Since fall 2019, Student Affairs has had an employee recognition program in the four important areas of student retention, customer service, leadership, and morale building. The program’s purpose is to shine a light on the talent, commitment, and compassion demonstrated by our staff. Nominations were accepted by peers and supervisors during the months of April through September. We are delighted to announce the winners for spring 2022.
Spring 2022 winners
| Student retention | Customer service | Leadership | Morale building |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
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| Gwenyth Sutphin Disability Resource Center |
Yuliana Barajas Conference Services |
Jeremy Laxton Admissions |
Karen Hulsey Financial Aid |
Here are some plaudits from the nominations:
Gwenyth Sutphin| Student retention
Gwenyth has single-handedly coordinated ASL interpreters for students, going over and above to guarantee that deaf and hard of hearing students have the support they need to stay in school and to graduate. She is extremely passionate about helping students and her fellow employees succeed here at UA Little Rock. She is hardworking and gives her all to the students who go to the DRC to seek out accommodations no matter what their disability. She puts in long hours and goes above and beyond to serve this university. She is so very deserving of this and more.
The following are some examples of the things she has done to advance services for students who are deaf or hard of hearing. During the pandemic when all classes and departments moved online, Gwenyth figured out how to successfully provide interpreting services remotely with limited resources from her home. Also, as student orientation moved online, videos were created showcasing the services offered by the university. She ensured that each of those videos were properly captioned, a process that is tedious and time consuming. The work she provided benefited the orientation process and will have a positive impact on recruitment.
Yuliana Barajas | Customer service
Yuliana is the Conference Services Coordinator for the Donaghey Student Center. She works with departments all across campus and the community to deliver the highest quality of customer service for each event hosted by the DSC. These events range from Student Orientations, Board of Visitors meetings, Blood Drives, Student Orgs, Cheer Camps, and the list could go on. Her and her staff are always doing whatever it takes to get the job done from flipping table setups to troubleshooting IT technical issues.
Jeremy Laxton | Leadership
Mr. Laxton has dealt with a lot of change in the last year. Admissions has had some employee turnover this year which left several positions open that needed to be filled. Jeremy has shown great leadership over his team, making sure that they could manage with the shortage of staff while picking up any slack in the department. Jeremy is approachable, and he offered his guidance to everyone and made sacrifices to help the team accomplish their goals. He has worked very hard to bring on the right team members to fill the open positions while also focusing on the current members of the team. All of the recruiters appreciate Jeremy as a supervisor and could not ask for anyone better in his position. His leadership qualities and skills go above and beyond the expectations of a supervisor. Jeremy is deserving of this award for all that he brings to the table and his dedication to our university. He is genuine and passionate about his role as Assistant Director of Admissions.
Karen Hulsey | Morale building
Karen’s consistently positive attitude is infectious. The positive outlook on whatever is happening at the moment extends to staff which filters to students, as well. Her experience and depth of knowledge allow the conversations with students to remain positive. She can almost always find a way to help a student. No matter how busy the office gets she never panics and never gets flustered. She is always willing to meet with students in person if advisors get backed up or a lot of students show up all at once.
Please join Student Affairs in congratulating these stellar colleagues! You may also visit the complete list of winners since the program’s inception.
