I manage every aspect of both major initiatives of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation-funded Humanities Without Walls (HWW) consortium housed at the Humanities Research Institute at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). I coordinate a staff of five spanning two universities, and I primarily function as a meta-research administrator for HWW's three collaborative Grand Research Challenges (which have awarded nearly $3 million in almost 40 awards to date), coordinating the efforts of and interpreting the research funding policies of fifteen universities and various subsidiary offices. I also work with teammates at Marquette University to construct, communicate, and coordinate the policies and logistics for the annual HWW Pre-Doctoral Career Diversity Summer Workshop, and collaborate with on-site staff to facilitate the three-week workshops. I am also a primary participant in the creation of content, processes, and practices that advance the initiatives and goals of the HWW consortium: rethinking doctoral education in the humanities through the creation of workshops to support alternative academic careers or humanities PhD students; exploring the role of the humanities and of collaborative research and reflection via grand challenges including “The Global Midwest” and “The Humanities in a Changing Climate”; and disseminating outcomes to the wider audience of humanists in the academy. I maintain a balance between being "in the weeds" managing quotidian details and of being at "30,000 feet," affording a comprehensive overview of HWW as a whole, in terms of its activities as well as its branding consistency and media outreach.

In addition to maintaining and improving the office filing systems (paper and electronic), taking phone calls, making appointments, scheduling meetings and events, recording minutes at faculty meetings, and supporting departmental financial officers via the P-Card (purchasing card) and TEM (travel & expense managment) online portals, I oversaw the office calendar and maintained oversight of multiple projects and deadlines. I collected and compiled information, generated content, and assisted departmental administration in preparing for dissemination the Department’s annual strategic budget report and two accreditation Self-Evaluation Reports (SERs). I provided oversight for all aspects of graduate applications and admissions for the department, maintaining the files and database of applicants to support the MLA and PhD program committees. I supported the Assistant Department Head by proofreading and copy-editing graduate theses/dissertations, ensuring that they were formatted according to UIUC Graduate College standards. Additionally I supported the Assistant Director in her role as academic adviser, performing triage and answering many student questions about courses and curriculum issues. I obtained for our faculty everything from parking spaces to carpool vehicles, hotel accommodations to visas to airfare. I supervised my office support assistant, delegating tasks when needed and acting as a resource for procedural questions. I provided IT support to the department, troubleshooting problems, acting as a liaison between faculty and the College IT staff, assisting faculty with software upgrades and minor technical questions, and maintaining the printers and plotters in the department’s four design studios. I prided myself on being able to answer most faculty, staff, and student questions expeditiously, thoroughly, accurately, and with an emphasis on customer service.

I collaborated with the Director and Program Coordinator to administer events and training programs for visiting international students and scholars: coordinating logistics, generating content, preparing budgets, creating itineraries, chaperoning cultural trips, and scheduling resources, including industry visits, charter bus reservations, speakers, and extracurricular activities. I assisted in overseeing multiple accounts and funds, updated and maintained the office website, proofread and wrote copy for the office newsletter and annual report. I worked with Banner finance and TEM (Travel Expense Management) systems to process honoraria, reimbursements, and credit card charges for the office. I obtained visas, airline tickets, rental cars, and lodgings for the Director, the Program Coordinator, and international visitors. I also had some exposure to University research practices including development and administration of RFPs.

I collaborated with the Director and Program Coordinator to administer events and training programs for visiting international students and scholars: coordinating logistics, generating content, preparing budgets, creating itineraries, chaperoning cultural trips, and scheduling resources, including industry visits, charter bus reservations, speakers, and extracurricular activities. I assisted in overseeing multiple accounts and funds, updated and maintained the office website, proofread and wrote copy for the office newsletter and annual report. I worked with Banner finance and TEM (Travel Expense Management) systems to process honoraria, reimbursements, and credit card charges for the office. I obtained visas, airline tickets, rental cars, and lodgings for the Director, the Program Coordinator, and international visitors. I also had some exposure to University research practices including development and administration of RFPs.

Using the Blackboard Course Management Systems (CMS) I developed the online version of The World’s Great Religions (REL 102). I subsequently taught versions of the course using the Angel and Desire2Learn/CobraLearning systems. I dealt with student crises, both online and in person, and advised students on graduate school and professional options in the field. Students consistently assessed my overall teaching performance at over 4.5 points on a 5-point scale. With my academic background in the humanities, I sought to show students the applicability of the world’s wisdom traditions to their lives, both by exploring varied notions of truth, goodness, and beauty, and also by making the familiar strange and (hopefully) the strange more familiar.

I oversaw production of nonfiction trade paperbacks (in English and Spanish), textbooks, academic journal articles, dictionaries, encyclopedias, audio and multimedia CDs, and XML files. I supervised all stages of print production from book design through to delivery of final PDF, laser runout, and/or XML. I composed the front matter and roughly 20% of the definitions and 60% of the appendices for Mosby's Dictionary of Complementary and Alternative Medicine. I managed production of bilingual multimedia CDs from script preparation through identifying voice talent, scheduling recording sessions, recording and delivering demos, assembling audio/multimedia CD-ROMs, quality control, and final delivery of product. I was also primary typesetter, using Adobe FrameMaker, for the Encyclopedia of Corrosion Technology.

I processed all direct sales and coordinated several hundred thousand dollars of consignment accounts; acted as one of three primary points of contact for the American office of the world’s largest independent travel publisher, handling all customer service; and helped design the first robust online shopping cart for the Lonely Planet website.