Staff Excellence Award 2022
Congratulations to Amy Kranz and Amanda Schmit for receiving the 2022 Department of Psychology Staff Excellence Award! This award is given to departmental staff that has demonstrated excellence and professionalism in their jobs and have made significant contributions to the department. Winners were nominated by their supervisors and an additional member of the department.
Amy Kranz, program specialist for the CAB/Counseling/QPM areas, was nominated by faculty and graduate students in the Counseling area. Her nominators recognized how strong of a partner in managing the operations of the area she is, including complex external accreditation policies, processes, and procedures; the “Cadillac (or Mercedes Benz) version” of services that she provides to graduate students and alumni; and her contributions to the larger Department, including her leadership and coordination of the annual Welcome Program and Diversity in Psychology Program. Student nominators specifically commented on Amy as “an important source of personal support” who “performs her job with warmth and kindness, going out of her way to brighten [their] day and make graduate school a positive experience.”
Amanda Schmit, office and communication manager, was nominated for her outstanding contributions in the last year to our annual colloquium series, as well as her operational role in helping us safely and smoothly return to campus last fall. Due to the pandemic, we had to transition our colloquium series to an online format in 2021, which we had never done before. Amanda’s nominators described that she volunteered to lead the coordination of this new endeavor. Her expertise, event planning skills, and marketing efforts garnered us the highest participation ever — 500+ people — and it helped to both broaden our reach and grow our reputation. Additionally, her nominators noted that Amanda worked to ensure that Elliott Hall was a safe place to return to in the fall by ordering and disseminating PPE, addressing any building issues that had languished during the shutdown, etc. And she and her student staff were there in the Central Office to welcome us back.
Thank you to Amy and Amanda for all their hard work and contributions to our department!
