Nikki Yagoda

Nikki Yagoda serves as the Associate Director for Community Engagement for the Vice President for Economic Development and Innovation (VPEDI) office. In this role, Nikki oversees the development and implementation of public-facing programs and projects focused on economic development and community engagement in the state of Illinois and beyond. She works closely with the Associate Vice President and Interim Executive Director of the Illinois Innovation Network to advance and support key priorities.

Previously, Nikki served as the Director of Partnerships (among other roles) for over ten years at the University of Chicago’s Graham School of Continuing Education and was tasked with the development and implementation of new certificates, degrees, and community outreach programs designed to enrich the lives and careers of adult learners. As part of this role, Nikki worked closely with several online and onsite programs including, but not limited to: Know Your Chicago, Artifact Collection Care Program, American Society of Appraisers, Leadership in Sustainability Management, National Museum Publishing Seminar (NMPS), Visual Arts Certificate Program, the MLA Residential Seminar at UChicago, the Scientific Discovery Program, and AlumniU. Prior to these roles, Nikki has worked at the Chicago Children’s Museum (Teacher), Morpho Gallery (General Manager), Hyde Park Art Center (Exhibitions Assistant), Plainfield High School (Registrar) and GameStop (3rd Key).

In her free time, Nikki enjoys gardening, DIY, and dada poetry games. She completed her undergraduate and graduate work at the University of Chicago in the department of Art History.