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PrintDesktop: Lori Santiago
Vice president for Oklahoma campuses, University of Phoenix.
Step through the door of Lori Santiago’s office and the décor seems pretty standard for a professional workspace — a couple of potted plants, some awards, a table and chairs. That is, until the vivid, happy faces of M&M’S characters grab your peripheral vision.
Santiago, University of Phoenix state vice president for Oklahoma campuses, bought two M&M’S candy dispensers for her office five years ago simply because “they were cute and M&M’S have always been my favorite candy,” she says. “Then my staff started coming to visit for candy and we had good conversation while they were here.”
Although some office staff and family members buy dispensers for her as gifts, she has a method for how and when she buys new dispensers for herself. A frequent traveler, Santiago picks up a new “M&M’S guy,” as she calls them, wherever she goes, from Las Vegas to Italy and a variety of locales in between.
What started nonchalantly has turned into an ever-growing collection requiring its own custom-built shelving above Santiago’s desk at the new Tulsa campus, located in the former Eastland Mall at 14002 E. 21st St., along with a lower cabinet of dispensers, which remain stocked with the treats.
“I send out a mass e-mail that ‘The kids have been fed’ and (the staff members) know to come get the M&M’S,” she says.
It might seem as if the collection is just about candy, but, for Santiago, it’s much more. She enjoys brightening people’s days and giving them a token (or M&M) of her appreciation.
“I know it’s cliché, but I enjoy changing lives, not only (those of) students but my employees as well,” she says.
All 47 M&M’S dispensers would put a smile on anyone’s face, but here are a few special ones, along with some other personal effects, that keep Santiago smiling throughout the workday.
