Our March 2024 NUSAC Member Spotlight is Kristin Jacobson, Administrative Assistant IV, Development and Alumni Relations, Feinberg School of Medicine
Name: Kristin Jacobson
Title: Administrative Assistant IV
Unit and School/College: Feinberg School of Medicine
Year Started at Northwestern University: 2018
Year Joined the NUSAC Council: 2023
Why did you join NUSAC? To me, NUSAC serves an important and vital function at Northwestern, linking staff together across departments and colleges and campuses, serving as the sounding board to the university leadership and providing a counterpoint to the faculty council vis-à-vis every day working conditions.
What is the most important thing your NU staff colleagues should know about NUSAC? That we are here to work for you! I think that most staff feel a little isolated within their teams, programs, or colleges, and, because NUSAC is a University-wide group, we can be easy to overlook while caught up in the day-to-day demands of work. Although our highest-profile work is on “big issue” events that concern staff at all levels, like the July 2023 Town Hall with President Schill or the compensation talkback with the University Finance and HR leadership, we are also invested in individual-level initiatives like NUCares and the annual ice cream socials. I would encourage everyone to check out our website and contact a NUSAC member from your school or campus with any questions.
What issue are you most passionate about related to improving the NU experience for staff? Staff Engagement seems to me to be a critical issue in the wake of the societal upheavals of the COVID-19 pandemic and the George Floyd uprisings, as well as evolving changes to the work environment itself. We work at one of the great universities, but I think that staff are often cut off from experiencing the most the university has to offer as a cultural institution. I believe there are real opportunities to be had through tailored cultural and intellectual activities–a lecture series, a concert series, opportunities to experience the arts–that a university setting can provide for its staff community.
What do you most enjoy about your work at Northwestern?The thing I enjoy most about my work at Northwestern is my colleagues! Everyone I interact with at Northwestern is dedicated and professional and here to help make your work day better. I love that my work at Feinberg directly supports the future health of Chicagoans. I am also proud to work for an institution that is addressing its own history of structural racism and other institutionalized oppressions in a forthright manner. NU leadership’s commitment to openness around these big issues are one of the reasons I continue to be proud to work here.
What is a little-known fun fact about you? I am an avid theater-goer and opera fan. I grew up in suburban New York, and I’ve seen live performances all over the world–and I am big, big booster of our hometown Chicago theater and dance scene–we are a town full of working performers, which is such a gift. Live performances are my jam! So do feel free to invite me to yours, but I warn you, I’ll probably show up 🙂