• Direct liaison to university leadership regarding processes and policies around student employment and payments, primarily focused on the student payment transition (live July 2023) and implementation of the CBA between the university and GSU-UE (ratified April 2024). • Student Payment Transition deliverables: new business process for submitting and processing PhD primary funding through one central system, establishing a unified payment schedule for all PhD students. • Ensuring timely and accurate payment disbursement to graduate students (primary, employment-related, and supplemental) along with facilitating comprehension of tax obligations. • Directly supervising and mentoring administrative services team, fostering their professional growth and ensuring alignment with organizational objectives. • Implementing strategies to handle high volume of emails to gradhelp@uchicago, including optimizing workflow processes, prioritizing inquiries, and expanding the team’s capacity to respond promptly. • Providing personalized assistance and access to resources for students facing financial distress, including emergency loan application support and referrals to resources addressing food insecurity.• Collaborating with central university offices on student policy, funding mechanisms, and student employment.• Analysis of data pulls related to student employment, primary funding, union-eligibility, and supplemental funding and aid per CBA.

As the Assistant Director, I coordinated communication with graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and administrative leadership via gradhelp@uchicago regarding processes and policies around student payments, primarily ensuring that graduate and professional students were paid on time and in full. I also provided resources related to taxation on university income (federal and state tax obligations, estimated taxes, understanding tax forms, tax filing preparation). • Created and updated content for distribution related to financial wellness and tax preparedness. • Under the guidance of the Director, connected with students experiencing financial distress, and provided internal (Student Support Services, Bursar, area Deans of Students) and external resources.

Managed day-to-day operations and spearheaded strategic initiatives, including curricular development, renewal and tenure cases, faculty searches, graduate student advising, and general faculty support.

Processed lab requests, financial contracts, and billing of internal and external genetic researchers. Streamlined process to settle outstanding delinquent accounts (approx. $500K) within two-month period.