{"id":26741,"date":"2017-05-04T13:29:30","date_gmt":"2017-05-04T19:29:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=26741"},"modified":"2017-05-04T14:35:17","modified_gmt":"2017-05-04T20:35:17","slug":"employee-of-quarter-considers-campus-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=26741","title":{"rendered":"Employee of Quarter considers campus family"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Ellen Burkart received flowers as well as a certificate after being named Employee of the Quarter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even Ellen Burkart\u2019s dress has mountain lions on it.<\/p>\n

Well, not mountain lions exactly. But mountain lion paw prints that are both a conversation starter and indicative of the pride possessed by the Employee of the Quarter for 2017\u2019s first quarter.<\/p>\n

Burkart, director of first year experience and parent-family programs, Student Retention and First Year Experience Office, is proud of UCCS and considers her colleagues \u201cpart of her family.\u201d That familial approach is one of her keys to success.<\/p>\n

\u201cEllen strives to build a sense of team and belonging, making sure that every person from student staff, to administrative staff, to student success staff feels significant,\u201d Karen Bisset, program manager, Student Retention and First Year Experience Office, wrote in a nomination letter. \u201cEllen tries to remember everyone\u2019s birthdays, often suggesting an office potluck to celebrate.\u201d<\/p>\n

As director of parent and family programs, Burkart engages parents of students as part of an overall retention strategy. She regularly communicates with parents, works directly with students, oversees Parent and Family Weekend, assists with New Student Orientation and led the implementation of an alert system that faculty can use to warn both students and support staff of impending academic failure.<\/p>\n

\u201cParents of first-year students are keys to retention,\u201d Burkart said. \u201cThe more we support both our parents and students along this journey, the more likely we are to achieve both the university\u2019s and that family\u2019s goals \u2013 a student who graduates.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her communication, Burkart highlights campus services, everything from physical and mental health services to advising, career counseling and academic support.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen that student calls home and says he can\u2019t handle it,<\/u> that parent needs to know we\u2019re here — and so are of lots of other people who want their student to succeed,\u201d Burkart said. \u201cWe will help.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Ellen Burkart<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Burkart helped launch the early alert system Starfish. The system allows faculty members to alert students, academic advising and student retention staff when a student is struggling. Through the alerts, staff can coach students how to improve performance or, as a last resort, the process to drop a course. The program is directed at students enrolled in GPS and 1000-level courses most often taken by freshmen, although faculty teaching any undergraduate, main campus course may submit alerts.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to put in more than 40 hours a week at UCCS,\u201d Burkart said when asked to provide advice to others. \u201cThe people who do well are adaptive and committed.\u201d<\/p>\n

And occasionally wear a mountain lion dress.<\/p>\n

In recognition for her efforts, Burkart received a certificate, a day of administrative leave, $100 stipend, three months of free and reserved campus parking and a $40 voucher at the UCCS Bookstore.<\/p>\n

Know someone who goes above and beyond? For more information about nominating a staff member as Employee of the Quarter, visit http:\/\/www.uccs.edu\/staff\/employee-awards\/employee-of-the-quarter.html<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ellen Burkart is Employee of the Quarter for 2017\u2019s first quarter. (More)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-kudos"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Ellen-Burkart-3.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mBpJ-6Xj","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26741"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26755,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26741\/revisions\/26755"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}