APAC PROFILE

Marelet Kirda, proudly showing UIC loyalty in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Marelet Kirda Focusing on Conversion Concerns

By Ivone De Jesus

MARELET KIRDA is the Assistant to the Executive Director at the Center for Advanced Design, Research and Exploration (CADRE). CADRE is a research center in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research. She has worked there for a little less than two years, but previously worked at the Office of the Vice Chancellor.

HER ROLE allows her to work on a variety of projects that provide the opportunity to not only connect with the highest level of offices at the University, but to continue her connection with various offices around campus. Having been in an assistant role for more than ten years now, she jokingly describes her job as being a “jack of all trades and master of none.” But the assortment of tasks is the reason why Kirda loves being an assistant. She commented, “Best of all is ‘meeting,’ via phone calls, and working with so many great people across the campuses,” she said.

HAVING SERVED as the AP Representative on the Search Committee for the Selection of the President in 2010 made her realize that staff need to come together and “have a collective voice on the campus,” she said. Kirda is thrilled to be a part of APAC to do just that. She points out that APAC has done a lot over the past few years to be “responsive to the concerns expressed by APs,” as well as providing forums and information that should be disseminated to the campus community.

THERE IS still much work to be done. Kirda would like to see APAC continue to address the conversion of AP positions into Civil Service positions, including but not limited to the issues of seniority and research positions. She stated, “I think I can help by continuing to share the concerns that my colleagues have about the conversion, through APAC, to the campus administration.”

KIRDA HAS been married for 15 years, and her husband, Mike, also works at UIC. He is the Information Technology Director in the College of Applied Health Sciences. They have a seven-year-old daughter and six-year-old son, who participate in many extracurricular activities, which keep the Kirdas quite busy.