Talking with E.J. Kiefer is impossible to do without getting the impression of a man who's very content with his life.
"Right now, I'm very happy," Kiefer said enthusiastically. "My wife and I are, you know, settled."
Kiefer is manager of conferences and special events -- one of the hundreds of people who make their living somewhere in Dartmouth's sprawling bureaucracy.
At Dartmouth, Kiefer, who is 31 years old, seems to have really found his place. He speaks with genuine enthusiasm about his work, his office, his wife, even his daily routine.
He went to college in his hometown of Buffalo, N.Y. where he majored in International Finance but spent most of his time working in the college's athletics office.
He took graduate classes at University of Wisconsin-La Crosse -- just to take graduate classes somewhere, Kiefer said -- then worked at West Kentucky University before taking a job in the athletics department at Dartmouth to be closer to his family.
Kiefer then applied for his current job at conferences and special events when a reorganization opened the position a few years ago.
Kiefer's office's main responsibility is to help other offices plan events. Working for a service office makes his job more "mobile" than some others at Dartmouth -- he gets to interact with a number of different departments and has a good perspective on how Dartmouth really works.
Even when Kiefer, who does not follow any particular sport, was working mostly in athletics departments, it was always the events part of his job that appealed to him, he said.
"It's the sense of accomplishment," Kiefer enthusiastically said. "Like commencement -- it's amazing. You plan all year ... It's kind of neat to see it all build and come together."
Kiefer met his wife, Diana, during his time at the University of Wisconsin. They married in 1998, just a few days before they left for Kentucky.
His wife now works at Dartmouth as well. They bought their first house together in Wilder, Vt. just recently.
Kiefer said that in his interactions with other departments, he'd noticed that a lot of times, departments would have no idea what other offices did.
Different people dealt with desk jobs in different ways, Kiefer said. He'd spent time learning his own patterns -- like being most productive in the morning -- and adjusting to them.
Kiefer likes Dartmouth. At some of the other colleges he's been at, students do not get to interact with students nearly as much, making them feel like "just a number."
He also found his job exciting -- sometimes he would plan a day the night before and find it completely changed by the next morning -- but not too much of a burden, except during some busy times.
"There's always a challenge around the corner," he said.
From day to day, Kiefer's office is constantly busy. Kiefer himself, though, has settled down.
