Big Man on Campus

Student employees provide valuable services all over campus, from making sandwiches in the dining halls to answering phones in a dean’s office. Their work is rewarded with a paycheck that’s usually spent the coming weekend. But Kevin Gonzales (COM’08), who works in the Provost’s Office, recently got something extra: he was named Boston University’s Student Employee of the Year.

Gonzales was among 55 students nominated for the University’s annual best student employee award. He was recognized for his achievement at a luncheon ceremony on Tuesday, April 17, where he received a plaque and a $300 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble at BU. Two Outstanding Service Awards, which come with recognition certificates and $100 gift cards, were given to Caitlin Carouge (COM’07), who works in the College of Communication Design Center, and Kevin Broomell (SMG’08), an employee in the Undergraduate Program Office in the School of Management. All three winners and their supervisors were honored at the luncheon.

BU’s Student Employment Office (SEO) submitted Gonzales’ name to the Northeast Association of Student Employment Administrators regional competition, and he received another, wider honor: Student Employee of the Year for Massachusetts.

“I suppose I won because over the years I feel like I have learned a lot quickly, and a lot of trust was given to me the moment I started,” says Gonzales. “When I feel like someone trusts me, I try to maintain their trust. So when I started completing tasks quickly and well, it led to bigger projects, which made me feel good because I was doing a good job, and people noticed the work I was putting into it.”

Gonzales, who has worked in the Office of the Provost since September 2005, works approximately 15 hours a week, completing special projects, managing other student employees, and meticulously filing important documents, such as paperwork for sabbatical leaves.

His drive to succeed can lead to sleepless nights if a job is left undone, he says. “I push myself very hard, and I always like to keep busy.”

Patricia Jorgensen, administrative assistant in the Provost’s Office and one of Gonzales’ supervisors, nominated him for Student Employee of the Year, she says, because of his ability to think beyond the task at hand, to initiate projects and take responsibility for them, and to solve problems on his own.

“What makes Kevin such a standout is that he thinks like a staff member who is part of the office team and not just like a reliable student employee,” Jorgensen says. “That deserves recognition.”

Gonzales says he never intended to work in an office. “I always told myself I would never have an office job, because both my parents are accountants, and I was raised in very logical household,” he says. “But as a film major who hopes to go into producing, which involves number-crunching and office work, my experience here has made me comfortable in an office setting. I’m hoping to combine my film degree and the aesthetics and creativity that I get through my academic courses with the professionalism I have learned here.”

The Student Employee of the Year program was introduced to colleges and universities in 1989 by the National Student Employment Association, which Boston University belongs to. BU began participating in the program that year.

“Students contribute greatly to the operation of the University, and this recognition gives us an opportunity to honor especially outstanding student employees who have distinguished themselves on the basis of leadership, responsibility, and achievement,” says Dennis Morse, SEO student job service manager. “The contributions made by all student employees are important, and we want to make sure our student employees know they are appreciated.”

Meghan Noé can be reached at mdorney@bu.edu.