University Professional Personnel Advisory Committee (UPPAC)

In 1977, University of Illinois President Corbally created the University Professional Personnel Advisory Committee (UPPAC) to serve the academic professionals working at the University, and provide advice to the University of Illinois president on behalf of all academic professionals. Today, there are more than 6000 academic professionals employed by the University of Illinois, providing a variety of administrative, technical, and professional support on the three campuses and throughout the state.

Academic professionals on each University of Illinois campus (Chicago, Springfield, Urbana-Champaign) elect colleagues to represent them on their own campus advisory committees. The representatives of UPPAC are usually nominated from members of these professional advisory committees based on individual bylaws. Individuals serve one year terms but can repeat terms. There are also several non-voting members, including a chancellor’s representative from each campus, a representative from Central Administration Personnel, and a representative from the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs.

The University Professional Personnel Advisory Committee meets quarterly and serves the interests of full-time, part-time, visiting, and retired academic professionals by:

  • providing formal and informal communication between academic professionals, the President and other administrative officers of the University,
  • drafting and reviewing University-wide policies affecting academic professionals,
  • coordinating communications between campuses affecting academic professionals,
  • interviewing candidates for key University administrative positions.