Stephanie Cardoza-Cruz Assistant
Director, La Casa Cultural Latina (SSIB)
 

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Award Criteria

The Outstanding New Staff Award recognizes individuals for exceptional service or special accomplishments in Student Affairs at the University of Illinois. This award will be presented to a new staff member who:

• has been employed full time as a staff member (Academic Professional, Open Range, or Civil Service) in Student Affairs at Illinois for three years or less
• goes above and beyond to support students and/or co-workers
• is innovative, creative, and delivers outstanding service to students and/or Student Affairs
• is viewed as a promising leader within Student Affairs

About Stephanie

Stephanie has gone above and beyond to not only grow personally, but to elevate the work she does at La Casa to transform the experience our students receive through their engagement with the center. For example, she revamped the META/LRN program to transform it into La Casa’s new Conexiones program that caters on community building, empowerment, and self-love. Innovation is part of Stephanie’s daily thought process. She’s always thinking of ways to better serve the students to ensure La Casa is maximizing their efforts in the center and throughout the mid-west. Recently, she led a mini conference initiative in collaboration with the Latinx cultural centers from Purdue University and Indiana University. This conference focused on the professional development of the student leaders within the centers. She coordinated, organized, and implemented a successful conference that had been dormant due to COVID.

A colleague had this to say about Stephanie:

“Stephanie directly contributes to achieving the mission of La Casa by creating a sense of community amongst Latinx students which helps with student learning and retention. She approaches this work from an intersectional perspectives and centers collaboration as a means of best supporting students. In consistently changing social and cultural climates, Stephanie is working hard to ensure that La Casa remains ahead of the field and serves as a role model for intersectional student affairs work. Her actions speak highly of her commitment to Student Affairs and Illinois.”

Mary Foster
Human Resources Coordinator, Division of Campus Recreation
 

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Award Criteria

The Outstanding Staff Awards recognize unique contributions and achievements of individuals who advance the mission of Student Affairs at the University of Illinois. One to a Civil Service award will be presented this year to a recipient who:

• go above and beyond to support students and/or co-workers
• consistently provide excellent service to students and/or Student Affairs
• exemplify the Values of Student Affairs: student centered, justice, learning, wellness, and integrity

About Mary

Mary provides HR support for 600+ student employees, Civil Service and Academic Professional Staff. She sits patiently with employees helping them to navigate through many processes. There are employees, especially students and interns, who have never worked in a university setting and may face challenges as they work through those dynamics. To help, she was instrumental in contributing to revising the New Hire Orientation process by incorporating more information as it relates to policy, benefits, and expectations for each employee.

A colleague had this to say about Mary:

“Mary is extremely thoughtful, compassionate, and one of the hardest working employees around, plus, she has an excellent relationship with each of her colleagues. Mary is an outstanding employee. She loves what she does and does it well!”

Yun Shi
Director, International Education (SSIB)
 

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Award Criteria

The Outstanding Staff Awards recognize unique contributions and achievements of individuals who advance the mission of Student Affairs at the University of Illinois. One Academic Professional award will be presented this year to a recipient who:

• go above and beyond to support students and/or co-workers
• consistently provide excellent service to students and/or Student Affairs
• exemplify the Values of Student Affairs: student centered, justice, learning, wellness, and integrity

About Yun

Yun’s work exemplifies our Student Affairs values, especially being student centered (especially for international students whose needs are too often ignored) and continual learning (especially about cultural education). Yun has provided student-centered, innovative, creative, and outstanding service and leadership for our campus. She has developed a reputation as a friendly, enthusiastic colleague who goes the extra mile on behalf of global learning and international students. Yun has created an immensely popular program reaching approximately 400 students each year, called GLOBE: Global Leaders Orange and Blue Engagement. The goal of GLOBE is to provide opportunities for domestic and international students to learn, to network, to develop their leadership skills, and help all students develop global awareness and cultural competence.

A colleague had this to say about Yun:

“Yun’s naturally collaborative spirit has brought together dozens of campus offices and RSOs over the past nine years. She has helped Student Affairs shine brighter by focusing on our large international student body that is too often underserved. I can think of no one more deserving of this award than Yun.”

Black and Latinx Summit Student Success
Inclusion and Belonging

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Award Criteria

The Outstanding Program Award will be presented to a Student Affairs program that demonstrates creativity, innovation, and appeals to a diverse body of students or staff. The program must be offered in 2022-2023. (since funds awarded are for the upcoming year). The primary goal of the program must be Student Affairs-related. Individual academic courses are not eligible, however, the program may have an academic component. The program can be for students or staff; can be ongoing or an event; offer a service and be of any size. The program must impact University of Illinois students. In order to be considered, the program should:

• have had a positive impact on student and/or staff learning, transitions, retention or success at Illinois.
• exemplify the Values of Student Affairs: student centered, justice, learning, wellness, and integrity 
• be effective with relation to its stated goals

About the Black and Latinx Summit

The Black and Latinx Summit continues to have a positive impact on student and staff learning, transitions, retention, and success at the University of Illinois and our greater community through solidarity building, fostered learning through a critical and intersectional lens, and generational transformation. This year’s conference brought together over 250 individuals from all intersections to a one-day conference followed by a student social the next day that featured a shared space to learn, connect, and build bridges between communities. This year’s theme, Futurism: Creating a New Generation, invited Black and Latinx communities to engage through the program’s educational sessions, keynote, and social and networking opportunities actively and intentionally.

BNAACC: Circuit Assessment
 

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Award Criteria

The Student Affairs Outstanding Assessment Award promotes a culture of assessment within Student Affairs through recognition of outstanding assessment projects throughout the division. Recognized projects will demonstrate clarity of purpose, methods/metrics, results, incorporation of results, and dissemination of results to stakeholders and/or actions taken as a result of conducting the project.

About BNAACC: Circuit Assessment

The Circuit early move-in experience, hosted by BNAACC, provides a 2.5-day introduction to our community will help students develop a network of sustainable connections across the campus rooted in BNAACC’s rich culturally responsive programming. This past year, BNAACC implemented an assessment for student and parent/guardian participants. The assessment allowed for a deeper understanding of student needs as well as a how parent/guardians saw themselves in the college students journey. The data was used to advocate for additional funding and revise the program for future years.

Campus Recreation: Campus Recreation Facilities Assessment
 

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Award Criteria

The Student Affairs Outstanding Assessment Award promotes a culture of assessment within Student Affairs through recognition of outstanding assessment projects throughout the division. Recognized projects will demonstrate clarity of purpose, methods/metrics, results, incorporation of results, and dissemination of results to stakeholders and/or actions taken as a result of conducting the project.

About Campus Recreation: Campus Recreation Facilities Assessment

Campus Recreation has continued to enhance their assessment and data collection initiatives to inform departmental decision making. This has included the development of learning modules for staff education as well as the implementation of interactive dashboards and on-going survey initiatives. During Fall 2023, the department conducted a campus-wide survey on recreation facilities, with a focus on the Ice Arena. This effort provided leadership critical data to inform future decisions about capital projects and offerings for the campus community.