Employee Spotlight: Nicole Bach (BSc '19), Project Manager, Destination Project

Where are you from?
I was born in Ontario and moved here in 1975 when I was three. I’ve pretty much been here ever since. I moved back to Ontario for a year and I moved to Winnipeg for a year, just to see if it would be different. I always came back to Lethbridge. Lethbridge is such an interesting city; it just draws people in. It’s a great place to raise kids. It just seemed like a good fit and I really didn’t want to leave after I came back.

How long have you been at the U of L and what do you do here?
I have a diploma in watershed management from the college. I worked with Fish and Wildlife at a non-profit organization called Cows and Fish for 11 years. Then in 2011, I came to the U of L to fill a maternity leave in Institutional Analysis. Once I was here, I didn’t want to leave. It was pretty awesome. After that, I was fortunate that the Faculty of Education called me because they needed someone to run their EPOP (Educational Partners Orientation Program). I did that for about 18 months and then I landed in the Destination Project Office (DPO) in 2013. And here I am, starting with DPO from an idea and a program to design, construction and now full circle to having people move in and we’re going to have the grand opening. It’s the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. It was an enormous venture and being with the DPO all this time has been incredibly rewarding. Every day was different. Every day a problem would come up and it involved me analyzing, talking to stakeholders, researching, looking at options and then following through with something. It was always something new going on. While I was doing this project, for almost the past six years, I was doing my degree. I was taking two classes a semester while doing this project. I sacrificed a lot of family time and friendships, but in the end, it was worth it. I think everybody’s really proud of me and I hope they forgive me for it. Once the Big Bang Weekend is over, I’ll start transitioning to Facilities. I was lucky enough to get a position in Campus Planning assisting John Claassen (director).

What’s the best part of your job?
Getting to the see the whole DPO come full circle. On a day-to-day basis, I don’t sit at my desk very often. I think with this project I’ve dealt with most of the departments on campus, which is quite incredible. That’s the best part, being able to interact with such a diverse group of people — the University community as well as external.

What’s one thing most people don’t know about you?
Maybe people don’t know that I was doing one of the most stressful jobs on campus and my degree at the same time. I’m also a bit of thrill seeker. Lesley Brown (former vice provost and associate vice-president academic) got me into mountain biking and I’ve kind of gone off the deep end with it. It’s been hard to get time to do mountain biking but I do enjoy it.