{"id":8342,"date":"2025-11-01T08:35:39","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T12:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/?p=8342"},"modified":"2025-11-03T09:54:55","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T14:54:55","slug":"michele-clark-the-heart-mind-and-music-of-radiology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/2025\/11\/michele-clark-the-heart-mind-and-music-of-radiology\/","title":{"rendered":"Michele Clark: The Heart, Mind, and Music of Radiology"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"MicheleIf you ask Michele Clark what a typical day looks like, she\u2019ll laugh before answering. \u201cOh, I don\u2019t have a typical day,\u201d she says. \u201cMy day changes from one day to the next.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And it\u2019s no wonder. As\u00a0<\/span>Administrative Operations and IT Manager<\/strong>, Michele\u2019s role at UNC Radiology is a blend of logistics, leadership, and a touch of magic. One minute, she\u2019s onboarding new faculty or coordinating with Facilities on a renovation project. The next, she\u2019s solving a network issue, handling compliance, or troubleshooting someone\u2019s printer that\u2019s gone rogue. \u201cI can get ten completely different requests in one day,\u201d she says. \u201cThat variety is what I love. It\u2019s a healthy mix most days\u2014other days, it\u2019s slam-bang crazy. But I wouldn\u2019t trade it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Michele joined the department in 2005 as a temporary employee and was hired permanently the following year. Twenty years later, she\u2019s become a cornerstone of the department\u2014part problem-solver, part mentor, part \u201cmother hen,\u201d as she puts it with a smile.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But Radiology wasn\u2019t her first career path. Michele\u2019s first love was music. With degrees in\u00a0<\/span>music education, flute performance, and musicology<\/strong>, she once imagined herself as a college professor. \u201cI spent years teaching music, researching in archives, and performing,\u201d she says. \u201cI even earned a Fulbright to Vienna to do my doctoral research. I loved every bit of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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After completing her doctorate, Michele took what she thought would be a short-term administrative job while searching for musicology positions. But when the 2008 market crash wiped out many opportunities in academia, her career took a turn she hadn\u2019t planned\u2014and one that\u2019s brought her joy and purpose ever since.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI realized I loved helping people,\u201d she reflects. \u201cThat\u2019s the thread through everything I\u2019ve ever done\u2014service. Whether it\u2019s teaching, fixing a problem, or finding a solution, I love supporting others and figuring out how things work.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That analytical, hands-on side of her is balanced by a deep appreciation for the arts and the natural world. \u201cPeople see the practical side of me all the time, because I\u2019m fixing things or managing projects,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I\u2019m also a dreamer. I love Tolkien, art, music, and documentaries. I\u2019m curious about everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At home, she nurtures a small balcony garden\u2014flowers and herbs grown in the same spirit of curiosity and care that she brings to her work. \u201cI started gardening with my dad,\u201d she says. \u201cI guess I\u2019m a secret naturalist.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Her curiosity extends to teaching as well. Michele is an\u00a0<\/span>adjunct professor at North Carolina Central University<\/strong>, where she teaches graduate courses in Information and Library Science. \u201cI love teaching,\u201d she says. \u201cI get out of class so energized that I need an hour to calm down.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When asked what keeps her in Radiology after two decades, Michele doesn\u2019t hesitate: \u201cThe people. We\u2019ve got the best staff we\u2019ve ever had, and I\u2019ve been lucky to have amazing bosses. Radiology is a special place. When someone\u2019s going through something hard, people here pull together. They literally wrapped their arms around me when my parents passed. That\u2019s rare.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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If she could offer advice to her younger self, it would be this:\u00a0<\/span>\u201cLife is not a straight line.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Michele\u2019s journey\u2014from the concert hall to IT command central\u2014proves that fulfillment isn\u2019t found in one fixed path. \u201cYou can be more than one version of yourself,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd still be happy and fulfilled.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When asked to describe herself in one word, she doesn\u2019t miss a beat: \u201cCurious.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And if you spend even a few minutes with her, you\u2019ll see just how true that is.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you ask Michele Clark what a typical day looks like, she\u2019ll laugh before answering. \u201cOh, I don\u2019t have a typical day,\u201d she says. \u201cMy day changes from one day to the next.\u201d And it\u2019s no wonder. As\u00a0Administrative Operations and IT Manager, Michele\u2019s role at UNC Radiology is a blend of logistics, leadership, and a … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83776,"featured_media":8345,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"layout":"","cellInformation":"","apiCallInformation":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[83,91,92],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-department-news","category-homepage-news","category-in-the-news","odd"],"acf":[],"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1384\/2025\/10\/P7180170.jpg","featured_image_medium":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1384\/2025\/10\/P7180170-300x225.jpg","featured_image_medium_large":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1384\/2025\/10\/P7180170-768x576.jpg","featured_image_large":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1384\/2025\/10\/P7180170-1024x768.jpg","featured_image_thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1384\/2025\/10\/P7180170-150x150.jpg","featured_image_alt":"An older couple and their adult daughter pose on a bridge overlooking the city of Vienna.","category_details":[{"name":"Department News","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/category\/department-news\/"},{"name":"Homepage News","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/category\/homepage-news\/"},{"name":"IN THE NEWS","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/category\/department-news\/in-the-news\/"}],"tag_details":[],"_links_to":[],"_links_to_target":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83776"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8342"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8352,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8342\/revisions\/8352"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/radiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}