Christina Smith Named Global Campus Employee of the Quarter

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Christina Smith, center, accepts the Global Campus Employee of the Quarter award from Cheryl Murphy, vice provost for distance education and head of the Global Campus, left, and Jamie Loftin, assistant vice provost for distance education administration.

Christina Smith has been named employee of the fourth quarter by the U of A Global Campus.

Smith was recognized for her phenomenal work performance and productivity. In addition to her tasks on the Recruiting and Student Outreach team, Smith shouldered extra responsibilities in completing procurement transactions and advancing hiring processes usually done by former staff members. Smith stepped in to ensure operations continued smoothly until new hires were made.

Smith was nominated for the employee of the fourth quarter by multiple coworkers at Global Campus.

"Christina made sure that we kept suppliers paid, kept ordering things, kept searches moving and kept onboarding new employees," a co-worker who nominated her said. "She did all of these things … and did it with a smile on her face."

On a normal day, Smith manages travel for recruiters, maintains an inventory of printed promotional materials and trademarked items, organizes mass mailings and orders supplies. She also assists her supervisor, Patty Milner, assistant vice provost for student outreach and innovation.

"I'm happy to be able to help during this time, with all the transitions," Smith said. "It feels great to be appreciated for all of the extra work that I have done. I have a great team to work with, both in my own unit and Global Campus as a whole. It's such a great work environment and an awesome place to work."

Cheryl Murphy, vice provost for distance education and head of the Global Campus, recognized Smith as the employee of the quarter at the Global Campus staff meeting on July 20.

"Christina is an outstanding employee who really stepped up in the last quarter to keep Global Campus moving forward on several fronts while we filled a couple of key vacancies," Murphy said. "We want Christina to know that we recognize the extra effort and time she dedicated to learning new Workday processes that were essential to our continued success. We value her and her amazing attitude."

Workday is the U of A's purchasing and personnel system.

Smith began her career at the U of A as a Razortemp at Global Campus in February 2019 and became a full-time employee in June of that same year. Prior to joining Global Campus, she taught pre-school part time in the Mother's Day Out program at Central United Methodist Church and was a stay-at-home mom.

The recruitment, student outreach and innovation, compliance and data analysis staff at Global Campus work together to support students in their online experience.

"We have recruiters who go out to recruiting events, as well as attend the virtual recruiting events that we've done over the last year," Smith said. "As far as student outreach, we have the online student liaisons that contact and assist students, and we now have online coaches who offer guidance through the sometimes-confusing admission period and early semesters at the university. Our compliance personnel make sure we stay on the right side of all state laws, and the data analysts provide us with statistics and other important information. We are also doing the orientation class for all the incoming online students in the undergrad programs. Our team works very well together."

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

The Global Campus supports the U of A academic colleges and schools in the development and delivery of online degree programs and courses, self-paced online courses and workforce development programs. This unit provides instructional design services, learning technology support, media production services and assistance with financial administration, recruitment and marketing.

The Global Campus also supports the W.E. Manning Memorial Scholarship, which is open to undergraduate and graduate students studying in online degree programs offered by academic colleges.