2015-2016 Student Employee of the Year Winner
Travis Kesinger, Student Involvement and Leadership

Describe the job or basic responsibilities of the nominee.

As the student leadership coordinator in the Student Involvement and Leadership Center, Travis is responsible forassisting the Assistant Director and Graduate Assistant with the planning and organization of leadership educationand development events and programs; planning, organizing, and presenting four leadership workshops per semesteras part of the Leadership Enhancement Series program in conjunction with the Assistant Director and GraduateAssistant; being available to campus units, departments, and student organizations to provide staff/team developmentand program consultation; presenting and fostering collaborative partnerships related to the mission of SILC and the

leadership branch; and serving as a part of the Student Involvement and Leadership Center staff.

Give examples of the student's reliability.

Travis has been incredibly reliable. He is consistently on time to work as well as with any tasks he is given. His provenreliability has created a deep sense of trust among our staff and he has become the go-to student staff member forimportant, time sensitive tasks. He is the student staff member that is always willing to go above and beyond and helpin way possible to help make our programs and services as successful as possible for our KU students. Travis hasbeen known to step in when others need assistance in meeting deadlines, covering front desk duties, and completingtasks. Travis’ reliability truly makes him an integral part of our SILC staff.

Describe the quality of work and service of your nominee.

Travis was hired as the student leadership coordinator for SILC responsible for helping with the leadershipdevelopment and education programs in our office. His passion for KU, student development, and helping studentssucceed was immediately evident. Travis’ impeccable quality of work and service to KU, SILC, and all students made iteasy to continue to give him more responsibilities both in leadership programs and our SILC front desk operations.Travis is consistently taking initiative on projects in the office, always asking how he can assist our staff members, andgraduate assistants. When Travis completes a task, whether it is research for the curriculum development of leadershipprograms, printing nametags for a large leadership program, or emailing students individually to answer questionsabout getting involved on campus, Travis does it with utmost attention to detail. He is thorough, thoughtful,professional, and a hard worker during the completion of any task. Best of all, he completes these tasks with a smile, acontagious passion for KU and our students, and an unending supply of energy.

Give details of a time in which your nominee showed initiative.

During our first one on one meeting, Travis and I discussed our goals of the week, month, and year. During thatconversation I challenged Travis to think about how he wanted to shape his year as the coordinator of leadershipprograms, asking him to think about the legacy he wanted to leave at the end of the year. I gave Travis the opportunityto dream big during his leadership coordinator tenure and he absolutely did and continues to do so. The very nextweek, Travis came to our meeting with a written proposal of a new leadership program in collaboration with the centerof Sexuality and Gender Diversity (SGD) staff. He dreamed and made reality the first KU Queer Empowerment Summit(KU QUEST) event where over 30 students identifying as LGBTQ came together for leadership development andcommunity building. Travis created and led this initiative inspiring staff and students from different corners of campusalong the way to assist in a variety of different ways. What is remarkable is the fact this is only one example of many ofhow Travis has shown initiative as our student leadership coordinator. Examples are daily where Travis anticipatestasks and takes initiative to complete them. He has become an integral part of our staff and he has positively impactedhow we continue to serve our KU students. Travis remains aware of all of the goings on in our office (and there aremany!) and is always a step ahead of tasks needing to be completed.
How does this employee's attitude exceed your expectations?

Travis has made a habit of exceeding expectations. As part of his tasks, he is charged with assisting with the FreshmanLeadership Council, the Sophomore Leadership Challenge, and the LeaderShape Institute. In each instance he tookthe basic expectations and went above and beyond. One of the first examples is with the Sophomore LeadershipChallenge (SLC). SLC is a 10-week leadership development experience for 40 second-year students. Originally,Travis’ duties were simply to help with the logistics including room reservations, marketing, and office tasks. It wasimmediately apparent that his capacity to impact the program far exceeded these tasks. We began by incorporatingTravis into the planning team and he immediately jumped into helping to create curriculum and content. We thenasked him if he would be willing to help team-facilitate the Fall 2015 session. He jumped in and instantaneouslybecame an imperative part of a staff, graduate assistant, and student facilitating model which we will continue to usefor years to come. It was Travis’ ability to take initiative to make sure our program was as successful as possible thathelped us make the Sophomore Leadership Challenge better than it has ever been. His initiative has already helpedto make the Freshman Leadership Council and LeaderShape Institute better than years past as well.

How does this employee display professionalism in their duties?

It is easy to forget that Travis is a junior at the University of Kansas because of the manner in which he displaysprofessionalism at all times. He has found a remarkable way of balancing his academics, co-curricular studentexperiences, and his professional world in the SILC office. He is truly a para-professional in the SILC office thatconsistently contributes to how we provide engagement opportunities for KU students. He often has to send emails toseveral hundreds of students on behalf of the SILC leadership education and development programs and he does sowith ease and innate professionalism. His ability to display professionalism with his peers has created an easybalance while he navigates his role as a student staff member in our office and a student leader in other organizations.

What unique contribution has this employee given to your department?

Travis has improved and shaped the student leadership coordinator role in the Student Involvement and LeadershipCenter for years to come. He has created a new and very important leadership program, KU QUEST, that will remainan important opportunity for our LGBTQ students at KU. Travis has also helped to improve both the FreshmanLeadership Council and the Sophomore Leadership Challenge by inspiring a team facilitation approach whichincludes staff members, graduate students, and peer educators. Travis has contributed vision, reliability, initiative, anda contagious energy and passion to our SILC staff and he should be recognized for the incredible contributions.

Please provide any additional information that you feel would be valuable for the committee to take into consideration.

I, on behalf of the Student Involvement and Leadership Center, recommend Travis Kesinger without any hesitation forthis prestigious honor of Student Employee of the Year. His contributions as the student leadership coordinator in theStudent Involvement and Leadership Center far exceed expectations and will continue to shape how we create andimprove our programs in the future. During our SILC staff meeting where I proposed that we nominate Travis for thisaward, I was met with an immediate and tremendous, YES!!! from all of our professional staff members and graduateassistants. It was clearly evident that as a staff, the Student Involvement and Leadership Center agree that TravisKesinger is one-of-a-kind and should be recognized as such. I appreciate your time and willingness to consider this nomination.