Staff of the Month

Winner: Janet Reyes

Nominated by: Oliver Anderson

Janet has been the core of Student Engagement & Belonging since starting at Westminster last fall. Janet has single-handedly supported each student identity program within Student Engagement and Belonging (AAPI Life, Black Excellence, Disability Justice, Raíces Unidas, and Queer Compass), including each of their socials and programs. Just this month alone, Janet helped AAPI Life with a very successful and meaningful Lunar New Year Celebration and helped get 23 students into the theaters to watch "Bob Marley: One Love" for a Black Excellence program. Janet also helped facilitate the Black Excellence poster instillation in Shaw, featuring six notable Black and African American leaders, poets, activist, and scholars - to help bring awareness of their great accomplishments and impact on the world today. Janet is unbelievable in her ability to foster inclusive spaces for her students and leads with a compassionate heart and grateful mind. We are extremely fortunate to have Janet in our community.

Nominated by: Jessica Irvine

Janet has shown extraordinary passion and relentless dedication to the students of Westminster since coming on as the Associate Director of Student Engagement and Belonging. Her ability to quickly pickup on the job with little guidance and still successfully form relationships with students, hire student workers, encourage and inspire them to put of events for the identity groups of this campus and increase attendance has been incredible to watch. She has persisted through a challenging time for the Universities organization and has taught herself so much about how to navigate our campus. She gracefully invites community and will continue to do so.

Taylor Blum

Nominated by: Jessica Johnston

Taylor has been extremely helpful over the past two semesters helping with developing materials for Science Saturday STEM Camps. He is very easy to communicate with and responsive to requests. For the Science Saturday event on February 24, a licensing error at the company that prints camp t-shirts was going to delay delivery into early March. However, Taylor really came through! He emailed the company's licensing office directly to get the project moving and the t-shirts even arrived early. This alleviated a lot of stress, and I really appreciate his response to this time-sensitive issue.

Winner: Lauren Jones

Nominated by: Braden Thompson

You know those meme videos where people ask AI to render an idea and then continue to tell it to "make it more"? Lauren is the "make it more" on my team. If we need a new concept for an admissions brochure or email or social media, I can always count on Lauren to give me plenty of ideas. And from those mountains of creativity and increasingly wild, crazy, and fun ideas, we have been able to mine some really great content for prospective student communications. Some of the most recent examples are a rad collab with a local artist and an incredible story about one of Westminster's amazing student leaders—both of which are major features on print pieces that will land in prospective student mailboxes next month. On top of her creativity and storytelling abilities, Lauren is a go getter. If she has a new project idea or if we need information from someone on campus so we can share it with prospective students, she's putting boots (or, more likely, clogs or sandals or rock climbing shoes) on the ground to find people and get things moving. And if that isn't enough, Lauren is always involved with something on campus. I'm sure many of you know her or have seen her around. That's why I think Lauren should be staff of the month. The end.

Winner: Britley Ranstadler

Nominated by: Sharon Gibbons

I am nominating Britley not only because she literally exemplifies ALL of Westminster’s core values, but also because of her critical role in our department’s recent conversion from the Colleague Advancement database to the new Blackbaud RE NXT CRM. In the early phases of migration, it was difficult for IS to prioritize the migration with so many projects, so Britley asked if she could upload the data. As the database conversion continued, she oversaw data mapping, implementation, and data testing. As we go live with Blackbaud, Britley continues to be our cheerleader, helping to problem solve, and provide support to our entire team. Of course, she does this while still handling most of the responsibilities she had before the migration. I feel that Britley is a true asset to the University and deserves to be Staff of the Month.

Mary Denison

Nominated by: Jeff Pedersen

Mary is always willing to go above and beyond to help students of the University as well as other staff members. They are actively ready to collaborate with colleagues, helping foster a strong and positive work environment. Mary exhibits a high level of professionalism and attention to detail - they have a strong commitment to their work and an appetite for continuous learning. Recognizing Mary would serve as a testament to the positive impact they have brought from the financial aid office into the world of Westminster. She consistently helps empower students to understand their options of financial aid among other things, making them feel welcome!

Winner: Sarah Lof

Nominated by: Jeff Driggs

Sarah does so much for Westminster! She critically engaged in her job in the Registrar's Office, ensuring that students' academic records are correct and that their route to, and through, graduation is smooth and accurate, working with a smile every graduation, for hours beyond the typical workday. She also supports the university in other ways, such as coordinating a weekly trivia game for faculty and staff, to keep us interacting and engaged with one another. She previously served on Staff Council for several years. In that capacity she served as the council's treasurer. She kept the financial accounts carefully, and has since been instrumental in helping the council and subsequent officers to understand the university's budgeting system and Staff Council's financial history, even though she has been off the council for a couple of years. Always good natured, always ready to help students or colleagues with questions or problems, Sarah is a great example of the exemplary Westminster staff member.

Katherine Paterson

Nominated by: Joshua Ashman

Katherine been extremely helpful in the various papers I have had to do this semester and has always been very kind. Made me see the value of the library as a resource.

Winner: Julie Hildebrand

Nominated by: Stephanie Pointer

Julie is an incredible leader. She knows how to trust her people, and that trust inspires us to do our best. She radiates joy and enthusiasm, and easily connects with people. Her joy and enthusiasm only increase as she faces challenges with open-minded curiosity. Julie handles a massive workload, and she doesn't let it get her down. She still has time to troubleshoot and brainstorm with others. She's an incredible person, and we're lucky to have her!

Laura Kendellen

Nominated by: Jovana Sisovic

There's not a text box big enough to fit why I am nominating Laura as a staff of the month! In a nutshell: Laura spearheads so many efforts across campus and yet, somehow, manages to always find time to help with a last minute project that gets thrown her way. She's hardworking, knowledgeable, kind, understanding, prompt, efficient, and supportive of new ideas. In case you don't get this told often enough - Laura, you rock! Thank you for all you do for your campus community, fellow employees, and Westminster as a whole.

Lauren Jones

Nominated by: Maddie Hayes

I continue to admire Lauren's creativity and the delightful content ideas she brings to the table for admissions materials. Working with her in this role for the past year and change has been a delight! She's a team player in Enrollment Management, often covering the front desk when there's a call for help doing so. More recently she suggested we collaborate with a local artist for a mail piece to prospective high school juniors. She successfully worked with MarComm to figure out if the artist's charge was reasonable. She also maintained meaningful communication with the artist, making sure the piece includes the components we want while maintaining the uniqueness of the artist's work. In short: I'm proud of her and happy she's my friend and coworker. :)

Winner: Jessica Lind

Nominated by: Kara McShane-Hefley

I am nominating Jessica Lind for many reasons, but I will start with the obvious - she keeps all the mail, packages, and other assorted deliveries on campus flowing smoothly and that is a huge task. It is so important to every office, academic department, and student resident to receive these items and Jessica's skillful professionalism make it all possible. Jessica is frequently asked to make major changes in delivery details with a moments notice, and always does so with positivity and accuracy. The team she trains and manages is a diverse group of students who do their job well and are appreciated by faculty and staff alike. Jessica provides such a vital service for the whole campus, and does it so well that I think many folks on campus don't even realize what happens behind the scenes and what an incredibly organized, dedicated, and knowledgeable resource she is for the University. Thank you Jessica, for all you do and for the incredible team you manage!

Elyse Correa

Nominated by: Jessica Brazell-Brayboy

Elyse is a critical member of campus operations! She is a consummate professional and is an incredible partner throughout the year but particularly during New Student Orientation. She works tirelessly behind the scenes to help other people produce successful events. Elyse is particularly gifted at creating simple strategies in complex complex and evolving situations.

Kenton Gregory

Nominated by: Jessica Brazell-Brayboy

Kenton and his team contributed significantly to the successful opening of residence halls, the dining hall, and academic buildings. He is committed to collaboration and leveraging resources to facilitate a safe and upkept environment. Three cheers for Kenton and his crew!

Science Saturday Contributors

Nominated by: Jessica Johnston

I would like to recognize many members of the campus community who have contributed to the success of Science Saturday camps at Westminster University. They provide so much support, from the fundraising to the planning to the marketing to the execution of the camp. I sincerely appreciate their enthusiastic collaboration and timely communication. With their expertise and help, we will be welcoming 42 middle school girls on campus this weekend! I am incredibly grateful to the following people for their efforts: Mary Alley, Taylor Blum. Elyse Correa, Jeff Driggs, Julie Greene, Haley Mahler, Traci Siriprathane, and Nicole Williams.

Julia Correa

Nominated by: Quincey Malauulu Otuafi

Julia just completed her first year as an admissions counselor in the Enrollment Management division. As an alum of Westminster, she brought her expertise and experience into her role and has used her connections on campus to lead the execution of 3 major recruitment events on campus. For Griffin Kick-off (an application launch event on campus), she approached the event with innovation putting an important emphasis on making the programming fun and engaging. Julia also collaborated with liaisons across campus to ensure that students had access to the resources they need in the college search process. It was clear that Julia was committed to the success of this event, as well as her overall commitment to serving students and families, when she pre-recorded her meeting contributions on multiple occasions anticipating her absence for personal leave to make sure our team had the information they needed to fulfilled the tasks Julia had delegated to them.

Kari Lindsey

Nominated by: Kelly Asao

Kari Lindsey goes above and beyond to support students on this campus. As Co-Director of First Scholars, Kari has worked tirelessly to create an engaging, impactful, and successful Summer Bridge program for the First Scholars students. She is dedicated to student success and fosters student belonging through innovative programming, excellence in teaching, and student leadership development. Kari collaborates closely with numerous campus partners, such as the Outdoor Education program, Advancement, and Admissions. She exemplifies the qualities that Westminster values, such as kindness, social responsibility, effective communication, passion, creativity, and dedication. In additional to coordinating the immersive Summer Bridge, Kari has also recruited and admitted new students to the First Scholars program in the past month. She does all this, while also being an exceptional new mother. Kari deserves to be recognized for all she does to help our students thrive.