Applause for Drashti Bhatt

“This is a long overdue nomination for Drashti Bhatt. Drashti has been open to communication and assistance to the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts as we searched for an IT Support Associate in summer 2016. Drashti agreed to serve as our search committee chair and assisted with drafting an updated job description. She participated fully in the process and offered clear and valuable feedback. With Drashti as the chair, our college IT staff was able to maintain focus on the needs of the faculty/staff in the college while the search moved forward timely and with ease. During the process, Drashti scheduled meetings/interviews and kept the search moving forward. In addition, she encountered a challenge in that one of her employees applied for the position and was ultimately selected for hire. Drashti was gracious through the process and excused herself when necessary to avoid conflicts. Beyond the assistance with the search committee, Drashti has willingly met with individuals in the Hixson-Lied College to discuss opportunities within IT services and has shared her experiences. In addition, she shared process changes and procedures that have been developed under her leadership with our College. She has gone above and beyond the call of duty to offer assistance to another College with tremendous support. She should certainly be applauded! ”

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“I am happily nominating Drashti for an applause award. Her knowledge, leadership, and commitment reaches more than just her team, as she truly goes above and beyond the call of duty for the betterment of the College of Arts and Sciences and the University as a whole. On her own initiative Drashti reached out to others to see about their interest in a professional development series that has been very beneficial to many in the College. While others tend to be focused fairly narrowly, she sees beyond her scope and looks for ways she can bring improvement and change through technology solutions to all facets of the College of Arts and Sciences. She was innovative in bringing new ideas to recruitment that will benefit our ambassador program at a time where she was already involved in many other areas demanding her time. Drashti is well deserving of a gigantic applause!”

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“Drashti is so knowledgeable, professional and so easy to work with. Recently she took the initiative to form a professional development group of managers inside the college where we can share best practices, offer support and advice, and build leadership skills. Earlier this fall, I had the chance to work more closely with her on a project to develop the data dashboard tool used by advisors and faculty. The data dashboard project was one that Drashti had begun, but I asked for much more than was originally was in place. She never made me feel that it was a burden and she clearly wanted to provide a tool that would be of the most use to the most people. As a result, she listened, invited me to sit down and go through questions and issues as they came up and made me feel like a partner on the project. I have seen firsthand the effort Drashti puts forth to get a better sense of how data is experienced by the end users. This has always been a challenge for anyone in her role, but one that she accepts readily by challenging others to tell her what they need and why. Drashti is of great value to our college and I so appreciate her willingness to go above and beyond to meet our needs, even when we can’t quite articulate them. Please honor her with an Applause!”