Conferences, Reservations and Event Services
Lucian Wilhelm Finds Her Perfect Puzzle at UNC Charlotte
By Wyatt Crosher, Assistant Director of Communications for Student Affairs
For more than 30 years, Lucian Wilhelm has been a constant piece of the process for reserving spaces on UNC Charlotte’s campus.
What started as a student employment opportunity eventually turned into a full-time career for Wilhelm, the current senior associate director for Conferences, Reservations and Event Services (CRES), and that’s partially thanks to the ever-changing process that comes with those reservations.
“It’s a very interesting position because there’s a lot of problem solving and it's very much like a puzzle, and I like puzzles,” Wilhelm said. “One of the reasons I've stayed is that it's always different and it's always been a challenge. There's never a boring day.”
Big Rocks First
Wilhelm has served various positions in the CRES office since her initial employment in 1995, starting as part of the front lines for reserving spaces before moving into leadership positions. Her initial rise from student employee to full-time staff member came thanks to the right timing, with another staff member leaving shortly after she first began in the department.
“Fortunately or unfortunately, I realized that I was better at making reservations than I was at being a student,” Wilhelm said.
Despite her involvement in CRES, most of Wilhelm’s current position doesn’t involve making reservations. Instead, she is focused on pre-planning, working with departments across campus to make sure areas are working together successfully for future events.
She describes the pre-planning process as “putting the big rocks in first,” prioritizing the larger-scale events so that the rest of the events can be backfilled properly. It can cause Wilhelm to lose track of the present as she primarily focuses far into the future.
“Most of the time I'm working, I don't know what year it is,” Wilhelm said. “I'm usually working a year ahead of time, so I kind of live a year or two in advance.”
Putting Out Fires
But sometimes, the present demands Wilhelm’s focus to help support last-minute event requests or reservations that CRES did not anticipate. This was described as “putting out fires” by Kevin Bailey, vice chancellor of student affairs, when he awarded Wilhelm with a Vice Chancellor’s Award at the divisional awards ceremony this past May.
The honor, which was chosen for Wilhelm directly by the vice chancellor, was in recognition of her consistent ability to help Student Affairs with those last-minute “fires,” and it was recognition that Wilhelm said she was blown away by.
“I was very surprised, and I was very honored. I did not have that on my bingo card at all,” she said.
Witnessing Charlotte's Growth
Though Wilhelm has advanced professionally in the same area of the University, she has seen Charlotte take numerous strides over the past 30 years. Along with the growth happening on campus, she highlighted the increased connection to the Charlotte community at large as the area that has expanded significantly during her tenure.
“When I started here, the University was kind of this little tiny pocket. Seeing it grow into the city has been really exciting to see,” Wilhelm said. “I grew up in Concord. It's like 14 miles from here. When I would say I work at the University, people used to be like, ‘Which one?’ Now it is very different. When you tell people you work at the University, they know exactly where you work.”
Solving the 'Why'
As Charlotte continues to expand its buildings and renovate its spaces, Wilhelm will continue to be there piecing it together. She may feel like she’s living in 2026, but as she has done for the past three decades, her priority will always be to have a thoughtful approach to not just what her on-campus partners need, but why.
It’s those same qualities that earned her the Vice Chancellor’s Award this past May.
“I really make a concerted effort to understand how other people, positions, units and departments are contributing to the operations of the institution,” Wilhelm said. “Knowing that helps me understand why something's important, why it needs to be at certain times or dates and it also helps me work collaboratively with people. If I understand what your goal is, then it's easier for us to work together to find a way to get to that goal.”