UIC Office of Diversity welcomes new administrative team
With the recent retirement of Jacob Mueller, former assistant vice chancellor and chief of staff in the UIC Office of Diversity, Equity and Engagement (ODEE), the ODEE administrative team has welcomed a new member to help guide the transition and support the next era of the office.
A major addition to this new team is Hedy Salgado, who joined the ODEE as a business manager at the end of May. Salgado formerly worked at the UIC Honors College as a business administrative associate and front desk manager starting in 2020. Prior to that, she worked in the private sector in banking, cost accounting and internal audit as well as living and working abroad as an English instructor in South Korea and Japan.
Salgado earned a bachelor of science in business administration/international business from Dominican University. She is currently pursuing her graduate studies at Northeastern Illinois University.
In her new role, Salgado will be specifically handling budget, finance and purchasing activities for the ODEE. In addition, John Colagrossi will be assisting Salgado with business and budget functions. Colagrossi, assistant director of operations of the Simulation and Integrative Learning Institute in the UIC Department of Medical Education, has been working with Mueller for the past six years in ODEE as well.
Salgado joins Caitlin Culler, ODEE director of operations, as the foundation of the office’s administrative operations. Culler joined the ODEE during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as assistant director of operations and worked with Mueller over the past three years to solidify the administrative structures of the office and the Centers for Cultural Understanding and Social Change (CCUSC) that are housed under it. Culler’s expertise in HR and operations is evident throughout the VCDEE enterprise.
Salgado will be supported by Colagrossi in her new position in ODEE, and Culler will continue oversight of operations, for which her main focus will be HR work. The addition of Salgado fortifies an already strong administrative team, solidifying the operations and functioning of the ODEE and its administrative oversight of the CCUSC.