On May 3rd, we will welcome Mary Darling, Associate Professor of Communication, to our last SAPA meeting of the year. Mary will share thoughts about listening from her latest book, Connecting Like Jesus, which she co-authored with well-known communicator, Tony Campolo. Something you may not know: Connecting Like Jesus was a required text in the COR 100 sections this year. A few quotes from the book to get you thinking...
"We can learn to 'listen in the moment' no matter what is going on in our lives."
"Jesus listened, not for what he needed to hear, but for what others needed to say and have him hear."
"When we listen to the deepest needs and concerns of another's soul, we affirm his or her very personhood."
A copy of Connecting Like Jesus, courtesy of Shar Fortress in the Bookstore, will be given away during the meeting.
We would like to recognize Janet Vannest as our December Employee of the Month. We recognize Janet’s longevity with SAU and the various roles she has filled. Janet has been a recruiter, assessment counselor, academic advisor, registrar, academic coordinator, coordinator of academic services, and a fine faculty member. She has enthusiastically taken on every role and has done a great job in each. Janet is a joy to work with and always friendly, helpful, and willing to go the extra mile. Janet will receive a gift certificate as a small token of appreciation.
Special recognition to:
Academic Advisor/Instructor – Bay City/Flint Sites
We would like to recognize Sara Lancaster as our February Employee of the Month. Sara has a reputation for working “overtime” to provide top-notch customer service to our MSN applicants and cohorts while maintaining her other responsibilities, all under deadline pressure! Sara puts herself in the shoes of the students and thinks of ways to ease their stress in order to make their SAU experience a very positive one. Sara is creative in the use of technology to find better, faster, more efficient ways to expedite the enrollment process. She is always cheerful with a smile you can “see” over the phone, and consistently delivers more than promised, faster than promised. Sara will receive a gift certificate as a small token of appreciation.
Student Services Coordinator
Midwest Region – Kalamazoo Site
We would like to recognize Amanda Herron as our January Employee of the Month. Amanda is always upbeat and encouraging to students and staff and has used her gift for encouragement to assist students in crisis to stay the course and complete their programs. Her innovative ideas and organizational skills have been a benefit to other staff and have contributed to more efficient and cost effective processes at the site. Amanda was recently involved in coordinating a very successful food drive, raising over 1,150 food items for the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission and Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes organizations. Amanda is a blessing to all and a very positive reflection of both SAU and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Amanda will receive a gift certificate as a small token of appreciation.
Our March keynote is Dr. Garnet Hauger from the mathematics department. Her many professional roles on campus have given her the opportunity to hone her skills pertaining to her topic “Dealing with Difficult People.” She has the integrity to teach this topic from the perspective of godly virtues of leadership, as well as lessons learned through mistakes.
Garnet is in her fortieth consecutive year of teaching at SAU and currently carries the title of Emeritus Faculty in Mathematics. Although, now trying to scale back her campus responsibilities as a pseudo-retiree, she has held the following positions: Chair of the Natural Science Division, Chair of the Math/Computer Science/Physics
department, and Dean of the school of Arts and Sciences.
Garnet brings a wealth of knowledge to her job both from her experience and her education, including her BS and MA in Mathematics from Illinois State University, A second Masters in Probability and Statistics from MSU and her PHD in Educational Psychology from MSU.
So what does Garnet do in her free time? She reads novels to widen her experience with people in other times, cultures, and circumstances, enjoys Sudoku puzzles and considers herself a “minesweeper” expert. She is very involved at her church as treasurer, and part of the worship team (where she sings Alto, in case anybody wondered). She enjoys her daily walks, and walking through life with her husband John. She keeps life relatively simple, with a focus on family, faith and modeling the role of a life-long learner.
