Rebecca Fortier is the Special Events Facilitator for UIC-HR Special Programs. Her role is to plan and manage campus events for UIC staff and faculty. These include the Employee Recognition Award Program, Campus Charitable Fund Drive, Retirement Luncheon, and the Retirement Planning Conference.
Rebecca, “the new kid on the block”, joined us in mid-July, is new to the University and new to this role.
Prior to coming to UIC, she spent six and a half years at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in the Office of Undergraduate Admission where she planned and managed all of the undergraduate recruitment events like open houses, overnight weekends, and receptions.
Before that, for about nine years, she worked for The Walt Disney Company in their theme parks in Orlando, FL and Tokyo, Japan. Beginning on The Walt Disney World College Program as an Attractions Hostess, then working in the Entertainment Division where she served in various capacities as a trainer, theme park guest service coordinator, and a dancer/performer.
In her position here on campus, she is currently working on being acquainted with the University and all of her contacts, but most importantly, she is working on our first two events of the year, the Campus Charitable Fund Drive and the Employee Recognition Awards Program. Rebecca says, “I’ve enjoyed being an event planner for many reasons. I love the creativity and detailed thought process that goes into putting a project together. I also enjoy the fact that I get to work with so many different kinds of offices and people to put an event together. It really does take a village for an event to be a success.”
Outside of her UIC life, Rebecca is a dancer and performer in community theater musicals in the north and northwest suburbs. She has been performing since she was young and after leaving The Walt Disney Company, did not want to give that up. There is a wonderful community theater base to compliment the regional and national theater one here in the Chicago area. Currently, she is rehearsing for the tap dancing filled “42nd Street” up in the north suburb of Highland Park. Rebecca attended Western Illinois University in Macomb, IL and has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Communications and Human Relations.
