Photo by Kevin Hinchey,
UNH Human Resources

One of the first things that catches your eye in Marc Laliberte's office are all of the postcards of baseball stadiums covering a large area above his desk. But these weren't just picked up locally at a sporting memorabilia store - he's been to all of them! "One of my hobbies is to visit ballparks in other major league cities," Marc states. "Those are the 15 ballparks I've visited so far, although one of those is where the Red Sox have spring training, and another is the park at the Baseball Hall of Fame. Although I am coming to terms with the fact that I may have missed my chance to be a professional ball player, I love baseball, and the Red Sox in particular, and have predicted my untimely death should they ever win it all."

Marc began his career at UNH in a very enterprising manner. "I noted one day during sophomore year that I never had any money to eat at 'Karl's', or to take in a movie at the MUB, and sometimes I would help my dorm's appointed mail-coordinator drop off mail to the dorm rooms for $5 so I could split a pizza with the guys on my floor. A friend of mine drove the Kari-Van, and pulled me in. The rest, as they say, is history."

After graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science, Marc accepted a full-time position as Charter Services Coordinator and then Special Projects Coordinator. He is currently an Information Technologist in Transportation Services and handles their Technology and various processes, including the supervision of yearly parking permit distribution/renewal for all campus faculty/staff, students, and others. He also handles the department's communications, promotions and publications. As a matter of fact, Marc introduced the "Auto-Renew" program (automatic payroll deductions for parking registration & permits) that has been used on campus for the past 5 years. "The Auto Renew Program really came out of necessity," Marc explains. "Since most people have the same car and same permit, year after year, it didn't make sense to make them all go through the entire process each year." Most students now buy their permits on-line instead of in-line, which saves them all kinds of time and trouble. With about 12,000 parking permits each year (faculty, staff, and student) the amount of time previously spent doing data entry, shuffling paper, waiting in lines, etc. has been reduced dramatically for all.

While the parking problem at UNH in general has long been a source of stress for all involved, Marc and his staff consistently make the best of a potentially ugly issue. "Despite some of the hard and fast rules regarding parking on campus, a considerable amount of imagination is required to work at making a tough situation easier to understand and use," Marc states. "This involves degrees of managerial skill, creative expression ability, technological ability, patience and resolve. I try to take advantage of technology to manage the unmaganeable. People often think every regulation comes directly from the Parking Office and that's just not the case. We try to make people proactive regarding parking and transportation issues and it's a challenge to maximize service based on available resources and space."

When asked what he's enjoyed most about working at UNH for the past 17 years, Marc says "I like that UNH is kind of like a big extended family, but not in a corny way. There are people of wildly diverse backgrounds and experiences, but at some level we all rise and fall together. I also enjoy keeping a finger on the pulse of the campus, so I had a good experience being on the PAT Council for two terms, ending last December. Additionally, I think I have developed professionally by working in a fairly large department with a fairly small staff in place to manage it. This forces you to get good at a lot of things, and to be ready for sudden changes in tide and temperature."

Marc's time away from work is often spent playing softball (he's played in the UNH rec softball league since the summer of '87), writing (he does the newsletter for the N.H. Gent Alumni Association, and contributes entertainment pieces sometimes to the Dover Community News. He also writes the weekly "Parking.News" announcements.) "I have told people that if I weren't a dedicated university employee, then I might be a decaying Vegas lounge act, eight shows weekly at some second rate casino," Marc says. "I love singing on stage, but almost never do it. I play an 80-year old Steinway, and sing from the privacy of my home, but you might be able to hear me from the sidewalk if you're passing by. I was in UNH's NH Gentlemen while an undergrad, and we have an active alumni association now. I also like traveling, but not on trips where you sit around on the beach, preferring stuff where you DO something--I've been all the way up to the top of Alaska (by plane), and all the way to the bottom of the Grand Canyon (by mule). I grew up in Rollinsford, and have three sisters. My mom still lives on at the Old Homestead, but my sisters have moved to San Francisco, Seattle, and Boston, making me the proverbial apple that didn't fall far from the tree."