Natalie Olson Named a 2022 UA Award for Excellence Winner!
Natalie Olson, Business Manager, College of Humanities Administration was shocked to have been nominated, and even more shocked to be selected. She says it still hasn’t really hit her. She feels lucky and blessed to work with colleagues who took the time to nominate her, write a letter of support, and value her contributions to the College of Humanities and the University. She is looking forward to today’s celebration!
Natalie’s excellence in performing her job responsibilities, and perhaps as or more importantly, her personal drive to make the lives of others better, has been magnified during the COVID-19 pandemic. She has been the go-to resource for information about policies, PPE, the COOP plan, and best practices for all members of COH during the pandemic. She exceeded any expectations one might have about carrying out her job duties. What differentiates Natalie is the compassion with which she led these efforts. Her focus was not only on checking the boxes but understanding the fears, concerns, and uncertainty of each person she worked with. Natalie’s performance in these most challenging times demonstrated her character which must be considered for this award nomination.
Her work with UA Cares events (as a volunteer, it’s not part of her job responsibilities), and her personal hobby of creating amazing scrapbooks for children after their Make a Wish trip, demonstrate her passion for giving back to the community. The last COH UA Cares event before the pandemic was a great success-- a soup sale of all things. People were brought together to share their culture and their food while raising funds for the Student Union Campus Pantry. What a great event to represent the COH right? Students, staff, and faculty from around campus stopped by the large hallway in Modern Languages to have a warm cup of different soups in the cold weather. Natalie’s idea and coordination helped to make the event an enormous success. Ultimately, the event was award-winning, and recognized by President Robbins. Another fun UA Cares activity she excelled in was the Provost Office’s pumpkin decorating contest where the top 2 pumpkins of October 2021 were ones she designed/created. Her wins were featured in Lo Que Pasa and other UA sites.
There are many, many more examples that could be brought up to demonstrate just how deserving Natalie is of this recognition. Only for the sake of allowed pages in the support letter are we stopping here. While she is embodying the university’s core values of integrity, compassion, exploration, adaptation, inclusion and determination- repeatedly demonstrates outstanding achievement in the workplace, provides exceptional contributions towards efficiency and effectiveness of operations, provides outstanding service to the university community and visitors, and makes special efforts in practicing inclusive excellence in the workplace. Thank you for taking the time to read about how excellent our Natalie is!