Staff Profile: Jennifer Earls

Uni has recently welcomed a new Operations Coordinator and Business Manager, Jennifer Earls. Her job description entails financial work and managing the building itself. She will also be managing the office staff and overseeing various projects in Uni facilities. 

“I am in charge of the business side of Uni High and making sure that things get paid, money gets deposited where it should be deposited,” Earls says. I’m going to be the person who does all of the credit card work for faculty and staff here in the building. I’m in charge of the building itself, so I’ll be the asbestos person.”

Earls recently moved to Champaign from Murray, Kentucky, but she is originally from Southern Illinois. She has a 16-year-old daughter who is captain of her color guard team back in Murray, who will be joining her in Champaign at the end of the school year. 

Her family has long wished to have someone attend the University of Illinois, and this position offers a chance to fulfill this dream. 

She was also drawn to the position because of her past as a high school biology teacher.

“It excited me a lot because I was a high school biology teacher, and then I got into higher ed and did a lot of things with colleges and universities. It just felt like this job kind of married my two things together,” Earls says.

The prospect of being in a high school again and interacting with students is what excites her most about the position. 

“Just the energy from you guys, the students, just being in the halls and even just walking around, not doing much with you yet, but just that feeling of being in a school again and being a part of that just really is exciting to me, ” Earls says.