Shelly Walters Named Global Campus Employee of the Year

Caroline Chandler

Shelly Walters (center) accepts the employee of the year award from Donald Judges, interim vice provost for distance education, and Jamie Loftin, assistant vice provost for distance education administration.

Shelly Walters has been named employee of the year by the University of Arkansas Global Campus.

Walters is the associate director of the Instructional Design and Support Services unit at the Global Campus, where she heads the Learning Technology Support team. In the spring, she led efforts to integrate the Blackboard support services unit and the Faculty and Teaching Support Center into the Global Campus.

"This took planning at a high level, and very detailed planning," said Donald Judges, interim vice provost for distance learning and head of the Global Campus. "It's a huge challenge to integrate functions and add new dimensions to a unit, all while focusing on the people involved in the reorganization. Somehow she turned apprehension into excitement."

The goals for the reorganization are to increase effectiveness and overall support for faculty and students and to put learning technology into the forefront. The Learning Technology Support team complements the other two teams in the Instructional Design and Support Services unit. Those two teams provide faculty with expert support in course design and development and educational video and animation content. The results are robust, high-quality courses that engage students and enhance the learning environment, whether its online or on campus.

"It's really a rewarding job," Walters said. "When I'm working with this team and the faculty, it fuels me.  Thank you for the exciting times I have here and the fulfillment I get from my job."

Walters, previously an instructional designer, is earning a doctoral degree in educational technology from Boise State University in Idaho and hopes to graduate in May 2017. She is a Quality Matters certified peer reviewer.  The Quality Matters program is nationally recognized as a faculty-centered, peer-review system that assures quality in online and blended courses.

Walters joined the Global Campus in 2012, after working for seven years as the university marketing manager for the Fayetteville Visitors Bureau. She earned a master's degree in educational technology from Boise State University in 2013 and a bachelor's degree in human resources and workforce development from the U of A in 2009.

The Global Campus awards the employee of the year honor to recognize outstanding achievement and accomplishments that relate to the unit's goals and the U of A mission.  The other nominees for employee of the year were Starlyn Danley, Anne Marie Holimon and Carolyn Smith.

The award winner receives a commemorative certificate and a monetary award.