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“It's my great pleasure to nominate Kathryn Koehler for an Ovation award. Kathryn began working in the Psychology & Sociology advising office in Fall 2024 and has been with us ever since. She's consistently done a phenomenal job and been an absolute joy to work with, and we will miss her a ton when she graduates in May.
"Kathryn is very welcoming and greets all students and others who call and come into the advising office warmly and professionally. Her friendliness, positivity, and genuine care for others make her someone people want to be around. They will also serve her well in her future career as a teacher.
"In addition to providing excellent customer services at the front desk, she runs the social media for the Department of Psychology. She's organized (she maintains a spreadsheet with planned posts and is great about looking ahead to spread them out appropriately and thinking about how they fit with the academic calendar), communicates well (she connects directly with faculty and students to feature them on social media), creative (she makes aesthetically-pleasing and engaging posts while following the UNL brand guide), patient (she graciously explained how social media works to me when we were down two advisors and didn't have a social-media-savvy advisor to supervise her), and she seeks out and receives constructive feedback very well (she meets with her supervisor regularly and runs things by her before posting, and she receives suggestions for changes with humor and grace).
"Kathryn also very generously volunteers as a TA for PSYC 100 Career Planning for Psychology Majors. PSYC 100 is a large class (around 190 students in the fall and around 160 in the spring), and we wouldn't be able to teach it as effectively without TAs like her. She does a great job with her small group of PSYC 100 students, and I'm sure they appreciate the encouragement, reminders, and timely feedback she provides. As PSYC 100 instructors, we also appreciate her willingness to help the other TAs keep up with their grading during busy times.
"We also appreciate being able to check in with Kathryn to get her perspective as a student on various things (PSYC 100, Weekly Messages to Psychology and Sociology majors, etc.), as she is very thoughtful.
"Kathryn is always willing to help and does so with a smile. She is very reliable and hard-working, and we know we can count on her to do excellent work and to communicate with us, all while balancing a busy schedule with classes, being an Honors Program ambassador, being active in education organizations, and more.
"In conclusion, I believe Kathryn is very deserving of an Ovation award. She invests a lot of time and energy into doing her job incredibly well, and working with her is truly a delight. She is a bright spot in the office and I always look forward to seeing her. We are grateful for all the semesters we've been working together, and her future students will be very lucky to have her!”
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“Kathryn is an exceptional employee and student. She is a warm, welcoming presence in the PSYC advising office and has been a pleasure to work with. Kathryn is a hard worker and takes initiative to start new projects and help where she can. We are lucky to have her!”
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“Kathryn has been an amazing student worker for the PSYC Advising Office the past two years (and she is graduating this May)! Kathryn has beautifully managed the PSYC department social media - posts are creative, thoughtful, fun, and appeal to current students and alumni. Kathryn is very organized and always has a strategic plan for future posts. Kathryn collaborates with faculty, graduate students, and peers to create unique posts that highlight the research, contributions, and personalities that are the foundation of our department. Kathryn brings a sense of positivity and joy into the office, greeting everyone with a smile. She is eager to help the advisors and quick to take on any project given to her. Another way Kathryn has served the PSYC department is through her role as a Teaching Assistant for PSYC 100 - she has graded countless resumes, provided thoughtful feedback to students, shared insights with the course instructors, an! d been a fabulous TA. I am sad to see Kathryn leave the advising office, but I am excited for her to take the next steps in her personal and professional journey!”