Erin McLaughlin from the Office of Undergraduate Studies and Associate Provost for Academic Affairs has been named this year's Student Employee of the Year. She was recognized at an April 12 reception.
McLaughlin assists with daily operations of the office, which includes multiple projects such as the Holiday Sharing Program, Remembrance Scholarships, Shared Reading Program and Middle States Accreditation process. For the Holiday Sharing Program, she works with campus departments and agencies disseminating important information. She was involved in the Remembrance Scholarship Program, and her aggressive marketing plan resulted in a 20 percent increase in the number of applicants.
According to Judy O'Rourke, director of undergraduate studies, "She is among the best student employees I've supervised in my 25 years at SU." Her nominator, Eileen Fahey, wrote in her nomination form: "It goes without saying that student employees are expected to be responsible, prompt, accurate, cooperative and hard working -- however, through her systematic efforts and her curiosity, and especially due to her ability to synthesize information, she completes every task assigned to her in a way that improves the project's procedures and outcome. She is an outstanding asset to our office and to the programs it sponsors."
Although Erin spends many hours in the office, she is a stellar student and is involved with numerous extracurricular activities, including serving as treasurer of the Association for Student Elderly Connection, performing in the Cabaret Performance Troupe, and being a member of the Office of Residence Life's Diversity Committee. McLaughlin is from Lockerbie, Scotland, and is a Remembrance Scholar, a member of the Phi Alpha Theta history honors society, the Phi Beta Delta international honors society and a senior class marshal.
McLaughlin's name has also been submitted for the 2007 National Student Employee of the Year Award.
Runners-up:
LaMonica Faulkquay is a student employee from the Department of Recreation Services and was recognized for her outstanding work as lead manager for operations payroll and personnel in Recreation Services. She supervises four student managers, oversees and schedules a staff of more than 50 student employees, and manages operations for the facility. Because of her initiative, her leadership team has been nationally recognized for its professionalism and work ethic. She has developed a student employee recognition system and the student operations manual.
Ithamar (Ithy) Turrene works in the Dean of Students Office in the Division of Student Affairs. According to her supervisors, Turrene completes her job in a timely manner, and no job is too mundane for her to do. She is also dependable and ensures that even the small details are covered.
National Student Employment Week was established to recognize the value of student employees and student employment professionals. SU has nearly 6,000 student employees, 67 of whom were nominated for this year's Student Employee of the Year award. All nominees and their campus nominators were invited to the April 12 reception, where each nominee received a certificate and gift in recognition of their achievements.
In honor of National Student Employment Week, Student Employment Services gave students an opportunity to win prizes in daily drawings.
