Lemoins named OSU Student Employee of the Year
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Kristoffer Lemoins of Edmond, Oklahoma — who is preparing to graduate and begin his dream job as a computer analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency — was honored at Oklahoma State University on April 13 when he received the Student Employee of the Year Award.
Lemoins also learned he had won the regional Student Employee of the Year title sponsored by the Southern Association of Student Employment Administrators, the first OSU student to ever win the regional award. He competed against students from 19 other universities in the region, and his prize included a plaque and a $200 cash award.
During National Student Employee Appreciation Week April 11-15, the Stillwater City Commission honored Lemoins and the other OSU finalists during the April 11 meeting, and Mayor Bud Lacy proclaimed the week as Student Employee Appreciation Week in Stillwater.
OSU System CEO and President David Schmidly signed a resolution declaring April 11-15 as OSU-Stillwater Student Employee Appreciation Week.
“OSU student employees have repeatedly shown their dedication to their jobs, no matter where they work,” he said. “We take great pride in our student employees and certainly appreciate all they do in the classroom and on the job. I congratulate each of them on a job well done.”
Lemoins, the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology’s top-ranked African American electrical engineering senior has a 3.59 grade point average, in addition to three years experience as a webmaster and technology assistant. He is the son of Michael and Anna Lemoins of Edmond.
Lemoins’ sterling reputation made it difficult for even the CIA to conduct a background check, joked Dr. Lee Bird, OSU vice president for Student Affairs, one of many who nominated him for OSU’s Student Employee of the Year award sponsored by the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid and OSU Career Services.
“The poor agents found nothing — no parking ticket, no disciplinary record — nothing," Bird said. "Everyone questioned apparently said the same thing: ‘He is smart, kind, loyal, responsible, generous with his many gifts and extremely clean cut.’ In short, he had the shortest background check in the history of the CIA.”
Numerous OSU departments and programs also praised Lemoins for his creation of websites specifically designed to meet their needs and for giving more than was required for the job.
“Kris has the ability to take our ideas and turn them into technological reality,” said Bird, referring to the Student Concerns Database that Lemoins created for the Office of Student Affairs to foster communication between students and the administration.
For three years, Lemoins also has worked as website manager for CEAT Student Academic Services.
“He has made a tremendous impact on how we serve our current and prospective students,” said Virgil Nichols, director of CEAT Student Services.
For example, Lemoins’ web design for CEAT Student Academic Services includes flexible features for students with vision disabilities that enable them to change the font size and/or color scheme and save the changes for future use.
Dr. Jovette Dew, coordinator of CEAT’s Multicultural Engineering Programs, commended Lemoins for his leadership qualities and scholarship achievements.
“His diligence with his studies and love for learning are very important attributes that he has exhibited to all of us who work with him.”
In addition to updating websites for CEAT Career Services and the CEAT Student Services office at OSU-Tulsa, Lemoins also created and designed websites and databases for OSU’s ALPHA program, said coordinator Jill Rucker, taking time to survey new students to find out what they would want to know about the university and ALPHA while building the site.
Lemoins is also active in the CEAT Student Council, Eta Kappa Nu honorary society and the Multicultural Advisory Board.
For more information, visit http://www.okstate.edu/finaid/seoty.