Samantha Cole was selected by fellow staff members for the 2023 Gevirtz Graduate School of Education Staff Citation of Excellence Award.
Cole, the Teacher Education Program (TEP) Administrator, is responsible for providing support to the TEP Director as well as Program Coordinators, supervisors and lecturers, organizing community outreach and recruitment efforts, assisting with academic personnel actions, coordinating fellowship programs, organizing information meetings and various program events throughout the academic year. Cole has been a GGSE staff member since 2017. One of her nominees wrote: “I simply cannot say enough about Sam's significance to TEP. Just about everything good that happens in TEP has Sam at or near the center. She puts the needs of students first. She approaches her work with a mind for innovation—innovation that leads us to both greater efficiency and greater quality. And she does everything with remarkable generosity and grace."
“It is an immense honor to be selected for this award,” Cole says. “To me, my impact is really only possible because of the wonderful group of colleagues that I work with who have encouraged and valued my input, and who share the same commitment and desire to best serve our students.”
Also nominated for the 2023 award were Aaron Ballett (Academic Personnel Analyst), Abbey Fragosa (Financial Coordinator), Lucy Navarrete (Academic Personnel Coordinator), Amy Meredith (Manager, Student and Academic Affairs), Boris Palencia (Manager, Finance and Administration), Beverly Perkins (Contracts & Grants Manager), and Maria Sanchez-Gonzalez (Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology Program Coordinator).
The previous winners of the Staff Citation of Excellence Award were Tracey Velasquez (Employment Analyst) in 2022, Shannon Rivard (then Department Administrator for the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology) in 2021, Katie Tuccarione (Credential Analyst) in 2020, and Kelly Hayton (then Manager, Finance and Administration) in 2019.