The Online Reflector

NOTE: Nicole Davis, the UIndy Student Employee of the Year, is a senior, recently accepted into the UIndy MBA program. Also, there is NO financial award to the Campus Student Employee of the Year.

Hardworking Hounds Week recognized University of Indianapolis’ outstanding student employees during the week of April 10. Students nominated for Employee of the Year were honored Sunday, April 10, at the Celebration Reception held 4:30-5:45 p.m. in the Trustees’ Dining Hall. The nominees were announced at the Recognition Banquet directly after the reception.

The event recognized 19 nominees and their nominators. The UIndy Student Employee of the Year was announced at the Recognition Banquet. The winner, a double-major in accounting and finance, sophomore Nicole Davis won $1,000 and a brass star paperweight engraved with her name. The two finalists, international relations major Alex Lyster and theatre major Chelsey Wood, were recognized at the Celebration Reception and Recognition Banquet. They each received a framed certificate and other small prizes.

“For the students who were nominated for Student Employee of the Year, they do take their campus jobs seriously,” said Libby Davis, assistant director of Career Services. “If there were just a few words I would encourage students to remove from their vocabulary, they would be ‘I only work in the [Admissions Office]’ or ‘I just work in the [Registrar’s Office]’ because we want students to look at student employment as being real employment, and it’s a wonderful opportunity not only to develop professional, transferable skills but also to be doing networking.”

Throughout the week, students were honored for their employment contributions by offices on campus.

“First of all, I feel extremely honored to even be nominated for the Student Employee of the Year award. There were only 19 students nominated for the award, but there are a lot of student employees on campus, and we all worked hard to do our best at our jobs,” Nicole Davis said. “To actually win the award is another story. I’m really excited to see that all my hard work has paid off. Most of all, I’m just really thankful to have such a great job where I get to have fun making bulletin boards in addition to the real work that goes on in the office.”

Senior Alex Lyster was one of the finalists who was recognized for her work as an employee in the Academic Success Center.

“It is amazing to know that my bosses see the effort and hard work I put in. It’s really warming, in all honesty,” Lyster said. “It’s a great honor. I’m excited to be a part of this family.”

Lyster said although the work she does in the Academic Success Center isn’t directly related to her major, she is gaining work experience that will translate into her career.

“Work is building the organization I need. It’s building my personal skills, such as organization and time-management,” she said.

According to Libby Davis, the Employee of the Month is UIndy’s version of National Student Employment Week and the Student Employee of the Year Award program. For a student to be nominated for Employee of the Year, the student’s supervisor must first nominate him or her. Libby Davis said that the nominations are open to any supervisor who wants to nominate an outstanding student employee.

“There are five areas of criteria we look at to determine nominations,” Libby Davis said. “Reliability, quality of work, initiative, professionalism and uniqueness of contribution. The criteria come from our regional organization, the Midwest Association of Student Employment Administrators.”

Libby Davis said during Hardworking Hounds Week, Career Services delivered Rock Star awards to any student employee who exhibited one of the criteria for Student Employee of the Year.

“There are 850 student employees on campus. So I’d like to see more than just the 19 students recognized. The opportunity is that anyone could nominate any student for a Rock Star award,” Libby Davis said. “It could be for having a great attitude, going the extra mile or never giving up.”