Meet our new staff in student services, events&socialmedia

Chrissy Zigulis is our new Lead PhD Program Coordinator

Over the last 15 years, she has worked in various student-facing roles at the university in Physics, Rackham Fellowships, the School of Education, and most recently Earth and Environmental Sciences.

“I enjoy spending time with my friends and family, especially my nieces and nephews. I also love reading, doing home improvement projects, cooking, traveling, and hanging out with my two kitties, Obi and Vinny. I am looking forward to meeting all the new students in Chemistry and being part of an awesome student services team and community. One of my favorite places on campus is The Arb!.

Chrissy earned a BA in Communications and Sociology from Michigan State University and a Master of Management in Human Resources from the University of Phoenix.

Nico Spraggins joins us as PhD Program Coordinator

Nico comes to Chemistry from the U-M Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, where he was student services coordinator for two years, following a position as a team lead for the registration team in Michigan Medicine's Adult & Children Emergency Rooms.

“I am excited to connect and work with our fantastic students here in Chemistry! My passion is helping them become the best version of themselves both personally and professionally. I look forward to getting to know the community at large.”

“When I am not in the office, I can be found spending time with my family, watching Michigan football (Go Blue!) or dabbling in my longtime hobby of genealogy. My greatest passion is being a husband to my wife, Brittany and being a father to my two daughters, Madison (4) and Evelyn (2).”

He received his Bachelors in Business Administration from Cleary University.

Rebecca Dieker has been arranging seminars and events for Chemistry since April 2023.
Her other role in the department is managing the social media accounts. You may see her around the building quite a bit as she also holds these positions for the Program in Biophysics. 

A life-long Californian, Rebecca moved to Ann Arbor in June 2022. She graduated from Chapman University in May 2022 with degrees in Accounting and Business Administration with an Emphasis in Marketing. Her time as Director of Marketing for Chapman's University Program Board that planned social and community oriented events for all undergraduate students prepared her for her current position. “I've had some experience in student engagement and event planning/promotion catered towards students. I've also done marketing internships with a mobile game company where I got to coordinate and create new video concepts and create advertisements.”

Outside of work, Rebecca likes to travel and is a fan of California’s entertainment scene. “I've been an audience member at The Ellen Show, James Corden, Dancing with the Stars, The Voice, and even got invited to the Grammys red carpet one year." And if you ever get the urge to try to win radio contests, Rebecca is the person to seek out. “Fun fact - I've probably won over 75 radio contests including tickets to Taylor Swift's 'The Era's Tour'.” She also enjoys crafting, walking to nearby coffee shops, playing board/video games, and hanging out with her cat, Ivy.

Of her current position, she says the most rewarding part of the job is hearing feedback about events running smoothly and showcasing students' work on social media. “I would like the Chem community to know that I'm pretty approachable - if anyone has any content from their lab that they'd like to showcase on social media, feel free to reach out to me! I was a student not so long ago so I would say I relate to the current generation of students.”