UMD News: March 9, 2010

Communication Associate: Public Relations | Lori Melton | lmelton@d.umn.edu | (218) 726-8830

March 9, 2010
Susan Beasy Latto, Director, UMD Public Relations 218 726-8830 slatto@d.umn.edu
Barbara Gundersen, Employee Coordinator, UMD Department of Human Resources 218 726-8297 bgunders@d.umn.edu
Mary Cameron, Associate Director, UMD Department of Human Resources 218 726-7161 mcameron@d.umn.edu

UMD Names Student Employee of the Year

UMD STUDENT EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR
Anne Rittgers

The University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) has announced Anne Rittgers, a student worker in the UMD Facilities Management-Office of Sustainability, has been named 2009-2010 UMD Student Employee of the Year. Nominees are evaluated using five criteria: reliability, quality of work, initiative, professionalism, and uniqueness of contribution.

Ms. Rittgers, is an Economics major and Environmental Studies minor from Nevis, Minnesota. She has been working for the UMD Facilities Management, Office of Sustainability since December 2008.

Ms. Rittgers was instrumental in all phases of data collection needed for the largest and most complex project the UMD Office of Sustainability had taken on in the last year. The Sustainability Project consisted of measuring the entire UMD carbon footprint (the amount of greenhouse gas emission that the campus operating systems and campus community members emit while supporting the University mission). Her job responsibilities included gathering and summarizing information and data on all Sustainability issues related to energy, waste, recycling, water, and transportation.

She has given numerous presentations on UMD Sustainability topics to a variety of University audiences including the U of Minnesota Board of Regents and more than 100 incoming college freshman during UMD Bulldog Welcome Week.

Ericka Panek (Cottage Grove, Minn) was named the first runner-up for the UMD Student Employee of the Year award. She is a student worker in the UMD Office of Admissions.

The second runner up was Aaron Potvien (Duluth, Minn), a student worker in the UMD Office of Mathematics and Statistics.

Two UMD students have gone on to win the State, Regional and National Employee of the Year titles. They are: Justin Hallquist in 1999 and Erik Stromstad in 2003.

National Student Employment Week will be celebrated April 12-16, at which time the national student winner will be announced. The event at UMD will include many special events and prizes.

The Student Employee of the Year award is a program developed by the National Association of Student Employment Administrators (NASEA), to offer employers the opportunity to acknowledge outstanding student employees for the valuable contributions they make to their office or department.

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