Our Stories: Jolene Collins
Jolene Collins may be a two-time Michigan State University grad, but it’s at the University of Michigan where she’s found love.
It’s not the love of a significant other, but one that taps into her passion for helping people. That’s what Collins has found working with the University of Michigan’s Division of Public Safety and Security.
“I ended up starting out at Michigan Medicine as a guest services specialist, and I did that for about a year,” said Collins. “I had held so many different customer service roles, and I really wanted a position where I was facing the public. I loved that role. I loved helping people.”
Once Collins got a taste of working in public safety, she got hired by DPSS Museum Security, where she’s been since 2015.
Since then, Collins has steadily climbed the ranks. In 2017, she became a lead officer, and two years later, she was promoted to sergeant and now supervises about 20 officers. Together, her team works to protect the Museum of Art, the Museum of Archaeology, and the Museum of Natural History. They also staff the School of Dentistry.
It requires her to handle scheduling, payroll and other administrative duties to “make sure that our team is serving them to the best of their abilities and what their expectations are.”
Additionally, Collins coordinates staffing for many extra-hour events that occur in the museum spaces and elsewhere on campus.
At first, Collins looked at the job as a stepping stone where she would use her experience to move on to either the police department or another security department at the university.
Now — 10 years later — she wouldn’t trade it for any other.
“I've really grown to love this position. We just have some really special people that work for our department,” Collins said. “We're like family. I mean, the supervisors and the frontline officers were just one big family. And I honestly really couldn't imagine working for any other department. And we just have some really special people that work for our department.”
The environment is extremely unique in that officers are protecting precious pieces of art, along with keeping the buildings and streets safer.
The Kelsey Museum and the U-M Museum of Art were built in the late 1800s, which makes them interesting architecturally. With expansion, both sides are modern, but they mirror the old buildings.
“We work in such unique environments,” Collins said. “Not very many security officers can say that they work next to a Monet every day, next to an ancient artifact at the Kelsey Museum or next to a prehistoric mammoth at the Natural History Museum. It's just kind of unique and special in that way.”