Arneson, Anderson conferred Staff Excellence award

Luther College President Richard Torgerson announced JoEllen Anderson and Steve Arneson as the recipients of the Luther Staff Excellence Award for 2009 at a ceremony held in conjunction with the college’s annual Staff Appreciation Day in August. The two staff members will get to travel with student groups on separate J-term trips.

“This is one important way of recognizing the staff for the ways in which they contribute to the mission and the operation of the college,” President Torgerson said. “Staff don’t get as much recognition as they deserve.”

When a staff member makes a nomination, he or she has to give reasons why that candidate deserves the award.

“It is somewhat related to the years of work, but the quality of the work, the way in which they support the mission of the college, their work with students and their colleagues, the esteem that people hold for these individuals in terms of the quality of the work that they do are some factors that go into the determination or the selection process,” Torgerson said.

Every year, two people—one administrative staff person and one hourly or support staff person—are rewarded with the Staff Excellence Award.

Steve Arneson joined the Luther staff in 1990 as physical plant office manager. He had been involved with Luther from an early age when his mother worked on staff. Many members of Arneson’s family have graduated from Luther, amongst them his three daughters.

Arneson has held several titles over the 20 years that he has been working here. At present, he works as the trades work coordinator. He is responsible for making sure that work orders from students, staff, the faculty are distributed to workers and for keeping track of them so as to respond back to people if the workers are gonna take longer than normal.

Another important responsibility of Arneson and his department is to set up for the events that happen on campus, especially huge events like Homecoming and Commencement and making sure everything gets set up on time and nothing goes missing.

“It’s always satisfying to know that we’re there on top of things and they trust us down here,” Arneson said. “My job allows me to do something different everyday and work with a lot of good people. I work with a lot of students and I really enjoy it. My set-up crew consists of one staff person and all the others are students.”

“I was happy but at the same time extremely shocked; there are a lot of deserving people out there” Arneson said when asked about his reaction when he was announced as one of the award recipients.

JoEllen Anderson has been working at Luther College for 10 years and is the administrative director of student health service and the nurse practitioner. She started at Luther in the nursing department as an instructor in 1990 while working on her Masters and nurse practitioner degree.

“A lot of people then in the nursing department were really good role models, colleagues and mentors for me,” Anderson said. “I think going on to school and doing all that was one of my most satisfying achievements.”

Her days are mostly spent examining, assessing, diagnosing and treating students or patients. The administrative part of her position includes things like managing the budget, office schedule, public health concerns, monitoring and maintaining up-to-date information, serving on numerous campus-wide, student-led committees.

“I really enjoy interacting with the students,” Anderson said. “It gives me satisfaction to have seen so many students grow, mature and graduate over the years and to be able to be of help to them. Also, I have met a lot of very capable and fantastic colleagues. The other staff and faculty at Luther are also awesome.”

The award recipients are also offered an opportunity to interact with students on a more personal level.

“I think what is really cool about this award is that staff people have the opportunity to participate with students in an academic experience; particularly a J-term international experience,” President Torgerson said. “I think every staff member who has done this will tell you that it has really changed their life, and has given them an opportunity to get know a smaller group of students really well and an opportunity to experience an academic program like students do.”

Anderson is going to travel to Tanzania with Lori Stanley’s J-term Anthropology class, while Arneson is going to take a trip to New Zealand with Lori Stanley’s class called Fitness and Adventure in New Zealand.

Both of them will have to share their experiences with the rest of the staff at the annual staff day that occurs in August each year.

“They give a report on how this experience may have transformed their lives or changed them giving them new perspectives,” President Torgerson said.

The two recipients expressed gratitude to their co-workers as integral components in their success at Luther.