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Student Centeredness - UREC Student Staff

As part of our strategic plan, UREC seeks to enhance the career readiness and leadership skills of the student employees working in the department. Within this past year, we have worked towards creating a team environment to nurture staff’s sense of belonging, empowering and supporting our student staff to focus on their development opportunities, and increase their self-awareness of transferable skills.

As a department, we recognize the importance of building community and working with our students to create a sense of belonging in an effort to help them with their career readiness and leadership skills. We worked throughout this past year to build a network of support amongst our full time staff and students. Some highlights from the previous year include:

  • Two program manager trainings with 26 student leaders from all program areas to offer opportunities for learning about leadership, community, and our overall strategic plan for the department
  • Biweekly recreational events such as volleyball, pickleball, badminton, soccer, and golf were organized with pro staff and student staff participation
  • Two Staff PlayFest Events for students and professional staff. Each event had about 40 participants, and these 3-hour events included recreational and sports activities. Staff responded with a 100% “strongly agree” or “agree” in how these events helped build the working community.
  • At the end of the fall 2021 semester, we held a Pancake Fest for student staff with 60 participants, and at the end of the spring 2022 semester, we held a UREC End of Year Celebration and Awards Banquet with over 80 participants.

As a result of these efforts and more, our student staff provided encouraging feedback about their experiences with UREC.

  • 81% of student staff report “strongly agree” or “agree” with an overall feeling of teamwork/community in the area they work
  • 86% of student staff reported “strongly agree” or “agree” with the overall level of satisfaction working at UREC
  • 89% percent of student staff reported “strongly agree” or “agree” to embrace UREC's mission and vision

In addition to these initiatives to help with student staff's sense of belonging, our team worked to increase the awareness and development of transferable skills through the experience they gained working at UREC. Student staff provided this feedback:

  • Communication skills have improved and developed - 93% “strongly agree” or “agree”
  • Self-Awareness of how position helps me to grow - 75% “strongly agree” or “agree”
  • Teamwork skills have been developed - 84% “strongly agree” or “agree”
  • Feel empowered to make decisions - 92% “strongly agree” or “agree”

Student Staff video testimonials: These students share the impact of their employment opportunities with UREC.

Overall, UREC envisions continuing our work in this capacity with our student staff. We recognize the importance of their learning in the midst of performing, and look forward to continuing their development opportunities and celebrating their growth!

May 24, 22