The Employee Recognition Committee of the Staff Senate of UNK is proud to announce the selection of the Continuing Education Department as July's recipient of the Department of the Month Award.
The Department of the Month Award was initiated by the committee and Staff Senate as a way to recognize each month a department on campus that stands out in a positive way, be it for sponsoring an event, providing excellent service, exercising teamwork, showing unique initiative, or for other beneficial reasons.
The Continuing Education Department is being honored for their role in the Summer Synergy program. Each year since 1998, Summer Synergy has been responsible for the marketing and promotion of a group of short-term classes and workshops, as well as selected special events and enrichment activities held on the UNK campus from May through August.
In its first year, the program received the Creative and Innovative Program Award of Merit for an Administrative Program from the North American Association of Summer Sessions. Marketing materials developed for Summer Synergy 2000 took three first-place awards in the Nebraska Press Women's state communications contest last April and will compete for awards on the national level later this summer.
This year, 45 proposals from 31 faculty and staff were selected for inclusion. Summer Synergy 2001 programs fit into seven categories: Educators and Counselors, Enriching You, Computers and the Internet, Public Events, Law Enforcement, Senior Citizens and Youth Enrichment.
Summer Synergy's unique design is reflected in its enrollments and the clients it serves. Last year, 2,733 participants/clients--from preschool children who attended the fund-raising concert for the Kearney Area Children's Museum to senior citizens who signed up for Senior Surfin'--were served by the Summer Synergy 2000 offerings.
Offerings are selected each fall from among proposals submitted by UNK faculty, staff and administrators. A campus-wide committee, chaired by Dr. Barbara Audley, dean of the Division of Continuing Education, reviews and selects the offerings. In addition, committee members make recommendations regarding promotion.
For their innovations with such programs such as Summer Synergy and for all they do in the regular course of their work, the UNK Staff Senate and its Employee Recognition Committee congratulate the Continuing Education Department for a job well done and for upholding the university's commitment to excellence.