Staff Senate

For the month of April, the Augsburg Institutional Advancement division was nominated and selected to receive the Staff Senate Auggie Pride Award. The Institutional Advancement Division includes Institutional Advancement Services, Development and Alumni Relations.

The nomination specifically recognizes the combined efforts that successfully completed the fundraising goal for the Center for Science, Business, and Religion (CSBR). Nearly 1,000 donors have given more than $50 million to the campaign, and the College will soon proceed to the next stage of architectural design, and determine a date to break ground on the CSBR. This is the largest capital campaign in the history of the College.

Auggie Pride is a monthly award that recognizes staff who go above and beyond in their duties at Augsburg. The award is presented monthly based on nominations received and chosen by Staff Senate. To nominate a colleague, email staff senate@augsburg.edu. Please include a short description of why your nominee deserves the award.

Please join the Augsburg community in celebrating the work of its staff during the past academic year. Food and drink will be provided. Door prizes will once again be given away.

Spring Social 
Thursday, May 14
3-5 p.m.
The Quad
(In case of rain, the event will move inside Christensen Center)

Door Prizes have been provided by these generous supporters:
– A’viands
– Barnes and Noble Bookstore
– Department of Public Safety (parking permit)
– Davanni’s Pizza and Hot Hoagies (Riverside Ave. location)

Email saffsenate@augsburg.edu with any questions.

We are delighted to announce that Shawn Canada, custodial services, has received the Auggie Pride Award for the month of March 2015. The Auggie Pride Award is presented to Augsburg staff as a token of appreciation for their dedication and work that goes above and beyond what is expected.

Nomination:

Shawn Canada is a custodian with the early shift here in Si Melby/Kennedy Center. Every day when I arrive to campus, Shawn is the first person I see as he is methodically running the floor cleaner machine over our lobby area to make the place bright for the day. Every single time I see him, he is wearing an Auggie athletic team’s T-shirt or sweatshirt, has his headphones in, and is silently focused on shining up our work space as if it is the most important thing in the world. Then, as I walk by, he inevitably always lifts his head up and greets me with a HUGE smile, welcoming me in, and setting my day off right.

 It dawned on me the other day that we rarely share more words than those brief encounters, but that clearly, regardless of what he has going on in his life or world, he still greets me with that infectious happiness. I have watched him over the course of a couple years now, and I have noticed that Shawn does this with every single employee and student that comes through this building. He is such a blessing to have in our athletics area, and takes great pride in his work. His laugh is contagious, and he obviously cares so much for making all of our worlds that much easier and brighter.

It is with my great pleasure and honor to nominate Shawn for an Auggie Pride Award because I truly believe he embodies what it means to be an Auggie–to care for others, to find joy in serving others, to be committed to ones work, and to bring light to every single day. Please accept my nomination for Shawn for the next Auggie Pride award as I really do believe he is deserving.

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To nominate an Augsburg staff for this monthly award, email the name of the staff person and reason for your nomination to staff senate@augsburg.edu.

Human Resources Benefits and Communication Specialist Katie Berggren presents on “Hidden” Employee Benefits at 1 p.m. on April 15 in the Marshall Room, Christensen Center, during the Staff Senate open forum.

Held the third Wednesday of the month, the open forum series provides opportunities for Augsburg staff to learn about projects, collaborations, and our shared work.

The Staff Senate would like to congratulate the winners of the 2015 Outstanding Staff Awards. This year 75 individuals from across campus nominated a total of 18 staff for 6 awards. This award recognizes staff who go above and beyond their normal job duties and help to support the mission of the College.

Please help us congratulate the following winners: 

Barb Gaiser, Executive Assistant to the President
Office of the President

Stephanie Ruckel, Assistant Director of Financial Aid Systems
Student Financial Services

James Shropshire, Assistant Director of Operation and Investigation
Public Safety

Missy Strauch, Head Athletic Trainer
Athletics

Eric Strom, Academic Liaison For Computing
Information Technology

Stephanie Weiss, Director of News and Media Services
Marketing and Communication

Augsburg staff are invited to the Staff Appreciation Event at 2:30-4 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3, in the Hoversten Chapel, Foss Center. Staff Senate will honor staff who celebrated their 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, and 35th anniversaries in 2014 as well as the nominees and winners of the Outstanding Staff Award.

Tuesday, March 3
2:30-4 p.m.
Hoversten Chapel, Foss Center

Please consider bringing a donation of nonperishable food or a toiletry item for the Augsburg College food shelf, Campus Cupboard (see needed items).

NOMINEES FOR OUTSTANDING STAFF AWARD

Margo Abramson, Institutional Advancement
Carly Eichhorst, Student Financial Services
Kathy Fagen, MBA Program
Shonna Fulford, Undergraduate Admissions
Barb Gaiser, Office of the President
Jeff Grauer, Facilities Management
Judi Green, Academic Affairs
Carole Kampf, Administrative Accounting
Robert Mata, Custodial Services
Aly Olson, TRiO – Student Support Services
Stephanie Ruckel, Student Financial Services
Dixie Shafer, Undergraduate Research and Graduate Opportunity Office (URGO)
James Shropshire, Department of Public Safety
Kim Stone, Institutional Advancement
Missy Strauch, Athletics
Eric Strom, Information Technology
Sharon Wade, Nursing
Stephanie Weiss, Marketing and Communication

LENGTH OF SERVICE AWARDS

Matthew Ksepka, 5
Jill Davenport, 5
Timothy Brustad, 5
Janet Lestock, 5
David Jones, 5
David Langemo, 5
Amy Cram Helwich, 5
Amy Gort, 5
Harry Boyte, 5
Dennis Donovan, 5
Elaine Eschenbacher, 5
Derek Johnson, 5
Erik Skold, 5
Melody Martagon-Geiger, 5
Lonna Field, 5
Barb Gaiser, 5
Verlon Moses, 10
Carly Eichhorst, 10
Tina Brauer, 10
Lori York, 10
Erin Voss, 10
Kevin Healy, 10
Anne DeYoung, 10
Sue Hecker, 10
Mulu Erana, 10
Erika Ambourn, 10
Sandy Fevig, 10
Beth Carlson, 15
Anne Lynch, 15
Mike Navarre, 15
Jane Nelson, 15
Sharon Wade, 15
Lawrence Handsuch, 20
Judi Green, 20
Mary Jastremski, 20
Kris Connell, 20
Devon Ross, 20
Jennifer Posch, 20
Mary Stimpson, 25
Raymond Doehling, 25
Sally Daniels Herron, 35

Email staff senate if any of these anniversaries are not accurate. Thank you!

Congratulations to our January Auggie Pride Award Winner, Margo Abramson.

Abramson serves as Advancement Services Assistant in the Institutional Advancement division. Here is an excerpt from one of the nominations:

“I would like to nominate Margo Abramson for an Auggie Pride Award. In the month of December 2014, Margo led the effort to process more than 4,000 transactions for Institutional Advancement. This represents a 60 percent increase over last year’s total. This is just one statistic that illustrates the work Margo does. This is an enormous accomplishment in our world.”

William Green, professor, Sabo Senior Fellow, and Faculty Senate chair, will present on the work of the Augsburg College Faculty Senate.

Wednesday, February 18
11:30 am – noon
Marshall Room, Christensen

Held the third Wednesday of the month, the Open Forum Series provides opportunities for staff, faculty and students to learn about projects, collaborations, and our shared work.

Friday, February 13, is the last day to nominate an Augsburg staff member for the 2014 Augsburg College Outstanding Staff Awards.

The awards recognize exceptional College staff who exemplify the mission through their actions. Recipients consistently go above and beyond their normal duties by providing exceptional service or by making innovative and outstanding contributions to the Augsburg community.

All faculty, staff, and students are eligible to nominate a qualifying staff member. Up to six staff will be chosen for the award.

The online nomination form, instructions, and past recipients are available here on the Staff Senate website.

Nomination materials (online form and two recommendation letters) must be submitted no later than 5 p.m. on Friday, February 13.

Award recipients are announced at the Staff Appreciation Event at 2:30-4 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3 in Hoversten Chapel. All staff are invited to attend. An invitation will be sent out prior to the event. In order to recognize all nominees, everyone nominated will be notified prior to the event and will be recognized during the ceremonies.

Thank you,

2014-15 Staff Senators
Kelly Anderson Diercks, Mark Chamberlain (co-chair), Michael Grewe, Jen Jacobs, Seth Lienard, Jim Matthias (co-chair), Joanne Reeck, and Martha Truax

The first Staff Senate’s monthly open forum of 2015 will feature the Christensen Center, Suite 2 departments:

Augsburg Abroad – Leah Spinosa de Vega, Director
International Student and Scholar Services – Kelly Parpovic, Sr. International Admissions Counselor
Multicultural Student Services – Mohamed Sallam, Director of Pan-Afrikan Student Services

De Vega, Parpovic and Sallam will highlight the individual work their offices do, share how their programs and services support students, faculty, staff and the College in their work, and describe some of the areas of collaboration between them. See you on the 21st!

Wednesday, January 21
11:30 am – Noon.
Lindell Library, Room 301

Coffee and cookies sponsored by Latin@ Student Services

Held the third Wednesday of the month, the Open Forum Series provides opportunities for staff, faculty and students to learn about projects, collaborations and our shared work.