework together." Elaine earned a B.A. in human services from Metropolitan State College in 1990 and an M.A. in counseling from the University of Northern Colorado in 1993. Her two sons have earned their master's degrees, her daughter is graduating from CU next month, and her youngest son is a college freshman.

What's her line?

Before NCAR, Elaine worked as a professional counselor for Boulder County, private agencies, and in private practice. With the county health department and community corrections her focus was addictions counseling. "I'm a cognitive behavioral therapist." Elaine explains the theory: thoughts create feelings, and feelings create behavior. So "if you can change your thoughts, you can change your behavior. That type of therapy worked very well in dealing with clients who were struggling with addictions." Although her current schedule precludes it, Elaine expects to continue a part-time private practice in the future.

How she came to NCAR:

After about ten years as a counselor, Elaine was ready for a break. So she answered a newspaper ad and got the job as Saturday ML receptionist last August. "I've lived at the bottom of the hill, in the shadow of NCAR, for 25 years. Plus, I'm a wannabe meteorologist. I've taken one meteorology class-- just enough to make me dangerous." On the job, she got to know the Barton's security staff, and they urged her to apply for a position with them. "So I started working for Barton in November, and here I am."

Her double life:

Elaine is quick to note that, regardless of job description, she's a people person. On Saturdays at the reception desk she talks to visitors about I.M. Pei's architecture and NCAR's mission. "When the many school teachers arrive wanting information for their classes, I fill them up with all the information that Rene [Munoz] and Tim [Barnes] have gathered." During the week, in uniform with a squawking two-way radio on her belt, you'll find Elaine walking the halls and surveying the buildings from a different point of view. As daytime desk supervisor for Barton's she interacts with staff from Physical Plant Services, Safety and Site Services, and elsewhere around the institution on everything from jammed door locks to planning for emergency medical response. "It has opened up a whole other world that I knew nothing about. . . . A lot of it is customer service, but it also includes safety issues. Our job is to make NCAR a place where people feel comfortable."

Time for salsa, too?

Despite her 46-hour week, Elaine still finds time to go dancing twice a week with friends. The beat is salsa, merengue, or cumbia and the conversation's in Spanish, which she's studied for years, including a four-month immersion program in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Years ago, in a genealogy project, she traced one line of her family back to 1490 to the Isle of Skye, Scotland. Nowadays, she's outdoors, hiking or biking. If physical therapy for her back goes well, she hopes to get back into running. And then there's travel to feed her appetite for learning about other cultures.

What's next?

Her colleagues at Barton understand that Elaine eventually would like to play a different role at NCAR. "I'm up for just about anything. The fact that I have a psychology background hopefully means I'm trainable," she says with a laugh. "It would be nice to find my niche somewhere here at NCAR, because I love this place."

•Zhenya Gallon

In this issue...
Other issues of Staff Notes Monthly