As an administrative aide in the Facilities and Services Planning Department, Nicole McCurry is always busy, but says multi-tasking comes naturally. “I’m so used to it, I don’t even realize that I’m doing 10 things at once,” said the graduate student, wife and mother of two teenagers. And her life isn’t about to slow down. Her 18-year-old son is off to college in the fall and she’ll graduate with a master’s degree in human resources education in December.
What are your job responsibilities?
The Planning Division’s primary focus is to help campus customers and administration develop solutions for their facility needs. In my role, I provide administrative support to the director of planning, Helen Coleman. I also provide support to the planners, who are architects. We take a project from conceptualization to the hiring of the architect or engineering firm. A project includes feasibility studies, programming or a full construction project. Project planners work with a specific department to get a sense of their needs and then design, prepare construction documents and hire consultants. I work closely with the planners to ensure that the necessary paperwork for the project is processed and executed. A typical day might involve working with professional service agreements, including any changes or amendments, bonds and insurance certificates for capital projects. This includes preparing the documents, routing for approval and signature, making and keeping a detailed record of the documents and their status to monitor progress on each document and project. Things are really busy right now; there’s lots going on all the time. It’s an exciting environment to work in.
What is your favorite part of your job?
The number one thing would have to be the staff. I enjoy them so much. I get to work with people in other areas of Facilities and Services, outside agencies, architectural and engineering firms, contractors, corporations, government units and other UI offices through all phases of capital improvement projects.
The planners do the hard work and much more than I have explained, but knowing my job is helping someone see the results they’re happy with is rewarding. I love seeing things come together. I have worked for the construction division at Facilities and Services before, so I have seen both sides of the process.
What are some challenges of your job?
There are lots of deadlines, so making sure each of them is met is always a challenge. Other than that, I have to stay focused and make sure I’m organized. In a busy place like this, it’s easy to forget something.
What was your background before working for Facilities and Services?
I have almost 10 years’ experience at the UI. It has been a huge blessing. I’ve been able to find opportunities that have been challenging and allowed me to grow. Before working here I worked in the Personnel Services Office and the College of Law. I’ve met so many amazing people in my time here. After working at the university for a while, I decided to finish my B.A. at Eastern. After that, I thought, “Why stop there?” and started grad school at the UI. I’ll graduate with my master’s in December 2007. It’s something I’m very proud of.
What do you like to do outside of work?
My biggest hobbies are my kids. My 13-year-old daughter Shauna is in the seventh grade. My 18-year-old son Corey is a senior this year. We’ve been busy visiting colleges and trying to figure out what’s in his future. We are a big sports family, and everyone loves basketball. I’m always in someone’s basketball season. Both of my kids play basketball and are both point guards. My husband, who works as a carpenter for Facilities and Services, is also the women’s junior varsity basketball coach at Centennial High School.
As a family, we enjoy going to church together. In my spare time, I like to volunteer and visit people at the nursing home. I originally started out volunteering there for a psychology class I took at Eastern and it was very rewarding for me. It’s a good feeling to be able to give to others. I enjoy reading for leisure and bowling although I don’t get to do much of either anymore. I also enjoy traveling. I like warmer climates, especially during this time of year.