June 2022

Department Name: Bursar Office 

Highlight: 

This isn't my office, but I just really want to shout them out. The Bursar folks are unsung heroes. When it comes to all the billing, tuition remission, and IN forms, I am at a complete loss every year. I mean, it is like my Everest when it comes to tackling these processes each summer for our summer students. However, Erica and Jacqui in the Bursars are amazing. They are so patient with me and help me as much as possible so I don't mess up any of their beautiful forms. I am so thankful for them, because without their help, I would have to have a sad lie-down in my office. They rock. Thank you so much for supporting us and for helping me every single year.


Department Name: Computer Science and Engineering 

Highlight: 

Over the past two years, the Computer Science department has grown exponentially. Myself and my Program Manager Christy have been providing the only administrative support during this time. Our Graduate program applications are around 2500 at this time and we are still planning for growth for Spring 2023 and Fall 2023. Our Undergraduate program has introduced the Cybersecurity degree for Fall start and we are also planning on introducing a Data Science track as well. With this continued growth, we have received no additional staff support. I want to brag about myself as well as Christy our Program Manager, our Academic advisors, Claire and Anna and our student workers for putting in the time and effort to make sure that our department runs smoothly. Our students are our top priority and the quality of the service and support that they receive depends on our incredible team working together.


Department Name: Office of International Affairs 

Highlight:

OIA has embraced DEI throughout every process of our unit's interactions with others. One of our major accomplishments has been the implementation of over 500+ web pages comprising all subunits. We have implemented accessibility tools like our friendly web page reader which can be seen on our newsroom pilot here: https://www.ucdenver.edu/offices/international-affairs/newsroom when you click on a story. The narration is incredibly realistic and also integrates features for readers with dyslexia. We are also implementing an advanced chatbot that will aid our constituents in finding the answers they need along with a robust and searchable FAQ/Articles helpdesk: https://www.ucdenver.edu/offices/international-affairs/resources/support-desk. Also, we are now piloting and developing the Sitefinity multi-lingual feature-set in our website to expand our ever-growing reach into markets with difficulty reading and understanding English.

I am particularly excited about our accessibility technologies and media capabilities expansion into other realms of aiding our constituents. The highlights I have presented are only a fraction of the initiatives our office is implementing. We are open to collaboration and integration with other units and look forward to working with them.


Department Name: CU Family Medicine- Centennial

Highlight:

The entire group at CU School of Medicine - Family Medicine at Centennial has come together through staffing and provider shortages to continue to deliver top-notch care. We routinely achieve above-average patient experience scores, we increased our quality metrics related to MDPOA completion from 12% to 33% in one month and through it all the workplace culture remains positive and collegial. I'm proud to be a part of this amazing, patient-centered, positive team!

 
Department Name: SOM Department of Pediatrics, The Kempe Center for the Prevention & Treatment of Child Abuse & Neglect

Highlight:

With only three months in joining The Kempe Center, I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the continued efforts and dedication my colleagues have displayed in advocacy, research, education, and clinical work to help improve the lives of children, strengthen families, communities and the systems that serve them. From our CARE Network trainings, Child Welfare Training Systems, to Kempe Institute summer courses to our 2022 International Virtual Conference: A Call to Action to Change Child Welfare we are hosting this fall, and much more, I am honored to be a part of a community that takes pride in the work they do, and extremely passionate in helping children, families and communities around the world. This year marks a milestone for The Kempe Center as we celebrate Kempe's 50th year anniversary. In addition, we will be receiving International recognition at the Estonia Award Ceremony this year.

Kempe's 50th Anniversary is this year. This is an on-going celebration through events with our partners at The Kempe Foundation, publications from some of our professors, press releases, special journal issue, up-coming university recognition and international recognition in Estonia.


Department Name: Business School Admissions and Advising 

Highlight:

For the past few months, the undergraduate academic advising team in the Business School has been severely understaffed. Under the amazing leadership of Shane Hoon, both Clair Seville and Hannah Martin took initiative, worked long hours, and kept positive attitudes to help the business students succeed and thrive. During that time, they not only managed to maintain the Business School's standards for advising, but managed to make improvements to processes and services, assist with the hiring of new staff, and most recently began training and onboarding new advisors. As the new Director for this program, I can clearly see that this team is student focused and willing to do what it take to get the job done!

Moving ahead, the Business School undergraduate advising team will have five academic advisors. Thank you to all who held the team together and those who advocated for additional advising staff to better serve our students.


Department Name: Mathematical and Statistical Sciences-CLAS

Highlight:

The Department of Mathematical and Statistical sciences like many departments has spent much of the last two years through Covid remote learning and returned to campus/in-person teaching short-staffed managing their teams on ½ their staff for over a year. In the last 9 months, they found the perfect staff member to support our large department. I would like to recognize Maria Rase and Miriam Venzor Majalca for maintaining high customer service to the Math/Stats department constituents while managing the heavy workload of a large department. I would like to recognize Maria Rase for stepping up and managing the tasks of the department Admin and managing her own task from November 2020 to August 2021. Working long hours remotely, sacrificing the proper work/life balance to ensure all faculty and students are supported through hiring processes, admissions for new students, exit processes for graduating undergraduate and graduate students, and supporting the faculty with general administrative support needs. In August 2021 the department hired a tremendous staff member Miriam Venzor Majalca from Anschutz. From the day she arrived in the department, she has had a positive impact. She focused on training with multiple outside departments to move quickly into taking on the roles of her position. Within a very short time, she developed strong working relationships with our student customers, our faculty, and our Dean's office counterparts. These relationships usually take years to build. Miriam was able to develop them in just a few short months. As we approach Miriam's one-year anniversary in the department she has developed great processes to streamline our duties and provide better trackability for follow-up. These wonderful staff members focus on the team, student support, faculty development, and safety for all who are part of the Math/Stats department. We are happy to brag about our Staff who have gone above and beyond for the Department's support and keep the focus on the success of the constituents.

 

May 2022

Department Name: Auraria Library: Access and Public Services

Highlight: 

The Access and Public Services department at the Auraria Library supported COVID operations during the 2020-2021 academic year. As part of this work, they developed our innovative Grab to Go service which enabled the library to safely staff a service point and allow our community to borrow physical materials. Reservation requests are handled online, and materials are available for pickup 24 hours after the request is submitted. Access and Public services staff have tirelessly assisted our campus community during the pandemic and the library is grateful for their efforts. This service has since expanded to include lockers located outside the library where faculty, staff, and students can retrieve their items any time after they are notified the items are ready.

Department Name: Department of Anesthesiology-Education Unit 

Highlight: 

I work within the department of Anesthesiology, the education unit that supports 5 ACGME accredited training programs, 1 program working towards accreditation and 7 that are non-accredited programs. We also have our Master of Science in Anesthesiology Program. Our department also has rotation of non-anesthesia learners from all over the nation. I want to ensure my staff of 7 are acknowledged for all of the hard work they put, day in and out. The pandemic has created even more work for education but the team that supports not only the mission and vision of the university but of our department are the backbone for our training programs. These individuals handle the start to finish of our accreditation and compliance for our training programs, ensuring every trainee is on track for success and graduation requirements all the while dealing with the ever changing policies because of the pandemic and accrediting bodies: Amy Hebbert and Aislinn Lederman, our Master of Science in Anesthesiology program coordinators. Lindsay Baumgartner, Pediatric fellowship coordinator. Alyson Poeppelman and Aurora Adams, Adult residency and fellowship program coordinators. Lauren Testa is our education coordinator for non-anesthesia learners. We have requests that come from all of our campus, around the nation and internationally. She has stepped into our education unit in October and has truly made this her own. Tina Guerrero is our Admin Assistant extraordinaire, that handles our didactics, administrative recruitment processes for interviews and itineraries, reimbursements, purchases, room requests and all of the random requests that come with day to day education. Without this amazing team in place, truly caring about what they do and how it impacts everyone, I would be lost with them. Thank you Education team for all that you do!

Department Name: Office of Clinical Affairs-School of Dental Medicine 

Highlight:

We have been suffering from being short staffed since the pandemic was introduced into our lives, like most of the working world. However, our team has become more like a second family. Our team continually supports each other and steps into roles outside of their basic job duties/description to ensure that our day to day operations run smoothly, and our students and patients get the support that they require. Each individual on the team takes the initiative to foresee problems and is accountable in solving issues without being prompted. They all continue to stay positive, supportive and are willing to help others without hesitation. I want to recognize each of them for being such a wonderful asset to this institution. Alix Navarrete, Allie Logue, Alicia Hinshaw, Perla Vamos, Julieta Melais, Shae Leen, Courtney Bowman, Joel Ovalle, Lyn Masche, Beatriz Mosqueda, Michael Jones, Amanda Kroonenberg, Karissa Gramly, Sze Pui Shum and Colette Kuhfuss. Their diligence and passion for this institution has ensured our students will continue to be a success and our patients will continue to receive the best dental care from our providers.

Department Name: Marcus Institute for Brain Health 

Highlight:

The Marcus Institute for Brain Health (MIBH) has hit it's 5 year anniversary this last week. In case you are not aware of who we are I will let you know. We are a traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder treatment organization the serves Veterans and First Responders. This program serves those that selflessly served our nation and communities and does so with pride. At the end of this month we will have evaluated over 420 individuals and provided them with a comprehensive and personalized health care plan. Of those, 180 individuals have gone through this life changing program. I can say this program is life changing because I went through it myself in 2019. Before MIBH I was struggling, bad. I had no understanding of how bad I truly was or why. MIBH and the INCREDIBLE clinicians and individuals working there truly gave me the understanding and tools to take control of my life back. After MIBH I attended CU to obtain my master's degree (with a 4.0), a feat I would not have been able to accomplish without my experience at MIBH. I have coauthored a published journal on my experience at MIBH and spoken with prominent politicians and donors on my experience at MIBH and how powerful and life changing it was. Last year I started working at MIBH helping mentor those coming through the program and sharing my knowledge to help them along their healing journey. MIBH is truly a force multiplier in the Veteran and First Responder community by saving lives. That is not hyperbole, that is fact.

April 2022

Department Name: Facilities Management

Highlight: 

COVID-19 has been a challenge for everyone on campus. But our department has been at the center of it all having to figure out how to keep the lights on, buildings running, staff, students and patients as comfortable and safe as humanly possible, in an ever changing world. Out staff was instantly split apart from the teams they were used to working in, to maintain their own health and safety. They had to find new ways to operate the campus all within a few days and, for many, their entire jobs changed into a much different animal overnight. Facilities Building Maintenance and Operations Staff as well as Facilities Support Services bonded together in unique ways every single day for the past two years to make people feel comfortable, feel safe and to help bring any sense of "normal" they could. It wasn't just the frontline staff either, our finance, HR, IT and projects staff all took on more in order to alleviate the pressures the frontline were ensuring daily on the ground. I have never been more proud to work in a department at CU, than I have working for this team of dedicated staff. You can see it every single day in the way they show up and serve, regardless of the circumstances. They are the doer's. I firmly believe they're the behind the scenes reasons this campus did so well through it all this past couple of years. I just want to show my gratitude for everything Facilities does, because I think they get taken for granted far too often. They really are an amazing group of people who have worked tirelessly for the past years.

March 2022

Department Name: CU Head and Neck 

Highlight: 

Our department has been short staffed for a bit of time now. 2 RN's are out related to maternity leave, and 1 RN position was open looking for the right staff member. Our nursing staff (both RN & MA) have really stepped up to the top of their clinical scope to keep our patients safe and happy during this time.

I would like to individually recognize RN Tracy Mcleran and MA Jessica Jensen for being such great team mates by taking on tasks without asking and always pitching in to help!

I also want to recognize some providers who have stepped up to help as well - PA Hayley Sheffield and NP Meagan Grandgenett. They take the time to make sure the covering RN's have someone to go to, and are willing to help in anyway possible to make our patients and providers well taken care of!

It is wonderful to see our teams laser focus on patient care, satisfaction and safety all while taking on multiple jobs.

October 2021

Department Name: LynxConnect

Highlight: 

The CU Denver LynxConnect office (Career Center, Experiential Learning Center, Study Abroad, and Undergraduate Research), through Sarah Trzeciak and Jessica Godo, just won a CU Innovation & Efficiency (CU I&E) Award! 

LynxConnect created the Virtual Front Desk (VFD) in order to connect with visitors quickly and efficiently in an online format. We also created virtual drop-in hours for students to meet with a Peer Advisor for 30 minutes regarding any of our four offices' services, created a virtual toolkit, and created Canvas courses for our internship workshop and job search studio. The benefits of these digital offerings are that students are able to connect with us for assistance on any of our services. We have assisted students who are in different states and countries, in which they would not have this type of service support without the digital options. The VFD has been essential to our customer service and community engagement. We utilized the resources already available to us on campus to make these digital services happen, which resulted in major cost and time savings for our offices. 

The VFD came as an immediate response to the pandemic, when our physical offices were closed to in-person services. We view our services as essential to the student experience, so the ability to quickly create, implement, and staff our virtual front desk was of highest priority. With the VFD, we have been able to continue giving our students support.

Read our nomination story here: https://www.cu.edu/controller/i-e-awards/cu-innovation-efficiency-awards-current-submissions/cu-ie-submission-Lynx 

View the award announcement video: https://www.cu.edu/controller/innovation-efficiency-awards

Department Name: Civil Engineering

Highlight: 

CU Denver continues to grow and devise new ways to support its students throughout their academic journeys. The Department of Civil Engineering in the College of Engineering, Design and Computing prides itself on the fact that many of the faculty, if not all, are professional engineers. These faculty practice professional engineering, which means they are involved   in real-world applications of the material they teach. This also helps students establish and build professional relationships and connections in and outside the classroom.

One such example is the new state-of-the-art Trimble Technology Lab, gifted by Trimble Inc. On November 6, 2020, CU Denver and Trimble, Inc. virtually celebrated the opening of the lab and a partnership that will give next-generation leaders a wider advantage in the real world.

The Trimble Technology Lab provides hands-on experience, the latest industry tools, and a customized suite of construction hardware and software products. The lab will build on the university's expertise in project management, architectural and structural analysis, design and engineering, and other subjects. This gift will not only help students within the civil engineering field, but also to those in geography and environment sciences, physics, and urban and regional planning, encouraging collaboration and progress between the various colleges and departments.

https://engineering.ucdenver.edu/departments/civil-engineering

 

July 2021

Department Name: Office of Medical Education

Highlight: 

The department is in the midst of launching a new curriculum starting with the incoming students in July. The new curriculum, from my point of view and this is only my point of view, based on over twenty years of corporate experiences and training which they promoted and made available to us on a consistent basis before I came to the university, is such a smarter way to teach by giving students more opportunities in the beginning of their journey of becoming a doctor to actually get experiences early on before they start testing to see where they are in the learning process enabling the students to actually see for themselves how they are learning and what they need to do to improve with check points built in and resources already established and aligned at certain points. The idea is to learn early on, and not have to try to memorize so much data creating the possibility of medical students actually enjoying what they are learning and not being so stressed out. Some stress is going to come with the territory of becoming a doctor or any other profession. It's the unnecessary stress that needs to be controlled and that is what I believe this new curriculum is going to deliver! A win-win for everyone! Sincerely, Deborah Stevens

http://medschool.ucdenver.edu/MDDegree

Department Name: Phoenix Center at Auraria (PCA)

Highlight: 

The PCA is the tri-institutional interpersonal violence advocacy center, managed under the CU Denver Health & Wellness area within student success. The PCA staff have been incredibly creative this past year in their efforts to call attention to interpersonal violence and many societal factors that contribute to violence. Most notably, they received national recognition by an organization known as Pretty Progressive, a website dedicated to feminist and anti-racist work. Pretty Progressive recently named the Phoenix Cast on its list of Top 20 Anti-Racist Podcasts of 2021. This could not have been accomplished without the leadership and hosting of the PCA's Violence Prevention Education Coordinator, Em Alves and Director Megan Cullen. The PCA has produced 43 episodes of their podcast this year! I am so proud of the work they have accomplished in this space.

The podcast is accessible via the PCA website, https://www.thepca.org/phoenix-cast.

June 2021

Department Name: Undergraduate Admissions and K-12 Outreach

Highlight: 

As you can imagine, this past year has brought challenges that impacted our traditional recruiting practices. And yet, our passionate, creative team members have remained dedicated to our prospective students; finding new ways to connect and showcase the University. Both during the fall and spring semesters, we scheduled shifts of staff members on campus five-six days a week to accommodate campus tours- maintaining safety protocols and delivering a personalized experience. We increased our phone and social media presence in order to offer helpful interactions. We launched virtual high school visits and virtual events to support out of state audiences and individuals who were unable to travel to campus. Throughout all of our interactions, we highlighted CU Denver's gorgeous new Residence Hall, City Heights! Our team is proud to see those housing numbers increase each week! We deeply value working closely with our campus partners including Housing and Dining, Lynx Central, New Student Orientation, First Year Experiences, Student Enrollment and Operations Compliance, the Wellness Center, University Events, International Admissions, Student Life, CUE & A, University Communications, the Pre-Collegiate Development Program, our outstanding School and College colleagues and many more! Overall, admissions numbers have increased across the board despite national confusion amongst recent high school graduates. Every new fall brings the excitement of welcoming a new class of Lynx; but this year will feel particularly special due to the extraordinary efforts that have been made!

https://ucdenver.edu/admissions