Wendy Joy Van Ahn, office manager in the Adult Nontraditional Student Resource Office in the Division of Lifelong Learning and Community, has been named recipient of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh December 2011 STAR Award.
Van Ahn was nominated by Ruth A. Freiburger. Portions of her nomination submission follow:
“Student attention and service is Wendy’s calling card. She is an excellent customer service leader. She spends hours helping students sort out their needs and leading them to solving their problems with campus resources. She comes early and often stays late to help out a student. Wendy serves on the Veterans Steering committee, classified staff committees, Disabilities Advisory committee and division work groups as the need arises. I am impressed with her energy and commitment. She is indeed the “go-to” person in our office and division for data base and computer difficulties and for complex mailings. Each Christmas she co-organizes a large division-wide collection for multiple families in conjunction with the Salvation Army. Wendy goes above and beyond her job description in everything she does. Our students appreciate her helpful enthusiasm and gratitude to her. Wendy has been instrumental in coordinating service referral for the growing number of nontraditional students and increasing visibility on and off campus. We all know that she is a bright STAR on the third floor of Dempsey Hall!
“Wendy’s performance is above and beyond my expectations. She is indeed a STAR for our nontraditional students and for our office and division. She is popular with students and dedicates herself to finding resources to meet their needs. Last year she took it upon herself to develop and lead a workshop of new students who all had been out of school for five years or more. Because she had worked with many on the phone she realized that in order to start school successfully they needed to know how to use our email system, find their People Soft information and be able to use D2L and that they were all at different levels. Many did not attend Odyssey and were nervous about starting school after being away for many years. Wendy enlisted the help of our office staff and student mentors and other campus staff. She has successfully led a similar workshop each semester since to give these students a boost. I have seen the relief and gratefulness in these new students each semester and know that it has greatly aided in their retention.”
The CSAC Awards & Recognition Committee submitted this announcement. Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to contribute calendar items, campus announcements and other good news to UW Oshkosh Today.