As Associate Director of Intellectual Travel & Engagement for Alumni Relations and Development, Andrea builds opportunities for the UChicago alumni community to stay better connected to each other and the University. One of Andrea’s biggest strengths is in her ability to build lasting and meaningful relationships with alumni, faculty, and her colleagues. Andrea is known within Alumni Relations and Development as a dependable and thoughtful colleague who is always willing to lend her time and expertise to make the alumni experience stronger.

Andrea manages two prominent alumni engagement programs – intellectual engagement and travel – through which she feeds the UChicago alumni community’s hunger for lifelong learning. Under Andrea’s leadership in FY21, almost 6,000 alumni attended 16 virtual conversations with faculty on critical topics through the Harper Lecture series. She also manages the alumni travel program, which offers alumni the opportunity to take guided tours overseas with UChicago faculty.

Q: What do you enjoy most about working at UChicago?

To be surrounded by smart, kind people working to make the world better: our students, our faculty, our staff – what’s better than that? Critical thinking is the most important skill we can have as global citizens, and I’m proud to work for an institution that insists upon it and perpetuates it.

Q: How do you build such strong lasting and meaningful relationships with alumni in your role as Associate Director of Intellectual Travel & Engagement?

Our alumni are lifelong learners, and I hope that the programs I run (Harper Lectures, the Alumni Travel Program, and the Alumni Book Club) contribute to their growth and happiness throughout their lives. I strive to make sure those programs are top-notch because I want them to walk away from these experiences and think, “Wow, that’s MY school.”

Q: What drew you initially to working with the alumni community?

I wanted to be an ambassador for UChicago. Initially I began here in a role where I was training new hires in ARD. At one point, I knew everybody in our department! I realized how much I wanted to get to know the rest of our community and help to make strong connections between them and the University.

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share about your UChicago experience?

I always tell people that I have more UChicago gear than I do from my own alma mater. My family even has some! Go Maroons!