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The Staff Special Awards honor non-faculty employees who have made significant contributions through their service, community engagement, and in the quest for inclusion at Rollins. They represent the best the College has to offer in its ongoing mission to model global citizenship to our students and give back to the local community.

This year’s awardees represent departments across campus—from admissions to housekeeping. Together, they have nearly a century of combined service to the College and hundreds of hours of community service experience. Here, we recognize this year’s staff members who go above and beyond to make Rollins a great place to learn, live, and work.

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Helen A. Ward Crossley Distinguished Service Award

Karla Knight
Coordinator of Academic Administration for Dean of Faculty

The Helen A. Ward Crossley Distinguished Service Award is granted annually to the individual whose contributions to the College over time most consistently demonstrate one or more of the award success criteria.

Karla Knight has served the College for over 25 years and is a former recipient of the Thaddeus Seymour Staff Award for Community Engagement. During her tenure, she has supported the success of multiple deans and academic administrators in the College of Liberal Arts, Crummer Graduate School of Business, and Hamilton Holt School. Her extensive institutional knowledge, keen attention to detail, and strong work ethic help keep the College’s academic administration functions running smoothly.

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Thaddeus Seymour Award for Community Engagement

Meredith Hein
Director, Center for Leadership & Community Engagement

Named for Rollins’ beloved Rollins’ 12th president Thaddeus Seymour ’82HAL ’90H, the Thaddeus Seymour Award for Community Engagement is granted annually to the individual whose leadership, dedication, and commitment has created positive, socially just, creative, and focused ways of transforming the lives of the people, events, and environments in local and global communities.

Meredith Hein oversees several key programs facilitated by the Center for Leadership & Community Engagement, including Immersions, the Bonner Leaders Program, and the Emerging Leadership Institute. As chair of the Thaddeus and Polly Seymour Acts of Kindness Day, she has built a vibrant cross-campus program that speaks to the legacy of Seymour and his work.

A donation of $500 will be made in honor of this year’s award recipient toward the community organization of her choice to further encourage efforts in citizenship and leadership.

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Doc Gallup Service Excellence Award

Donna Siao
Financial Aid Assistant

The Doc Gallup Service Excellence Award recognizes an individual who exemplifies and models Rollins’ Service Excellence philosophy and values in their service to others.

Donna Siao has been an employee of Rollins for more than two decades. She has served the College in a variety of roles and across different divisions, with students and families always being the focus of her work.

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Departmental Service Excellence Award

Housekeeping & Transport Teams, Facilities Services

This award recognizes a department or team that consistently demonstrates a high degree of excellence in teamwork and collaboration with other groups/departments and has proven its willingness to assist others in the campus community responsively, respectfully, collaboratively, and competently.

The exceptional work of the housekeeping and transport teams is often so effective that it goes unnoticed, but they are a vital part of the College's everyday success. Over the past three years, they have risen to every challenge, proving essential in the fight against COVID-19 as students returned to campus. This department serves our community every day with exceptional care by creating a safe and functional environment for learning.

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Presidential Award for Diversity & Inclusion

Jen Atwell ’11 ’20MBA
Associate Director of Internal Communications

Established in 2010, the Presidential Award for Diversity and Inclusion is intended to recognize and honor students, faculty, and staff for their efforts aimed at promoting diversity awareness, representation, and inclusion within the Rollins workplace and student community.

As co-host of Rollins’ Let’s Get LITerary podcast, Jen Atwell is deepening the conversation on race, diversity, and equity on campus. Each month, Atwell and her co-hosts Kourtnie Berry ’12 and Sam Vega discuss a new book by a person of color. Listeners from the Rollins community and beyond can tune in a participate remotely, furthering the College’s mission to tackle topics related to DEI through conversation and scholarship.

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Student Employee Supervisor of the Year

Joy Harlynking ’19
Admissions Counselor

This award celebrates the skilled and passionate mentors who help students enrolled in the Federal work-study program grow as professionals.

Candidates for Student Employee Supervisor of the Year are nominated by their student-employees and chosen for their exceptional mentorship. The students working under Joy Harlynking consistently describe her as highly supportive of their personal, academic, and professional development goals.

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Rollins Well-Being Champion

Denise Snyder
Associate Director of Wellness

This award is granted to the individual who serves an ambassador of the well-being committee’s mission to create and promote a healthy campus community in which to live, learn, teach, work, and visit.

For over two years, Denise Snyder has worked tirelessly to keep the Rollins community safe during the pandemic. Along with her team, Snyder has taken a holistic approach to ensure the safety and success of all Tars navigating the return to campus.

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