Staff of the Month

Winner: Ian Troost

Nominated by: Jessica Brazell-Brayboy

Ian plays an exceptional role in Student Affairs and does it with professionalism and a humble stance. As a team member in the Dean of Students Office, Ian often plays a first line role in responding to students in personal and active crisis. He does this gently and respectfully, particularly with students and colleagues with whom he does not share identities. Such an approach is of note because it not only requires focus, the work takes an emotional toll when a student is upset and seeking support. Nevertheless, Ian consistently and notably demonstrates respect for diverse people and perspectives.

Ian is a collaborative person and hard worker. As the saying goes, you can't teach hard work. Ian has worked diligently to develop an attitude of personal and social responsibility while serving students.

Nominated by: Bri Buckley

Ian is a great collaborator and is committed to fulfilling every responsibility completely and to the best of his ability. His hard work supporting students in so many different ways is a real contribution to student life on campus and the quality of the campus community. He's willing to step in to help in any way he can, and can always be counted on to support whatever needs doing.

Nominated by: Oliver Anderson

Ian is an outstanding colleague and member of the Westminster community. This month started with an increase in residential student covid cases after months of little-to-no cases. Ian didn’t skip a beat or stall once. As soon as the cases were coming in, he jumped on the procedure and begin assisting each student in their situation. Leading with care and confidence, Ian singlehandedly placed majority of the students who needed to enter isolation with precision and speed. He ensured that all parties were up to speed on who was in isolation and what support they needed. From meal deliveries to room assignments and sanitation, Ian ensured each student was informed and supported from start to finish. This all took place on top of his day-to-day responsibilities, which didn’t lighten up during this month. He balanced all of this without complaining or neglecting any projects. And with it all, we still found him asking the team, “how else can I help?” Ian is a true Griffin and valued member of our team and community. Thank you, Ian!

Kim Montano

Nominated by: Rebecca Penerosa

Kim works tirelessly to further the work for arts education on campus and throughout the state of Utah. She goes above and beyond in advocating for our graduate and undergraduate programs while facilitating the continuing education work as well. She always maintains a spirit of optimism and has a joyous character while being professional. We really couldn't do this work without her!

Molly Butterworth

Nominated by: Kelly Asao

Molly exemplifies the best of Westminster. She is dedicated to helping our students and supporting them through their mental health journeys. Students have raved about the quality of care at the counseling center, but particularly from Molly. She is passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion for all of our students. I know she has run groups for our BIPOC students in First Scholars and supports events for our LGBTQIA+ community, such as Westminster Pride. Molly is exceptional and makes the campus a safer, more inclusive space. She very much deserves this recognition.

Winner: Maddie Hayes

Nominated by: Braden Thompson

Maddie has been part of the enrollment management team for just over a year, but she quickly became someone who people trust to take on all kinds of responsibilities. Recently, she stepped into a leadership role on the enrollment management team's onboarding and professional development action team-creating streamlined procedures for onboarding new staff and assigning professional development topics and facilitators for the monthly all-enrollment meetings.

In her day-to-day work, she has become an integral part of our database (Slate) team, working to develop new procedures and diving headfirst into all kinds of technical problems. One of her first Slate projects was leading an initiative to add personal pronouns (for admissions counselors who chose to do so) that populate automatically in the variable signature lines on outreach emails to prospective students.

Outside of her official responsibilities, Maddie helps cover the admissions front desk when staffing is short, and you can always find her among the last to leave campus gatherings. (If you've been to any of the happy hours, you've likely seen or met Maddie.) And did I mention she does all this while pursuing a Master of Arts in Community Leadership and being the best dog mom to a rambunctious little pup named Goose?

Jeff Driggs

Nominated by: Jessica Johnston

Jeff was instrumental in fundraising for a new STEM outreach event called Science Saturday. He spent countless hours in planning meetings with Robyn Hyde, Jessica Johnston, and members of founding sponsor AAUW. The inaugural event for middle school girls was a huge success, with overwhelmingly positive feedback from participants.

I don't think this event would exist if not for Jeff. He is passionate about supporting girls in science and identifying like-minded donors. He is easy to communicate with, supportive of his colleagues, and clearly excited to be part of this event (that hilariously excludes people of his gender).

Andrea Cornett

Nominated by: Jon Worthen

Andrea is the frontline person that perspective students and the public meets when interacting with Nursing. Andrea is kind, enthusiastic and treats each perspective student with a personalized experience helping them with their individual questions and assisting them to find the resources they need to complete the application process or resolve any questions. Students and perspective students have repeatedly told me of the positive experiences they have had while working with Andrea.

Andrea has the ability to connect with others quickly and help others understand why Westminster is different. She is a vital part of our department and team!

Winner: Keaton Schrank

Nominated by: Debbie Tahmassebi

Keaton went way above and beyond and submitted materials for the the STARS (Sustainability Tracking and Assessment Rating System) which is a self-reporting process that measures campus sustainability efforts. We received a Silver status. It's a lot of work to submit all of the materials that need to be considered as part of this rating system and this was not an expected project that Keaton had to do. This was completed based on her initiative and commitment to campus sustainability work.

Winner: AJ Kerns

Nominated by: Lizette Lyon

With recent staff losses, GSB is restructuring staff responsibilities. AJ has assumed responsibility for student advisement for all the GSB graduate programs, providing great student support while still learning her new role's responsibilities. In addition, during the two weeks before the start of fall semester, GSB doubled the number of newly admitted students. AJ has worked tirelessly to meet with these students, provide advisement, get them registered and onboarded. She's also met with all existing GSB students to ensure a seamless advising transition. She's willingly done evening appointments and come in on Saturdays to meet with students. During a time when AJ is still learning the nuances of her new role, she's continued to put our students first and ensure each one has everything they need to start fall semester. I appreciate the hard work AJ has done, her amazing positive spirit and attitude during a stressful time, and her commitment to Westminster and our students. Thank you SO much, AJ!!

Haley Mahler

Nominated by: Debbie Tahmassebi

Haley has worked hard over the last several months, partnering with several collaborators across campus, to upgrade our student employment processes in significant ways. These include an increased pay scale for student employees along with new process that integrate better with our Human Resources processes. This work was challenging and required some steps back and then forward again. Haley's patience, collaborative and can-do spirit helped make the project successful.

Ian Troost

Nominated by: Pamela Shields

Ian really exemplifies the collaboration and teamwork, as well as college-wide excellence.  Ian is always the first to jump in and help where ever he is needed. His roles on campus include admissions, student services, and soccer yet he still has time to jump in for any group that needs help. Over this week of Orientation, his team has been busy the entire time and he still is willing to jump in and help our team with tables, chairs, moving folx around campus. He really does show that teamwork and collaboration really make a huge difference on this campus!

Jerad Nigh

Nominated by: Doug Schooley

Jerad is the solid glue that helps Campus Patrol excel. He has many roles, as follows:

(1) Let's start with Jerad being a very aware, competent, and conscientious Campus Patrol Officer. 
(2) Expanded are his duties of supervising, training, and organizing training and schedules for all Campus Patrol Officers.
(3) Jerad also acts as our main campus locksmith and key maker/issuer.
(4) Jerad's teamwork willingness has him covering all three shifts (days, swings, overnight) to ensure Officer vacation requests.
(5) Jerad's versatility has him able and prepared to cover last minute sick or unexpected emergency situations for proper campus coverage.
(6) Jerad has excellent communication skills and very often relays important issues needed from our Director Tony Russell.
(7) Jerad's compassion for the safety of the students and the overall mission of Westminster College is exemplary.
(8) Jerad is comfortably friendly and social, also being polite to differences and situational needs.
(9) Even after ten (10) years employed here, Jerad offers today increasing levels of dedication regarding campus safety and success.

He is an absolute delight to work with and work for. With superb work ethic, he offers continuous loyalty to Westminster College.

Trisha Jensen

Nominated by: Jess Sweitzer

Trisha Jensen, Director of the Career Center, is an individual I think of when I think of college-wide excellence. Trisha uses her position to create educational opportunities for our students and has their futures in mind when making decisions within her department. Recently, Trisha led her team through some very challenging changes that were outside her control. Through these changes, I saw Trisha act with grace and professionalism. At no point did I see Trisha blame anyone or try to minimize other departments' experiences or feelings. Trisha models both personal and professional responsibility for students, staff and faculty alike. Trisha's professionalism and positive attitude is one that that I try to emulate in my professional responsibilities. For these reasons and so many more, I believe that Trisha Jensen is extremely deserving of staff member of the month. Thank you!

Virginia Oelkers

Nominated by: Kara McShane-Hefley

Virginia is not only knowledgeable about all sorts of IS matters, she is also professional and prompt when responding to help desk requests. Virginia is a friendly and kind person who actively works to assist folks all over campus and I want her to know she is appreciated!