Staff Recipients: The 34th Annual Division of Student Affairs Awards

From identifying new ways to connect students via Zoom calls and computer screens during the COVID-19 pandemic, to being responsive in the face of nationwide political tension and movements highlighting social injustice, each office within the Division of Student Affairs has continued to excel in our mission to enhance student success, lifelong learning, and personal growth. This year’s Division of Student Affairs Award recipients have demonstrated exceptional creativity, expertise, and team leadership with the many challenges that came their way during the 2020-2021 school year. We would like to highlight the awardees from the Division and their accomplishments at IU that have exemplified the Division’s dedication to enhancing the student experience. Congrats to this year’s staff winners!

Goldsmith Division Support Staff Award

This award is given annually to that member of the Division’s support staff who has done the most to foster the mission of the Division of Student Affairs during the preceding year. This year, we recognize Sarah Marvell (Division of Student Affairs) as the Goldsmith Division Support Staff Award recipient.

Sarah Marvell

Executive Assistant to the Associate Vice Provost and Human Resources Coordinator

As University and HR policies and practices were changing at an unprecedented rate in response to COVID-19, Sarah played an important role in quickly remodeling the DSA’s hiring and employment practices to accommodate these changes. Sarah helped the Division pivot to a remote work environment, which required helping supervisors understand remote work policies, resources, and best practices; navigated a hiring freeze; completed 2019-2020 performance reviews remotely; and supported both employees and supervisors through isolation, quarantine staffing complications, and employee relation issues. Additionally, Sarah individually took on a tedious, massive undertaking for the new HR Job Framework: reviewing every job description comparing it to current role descriptors, examining and suggesting revisions for new and current job descriptions and categories, and communicating regularly with IU HR representatives to ensure accuracy. Sarah’s flexibility and diligence in navigating these considerable changes to the DSA’s hiring and employment infrastructure has undoubtedly made her an essential resource for not only the Division’s HR team, but for the hundreds of employees under her watch.

Sarah [made] whatever changes needed to be made while developing a plan, anticipating employee needs with [HR] changes – on top of an already emotional, stressful year of changes. Sarah is an invaluable asset to our team. Through it all, she always has a smile on her face and a kind word to say to everyone around her.

– Sarah’s Nominator

Service-Maintenance Staff Award

This recognition award is given annually to a member of the Division’s service or maintenance staff that has done the most to foster the mission of the Division of Student Affairs during the preceding year. This year, we congratulate Danny Krebbs (IMU Facility Services) as our Service-Maintenance Staff Award recipient.

Danny Krebbs

Custodian, IMU Facility Services 

Since 2013, Danny has always been an exceptional, dedicated employee on the IMU’s custodial team. However, when three supervisor positions became vacant in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Danny stepped up to the plate in supervising his crew members and coordinating efforts to turn the IMU into a COVID-19-safe establishment for Hoosiers and IMU visitors alike. He was instrumental in relocating and rearranging the building’s furniture to accommodate new CDC guidelines; leading his crew members through early morning sanitation tasks and the deep cleaning process; setting up self-sanitizing stations throughout the facility; regularly fogging of locations; and providing help in emergency maintenance situations when needed. Danny’s natural shift to leadership and ability to gather his coworkers around a central set of goals has been crucial in keeping the IMU role a safe, clean environment for students to comfortably live and learn in.

The Staff Excellence Awards are reserved for [individuals like Danny] that not only rise to the top, but that take the next challenge without question and complete the challenge with exceptional outcomes. His foresight, attention to detail, and drive have been an asset to the Indiana Memorial Union and to Indiana University.

– Danny’s Nominator

Shaffer Professional Staff Award

This recognition award is given annually to a member of the Division of Student Affairs’ full-time professional staff that has done the most to foster the mission of the Division during the preceding year. This year, we would like to honor LaSabra Williams (Student Involvement and Leadership Center) with the Shaffer Award, and give proper credit to Cheryl Paul, Chris Howell, Damen Morris, (Student Affairs Marketing), and Susanne (Susi) French (Student Health Center) for their incredible work during the 2020-2021 year.

LaSabra Williams

Cheryl Paul

Assistant Director, Student Affairs Marketing

Cheryl Paul’s contributions to the Division during the 2020-21 could fill a textbook. So many areas in the Division of Student Affairs have benefitted from Cheryl’s marketing, design, and communications skills. Cheryl was key in communicating – both visually and verbally – the many procedural healthcare changes that took place in-person and virtually at the Student Health Center. Additionally, Cheryl was trusted with a number of key marketing pieces for the Division of Student Affairs. The sheer number of clear, creative, and clean marketing pieces spearheaded by Cheryl has arguably made her one of the best, most time-efficient designers at IU, as demonstrated by the various campaigns, signs, presentations, and booklets under her belt.

Cheryl is always one step ahead in the marketing process, always thinking ahead, planning, implementing, and ensuring the job gets done well and done on time.

– Cheryl’s Nominator

Damen Morris

Marketing Manager, Student Affairs Marketing

Damen Morris has helped create numerous campaigns and messages for the Indiana Memorial Union this past year that were key to the success of communicating changes in the building due to COVID-19. His promotional work for the various events by Division partners was aimed at generating a sense of belonging and involvement during this very unique school year. Some examples of Damen’s community-centric contributions include the design of the IMU’s Black Lives Matter stair sticker display in the fall; the creation of the new family.iu.edu website, to provide a comprehensive place for Hoosier families to find the most relevant resources for them; the Bowling & Billiards wide-scale rebranding; and the revamping of the Biddle Hotel’s marketing materials (like the Biddle Clean Promise) for its upcoming reopening.

Damen has contributed so much to advance the marketing and messaging at the Indiana Memorial Union during this unprecedented school year.

– Damen’s Nominator

Chris Howell

Digital Media Specialist, Student Affairs Marketing

The Student Marketing team has always prioritized having a creative, skilled, experienced, full-time photographer and videographer – like Chris – on the team, as the amount of multimedia advertising content we passively consume continues to increase. When the pandemic hit, this priority became even more necessary for conveying the Division’s history and mission to various on- and off-campus audiences. Creating countless hours of video content explaining the DSA’s various departments, events, and initiatives; capturing footage throughout the IMU’s year-long renovation in preparation for the full return to campus this fall; celebrating the 2021 Senior Awards recipients and Student Legal Services’ 150th anniversary – these are just a handful of the multimedia contributions Chris has made on the Student Affairs Marketing team over the last year. Chris’ aptitude for visual storytelling has been massively beneficial for not only the various departments in the Division that he regularly works with, but for the many individuals within the IU community that get to interact with his work.

Chris’ quality photo and video work has positively affected the majority of areas within the Division in the 2020-21 school year… From all the videos he has created to adding so many quality pictures to [IU’s and the DSA’s] photo sites in the past year, [he] has made Student Affairs look good.

– Chris’ Nominator

Susi French

Assistant Director of Nursing, Student Health Center

Susi’s tenacity and commitment to student safety were hallmarks of her critical role in the SHC during the 2020-2021 school year. While supervising over twenty nursing staff members in the midst of COVID-19 safety policies and procedures revisions, and helping the nursing staff pivot to accommodate both in-person and virtual patients with their illnesses, conditions, and ailments, Susi was also instrumental in organizing and working IU’s mass vaccination clinics to protect the community against both influenza and COVID-19 in the fall and spring semesters. With all the long shifts and weekend hours Susi put in during this tumultuous year, she still continued to emphasize kindness and compassion in her practice. Through her determination and sincerity, Susi has shown herself to be one of many exemplary physicians that have pushed the IU community through the stress and uncertainty posed by the pandemic.

I don’t think there is a person who has worked harder for the Division this year than Susi French… She gives all of her effort and time towards making the SHC a great place, and to caring for students on campus.

– Susi’s Nominator

Robel Deans and Director Excellence Award

This recognition award is given annually to a Division Dean or Director that has demonstrated excellence in their administrative leadership and commitment to the mission, vision, and values of the Division of Student Affairs during the preceding year. This year, we recognize Mara Dahlgren (Student Involvement and Leadership Center), Penny Dillon (Division of Student Affairs), and Beth Rupp, M.D. (Student Health Center) as this year’s honorees.

Mara Dahlgren

Director, Student Involvement and Leadership Center

Even though COVID-19 drastically changed the possibilities for student interaction on campus, Mara remained poised and determined to facilitate meaningful experiences and interpersonal connections through the Student Involvement and Leadership Center. Mara has been proactive in enforcing equitable and inclusive practices amongst students and staff members – from bringing social dialogue and anti-racist rhetoric and theory into our team’s conversations, to providing resources to learn more about the issues that our students from marginalized backgrounds and identities face, to serving as a resource to refer to amidst the various social injustice movements that took place over the last year. Through celebrating the intelligent, creative, and diverse team of students she works with, and through celebrating the Center’s accomplishments during the shift to virtual campus recruitment and involvement, Mara has been a change-making figure in the Student Involvement and Leadership Center’s continued growth and influence within the campus community.

It is no accident that Mara has climbed the ladder at the IMU so quickly in her career. She has demonstrated herself again and again to be a valuable leader, advocate, and partner.

– Mara’s Nominator

Penny Dillon

Director, Technology and Assessment 

Throughout Penny’s time on the Dean of Students’ Technology and Assessment team, she has become an invaluable resource through her decision-making, attention to detail, and passion for the Division’s work on campus. During the 2020-2021 school year, Penny was been integral to the Division’s COVID-19 response – supporting everything from student/parent communications, Greek roster updates, emergency funding applications, mitigation testing compliance, mask distribution, Student Advocate support needs, Bias Response, the Care team – while also continuing to consistently and effectively perform IT assessment, maintenance, and data needs. Penny’s forward-thinking mindset and personal growth as a leader within the DOS office has made her an indispensable asset throughout the many transitions the Division faced throughout last year.

Through her steady, quiet and always positive, ‘can do’ approach, Penny helps keep our Division running, visible and impactful. To know Penny is to appreciate Penny.

– Penny’s Nominator

Beth Rupp, M.D.

Medical Director and Staff Physician, Student Health Center

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, Dr. Rupp has been a central figure in the university’s response efforts, working tirelessly to meet the needs of students, faculty, and staff. While swiftly developing and instituting the Student Health Center’s (SHC) Pandemic Response Plan, and serving as University Medical Director during one of the country’s largest COVID-19 testing events in preparing for the Fall 2020 reopening, Dr. Rupp continued to serve the SHC and campus community without fault. Now, as the university is preparing for the full return to campus in Fall 2021 and setting up COVID-19 vaccination clinics, it’s practically impossible to imagine a more successful outcome without Dr. Rupp’s immediate administrative tact and leadership from the get-go, and we couldn’t be more grateful for her dedication to protecting the IU and Bloomington community.

The campus owes Dr. Rupp a great deal for not just her expertise and tireless efforts, but for the sacrifices she made… to protect the students, faculty, and staff of Indiana University.

– Dr. Beth Rupp’s Nominator

IU Service Milestones: Division of Student Affairs Staff

We’re also excited to congratulate numerous Division colleagues as they celebrate significant service year anniversaries in 2021. We sincerely thank all of these Student Affairs staff members for their ongoing commitment to Indiana University, as we couldn’t do all that we do without them!

30 Years 

• Sally Jones, Student Advocates Office

25 Years 

• Cedric Harris, Dean of Students Office
• Christine Paputsas, IU Student Health Center
• Tina Eck, Health Center

20 Years 

• Michael Mitchell, IU Student Health Center
• Damen Morris, Indiana Memorial Union 
• Neil Robinson, Indiana Memorial Union 
• David Burkhart, IU Student Health Center 

15 Years 

• Eleanore Johnson, IU Student Health Center
• Kiply Myers, IU Student Health Center
• Marilyn Curry, IU Student Health Center
• Doreen Salyers, IU Student Health Center
• Elma Jessen, Substance Use Intervention Services
• Aysha Hussain, IU Student Health Center 

10 Years 

• Christina Brown, IU Student Health Center
• Debbie Dalton, Indiana Memorial Union 
• John Zink, Indiana Memorial Union 
• Denise Hayes, Counseling and Psychological Services 
• Marc Abplanalp, Student Legal Services
• Sarah Marvell, Division of Student Affairs 
• Gary Stepp, IU Student Health Center
• David Fletcher, IU Student Health Center 
• Rodrick Brooks, Indiana Memorial Union
• Maria Arias Martinez, Indiana Memorial Union
• Carla Quakenbush, IU Student Health Center
• Richard Teague, IU Student Health Center 

5 Years 

• Kwan Wallace, Office of Student Conduct 
• Mark Szymendera, Indiana Memorial Union 
• Hank Walter, Indiana Memorial Union
• Molly McKelfresh, IU Student Health Center
• Amy Denekamp, IU Student Health Center
• Rebecca Gilbert, IU Student Health Center
• Hope Frazier, IU Student Health Center
• Libby Spotts, Office of Student Conduct 
• Marsena McClure, IU Student Health Center
• Amanda Clark, IU Student Health Center 
• Marie Kosakowski, Disability Services for Students 
• Andrew Emmert, Indiana Memorial Union
• Cassandra Abel, IU Student Health Center
• Gretchen Brackeet, Student Legal Services
• Kathleen Field, Student Legal Services