Participants at the Faculty and Staff Picnic, held at the Seidman
Center in August are pictured. GVSU was ranked by Forbes among
Michigan's best employers.
Photo Credit:
Kendra Stanley-Mills
Faculty and staff members who have given presentations, were
recognized for outstanding contributions or had their research
published are detailed below. The campus community can submit
a sketch online for future publication.
In the News Forbes list of best employers Grand Valley was ranked No. 2 in Michigan among
higher education institutions on Forbes'
list of the Best Employers by State.Mychal
Coleman, associate vice president for Human Resources, said
the distinction establishes GVSU's brand as an "employer of
choice," while also benefiting current employees.
"Rankings like this tend to correlate with increased employee
engagement and support for leadership development programs, while
strengthening retention and confirming the leading Laker
culture," Coleman said.
To create the list, Forbes partnered with Statista to survey 160,000
employees working for companies with at least 500 people. Survey
participants were asked how likely they were to recommend their
employer on a scale of zero to 10.
Sketches Lisa Knapp, associate director of Career Center,
received the Michigan Career Educator and Employer Alliance Career
Services Professional of the Year Award. The award recognizes
professionals who support the alliance, encourage employer development
in Michigan and act as a mentor to others.
Patrick M. Colgan, professor of geology, received a
project contract, "Analysis of Sediment Samples" for $29,000
to complete lab analyses for the Michigan Geological Survey. This
project employs three undergraduate geology students.
Deana Weibel, professor of anthropology, gave a
presentation, "The Space Flown Body: How Medical Spaceflight
Researchers Manifest the Destiny of Human Biology," at Arizona
State University Interplanetary Initiative's Space Intersections
Symposium in Washington, D.C.
Sara Alsum-Wassenaar, part-time faculty for visual
and media arts, was named artist-in-residence for the Dwelling Place
in Grand Rapids and Holland.
Visual and media arts faculty members Sara
Alsum-Wassenaar and Hsiao-ping Chen and
students Megan Daniels and Jaer
Medina gave a presentation, "Out(your)door Learning
Experiences: Integrating Place-Based Learning Into the Art
Curriculum," at the National Art Education Association Convention.
The Michigan Veteran Affairs Agency recognized the university's many veteran-centric programs during an awards event. Information Technology honored three staff members during its service award ceremony.
Highlights include Danny Vélez being named a policy fellow by Excelencia in Education and Alexis Brown earning a medal at the national Aramark competition.