Carmen Brewer is the Employee of the Month for January 2006. Carmen is an Enrollment Records Specialist III in the Registrar's Office. In this capacity, Carmen is solely responsible for all functions relating to the degree check-out process for all graduating undergrad students. She verifies that all their degree requirements have been met and that all holds on the student's record have been released by UNK prior to the student receiving their diploma. Carmen' s review ultimately leads to the granting or withholding of the student's UNK degree.
Carmen's daily work requires expert knowledge of UNK academic policies and institutional requirements such as residency, GPA minimums, senior hours, transfer credit policies, general studies, repeat courses, writing intensive and cultural diversity hours. Carmen verifies that students have valid complete programs to earn their degree which requires knowledge of degrees, majors, minors and endorsement areas. Carmen upholds the integrity of a UNK degree with consistent application of her knowledge and by consulting with others in the office to make sure answers from the Registrars Office remain consistent. The reputation of the institution is enhanced by her prompt communication with administrative offices, students, deans, department chairs" and faculty as necessary to resolve graduation problems and provide graduation information to those who need it. Carmen accomplishes her work with accuracy and within the time constraints of many deadlines. She uses independent judgment daily and handles her responsibilities with a calm steadiness. Strict adherence to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is required in all these instances pertaining to student records.
In order to improve efficiency and streamline processes, Carmen was instrumental in testing and implementing lowest possible grade rosters on the web. With what used to be a manual paper process, faculty can now easily and quickly submit their lowest possible grades for graduating students electronically to the Registrar's Office. She also assisted in testing and implementing the graduation application on the web. Carmen demonstrates a can-do attitude. Most recently, our office started printing diplomas in-house and she learned this new process with ease. Another improvement in our service was actually
initiated by Carmen when she learned that a sister institution provided automatic senior checks to qualifying students. Thinking that this would alleviate many problems at the point of graduation, Carmen proposed this idea. The Registrars Office implemented this procedure beginning 2005 fall, and now all students automatically receive a Senior Check outlining remaining requirements for their degree once they earn 100 hours and are within one year of graduation.
Congratulations Carmen on being named UNK's January Department of the Month!
Thank you to the sponsors of the Employee of the Month: Chartwells, Shear Madness, Athletic Department, Theatre Department, and the Antelope Bookstore.