NAIT recognizes importance of Aboriginal liaison position

Page 14

It is people such as Eva Stang, who has been employed for two-and-a-half years at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), who set a standard for others to follow when it comes to customer service.

Her work on behalf of Aboriginal students was honored at NAIT's recognition awards ceremony at the Shaw Theatre last month, when Stang received the Superb Customer Service Award.

The award recognizes the employee "who demonstrates outstanding customer service, flexibility and personal attention to develop and maintain relationships with NAIT customers," the institute's news release said.

"Thanks to the efforts of staff members like Eva, NAIT has the programs, the services and the scholarships to meet the needs of our Aboriginal students," said President Dr. Sam Shaw.

"Eva has been instrumental in the creation of NAIT's Aboriginal Student Club, Aboriginal Awareness Day and the annual Senator Thelma Chalifoux student award. Her work is important and the manner in which she does it is outstanding," said the human resources director Terry Wald, who presented the award.

Stang told Sweetgrass, "I was very surprised. What I do in my job is something I love to do, so getting the recognition was very honorable, and I suppose some people would look at it differently, but because I do my job in supporting the students it felt funny getting an award for something I loved doing."

Previously Stang worked for Health Canada about 18 months as a program consultant for Aboriginal Head Start, and even earlier was Aboriginal liaison co-ordinator for a youth program at Concordia University for two-and-a-half years.

She didn't predict she'd be working in her present job.

"I always thought that I wanted to work in administration and felt that I didn't want to deal with clients or students any more, but when I worked for Health Canada I really missed the interaction with working at the ground level with students."

Now Stang is kept busy assisting many of NAIT's 15,200 students to locate housing and educational funding. She also helps them to schedule their time. She has even been known to drive a student to a final exam if transportation was a problem. She is the friendly personal link that keeps students, instructors and NAIT administration in communication with the goal of enhancing students' success.

Having tried other employment, Stang said with certainty of her job at NAIT, "I have finally found that this is where I was meant to be."