25-year Profile: Jana Shober

Jana Shober

Snakes, spiders and slimy things don’t scare Jana Shober, a lab technician who supervises the care of the biology department's animals. Shober and her student assistants typically have their work cut out for them, taking care of a number of creatures and setting up experiments for students in biology labs.

Shober’s responsibilities include teaching pre-vet students to care for a variety of the department’s animals, which include tarantulas, geckos, an iguana and a chinchilla.

“This class allows pre-vet students to work with animals, many of which are exotic,” Shober says. “Most students that work with vets only get to handle dogs, cats, and maybe a turtle. Students learn new skills while helping us care for the animals, and it’s a win-win situation.”

Shober, a Czech immigrant who started as a graduate assistant at Sacramento State in 1981, says she recalls when a professor’s salamander became the biology department’s first animal.

“Now we have three rooms full of different animals,” Shober says. “If people ask, ‘Do they bite?’ I say, ‘They can.’”

The department keeps a number of native-Californian species, such as the king snake, which Shober says students can encounter on local bike paths. The department also houses invertebrates of all sorts: centipedes, walking sticks, hissing cockroaches, and her favorite, the millipedes.

Although supervising the care of the animals is an important task, Shober’s main responsibility is the preparation of lower division labs, growing plants and algae, fungi and protozoa in a room adjoining her office for student use in the classroom and labs. She works in tandem with full-time technicians in the greenhouse, microbiology labs, physiology labs and the invertebrate museum.

“The whole technical staff carries out work that may not be readily apparent to the students,” Shober says. “Students—and I used to be one of them—do not realize the hours and hours of preparation done by the staff and student assistants.”

Shober, who says she hasn’t thought much about retirement, likes the variety her job provides and the fact that there’s always something new to learn and explore.

“I’ve never felt bored in my position, since there’s always something new to learn,” Shober says. “It’s ever-changing, and you have to keep up with the changes as they happen.”

During the summer, Shober teaches classes such as zoology and “Blood and Guts” to middle-school kids in the Academic Talent Search. “Teaching allows me to do my regular job better, as I see what kind of support teachers need by doing it,” Shober says.

Shober’s hobbies include photography which she practices on her excursions to places such as the Amazon, the Peruvian mountains, Thailand and other countries.

“Seeing new places, experiencing other cultures and connecting, even if briefly and often non-verbally, with the people in these fascinating places is what brings me the greatest joy and fulfills me,” Shober says.

—Jaclyn Schultz