What’s your job? is a series focused on the work of FP&M employees. As the largest and most diverse nonacademic unit on campus, it can be challenging to learn everything our division is responsible for. These stories shine a light on FP&Mers and what they do to keep campus safe, sustainable and successful.
Construction and building projects are essential to creating a vibrant campus that serves students, employees and visitors alike. However, the success of these projects relies heavily on behind-the-scenes work.
Project coordinators like FP&M’s Amina Dudak play a crucial role in bringing these projects to life.
Amina started with the Capital Project Delivery department in May 2023, having moved to the U.S. from Kazakhstan about a year prior. The department plans, designs and budgets campus capital projects to help keep spaces functional as the university grows. For each project that Amina is brought onto, she helps project managers by communicating with Physical Plant, the contractors, building managers, designers and other stakeholders. Through this process, she helps identify and fix any problems that arise, ensuring the construction process runs smoothly.
Amina is one of three project coordinators recently hired for this new position in the department. Each coordinator has found their own niche. For example, her coworker, Tyler Dovenbarger, does a lot of administrative work, while another project coordinator, Christina Ashworth, has a knack for more analytical tasks. Amina herself has leaned into a customer service focus.
“The project coordinator provides a second person for our clients to connect with when our project manager is tied up on other matters,” Amina’s supervisor and Architect/Engineer Manager Bob Bucci said. “Amina and our other coordinators have formed a connection to those clients and become a trusted resource for communicating questions or concerns back to the whole project team.”
In her day-to-day work, Amina engages with clients by scheduling meetings, preparing agendas, documenting discussions, distributing meeting notes, and organizing files and archives.
She also attends meetings to see projects through from beginning to end and share some of the workload with her project manager colleagues.
“Once construction is done and the space is commissioned, I feel like I have a personal touch since I have attended all of the meetings and heard all of the concerns throughout, so I can be there to assist if needed,” she said.
“Sometimes I am just there to listen and build that relationship with clients to try to understand them and their concerns.”
Amina mentioned her appreciation for the opportunities UW–Madison provides to its employees, which help her grow her skills. For example, FP&M’s team of project coordinators attended a class this November, “Complying with the International Existing Building Code (IEBC),” to learn about strategies to meet public health, safety and welfare compliance guidelines for construction projects.
Another positive part of FP&M for Amina is the volume of female leadership.
“I’m really lucky to have so many exemplary women at FP&M who inspire me,” she said. “Having role models, especially at my age, at this stage in my career, is quite important, and I’m quite grateful. I never thought of myself as a person who could have a job in this industry for various reasons, but seeing all of these powerful women here, I think, ‘Maybe I can do this and do this well!’”
It’s one of many cultural aspects Amina enjoys about FP&M.
“Coming from a different background, you move to a new country; it’s really intimidating,” she said. “I was very lucky to have chosen Madison because it was a complete coincidence, but people have been so kind, so open, so patient. Since I got here, because people come up to me with positivity, now I find I do that to other people. It’s electrifying, it’s definitely contagious.”
As she continues growing her experience and expertise, Amina is looking forward to seeing the completion of some of the projects she’s worked on, including a second and fifth-floor Grainger Hall renovation and one at the UW Law School. If you get a chance, check these out in the next few months and congratulate Amina on her hard work!
Want to learn more about project coordination? You can get in touch with Amina at amina.dudak@wisc.edu.
By: Corinne Loth
Corinne is a strategic communications student intern with FP&M Marketing & Communications. She is a senior at UW–Madison majoring in Communications and Information Science with a certificate/minor in Digital Studies. Corinne has been working at FP&M since January 2024.