Shelly Walters Named Global Campus Employee of the Quarter

Photo by Caroline Chandler

Shelly Walters (center) accepts the Global Campus Employee of the Quarter award from Donald Judges, vice provost for distance education, and Jamie Loftin, assistant vice provost for distance education administration.

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

Walters is the associate director of the Instructional Design and Support Services unit at the Global Campus and the leader of the Learning Technology Support team. That team supports the use of technology in all educational delivery forms: face-to-face courses on campus, online courses and blended courses, which are a combination of the first two.

The Learning Technology Support team works closely with two on-campus units — IT Services and the Teaching and Faculty Support Center — to provide a network of support services to faculty, staff and students. Establishing that network enriches campuswide support and reduces redundancies in services.

"Shelly is the epitome of what Global Campus leadership is about," wrote the co-worker who nominated Walters for the award. "She is selfless, hardworking, and an inspiration to all who have come to know her."

Donald Judges, vice provost for distance education and head of the Global Campus, presented the award to Walters at a July staff meeting.

"Shelly's dedication to service, high level of skill, and strong work ethic are making a positive difference to faculty, staff, and students across campus," Judges said.  "I frequently receive glowing comments about the work of Shelly and her team."

The Learning Technology Support team complements other Global Campus teams that provide course-development services, including Instructional Design and Media Production. The Global Campus empowers faculty to be innovative in teaching and learning strategies by providing faculty assistance from experts in educational learning technology, best practices in quality course design, and video and digital course content creation.

"We have an incredible team," Walters said. "My most important job is to make sure they have the resources they need to support our faculty and students."

The Learning Technology Support team works with IT Services and the Teaching and Faculty Support Center to provide a range of support options. The three update the Teaching Innovation and Pedagogical Support (TIPS) website, which provides faculty with online tutorials and stepped instructions about dozens of educational tools and strategies.

The three units provide hands-on assistance at the TIPS Center in Gibson Annex on campus and TIPS underground, a newly opened collaborative learning space on the first floor of the Global Campus Building at 2 E. Center St. The Global Campus and IT Services work together to staff the U of A's help center at help.uark.edu, a single help portal that offers assistance by instant chat or phone, takes service requests, collects reported issues, displays planned outages, and links with other helpful sites.

Walters, who was named Global Campus Employee of the Year in 2016, is now working on her doctoral dissertation in the educational technology program at Boise State University in Idaho.

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 of Science in Education from the U of A in 2009.

The Global Campus awards the employee of the quarter honor to recognize outstanding achievement and accomplishments that relate to the unit's goals and the U of A mission. The award winner receives a commemorative certificate and a monetary award.