Student Employees of the Year Awarded
The Office of People at Culture at Dominican University has announced this year’s Outstanding Student Employee of the Year and Graduate Student Employee of the Year award recipients.
Angelica Gutierrez, a Peer LEADer in Student Success and Engagement, is the 2024 Outstanding Student Employee of the Year.
Angelica became a Peer LEADer during the pandemic, quickly learning the technology needed to transition her role to a virtual one, managing the Advising Zoom Room, responding to emails in a timely and thorough manner, and finding creative ways to connect with first-year students. This helped them to feel heard and welcomed during a challenging time.
Angelica also worked during summer SOAR sessions where she helped incoming students become acclimated to life on campus. The SSE office noted that Angelica embodies the “Number One in Friendship Motto,” ensuring that her peers also feel included, supported and seen.
Angelica is enrolled in Dominican’s BA-MSW program.
Marilyn Flores Alvarez is receiving the inaugural Graduate Student Employee of the Year award.
Marilyn is a graduate assistant in the School of Social Work. She is credited with contributing to her team far beyond the expectations of her position and has been entrusted with facilitating many critical operational components and providing a necessary student voice for the department’s success. Recently, Marilyn has been assisting Dr. Suhad Tabahi with literature review and research on how to best develop a comprehensive and culturally responsive Bachelor of Social Work program. She was credited as being an integral part of securing necessary academic resources to support the proposal to both the university and the Council on Social Work Education.
Other nominees for Student Employee of the Year were Dinah Ortiz, Campus Experience;
Erika Espinoza, Black World Studies; Raj Jariwala, Business Office; Lexye Barcenas, Career Programs and Employer Relations; Metzli Flores, graphic design and art; and Karolina Kraj, chemistry.
Additional nominees for Graduate Student Employee of the Year were Claire Hubble, Rebecca Crown Library and Katie Barclay, accommodations and disability access.
