Congratulations to Katie Chosa, coordinator associate for the English Department, for being selected as the December “Service with Jazz” Employee of the Month!
Ms. Chosa is “the finest and most effective professional staff member I have seen in my 25 years at UNO,” said Peter Shock, chair of the English Department/ “As the person on whom the faculty, students and administrators of the three large degree-granting programs of the Department of English utterly depend, she richly deserves this award.”
The English Department relies on Katie Chosa to assist with student advising, plan and coordinate student events, manage a large volume of paperwork for the department’s graduate assistants, maintain program records, manage the office and student workers and coordinate alumni outreach efforts. “In the execution of the many tasks and responsibilities that continue to devolve on her capable shoulders, Katie’s performance is unfailingly efficient and accurate,” said Professor Shock. Moreover, her innovate contributions to program activities have “revitalized the department.
Katie Chosa designed the recruitment initiative “Class It Up!” and the highly successful student reading series, “Yeah, You Write!” A UNO graduate with dual English degrees, she is “UNO proud and has devoted herself to our university and its students.
“She is the rock upon which the graduate program and administrators depend,” said Dr. Robert Shenk, coordinator of graduate studies. “She’s always there and always reliable. As on old military officer, I’d be tempted to say that she is militarily reliable.”
Katie’s level of professional responsibility is “simply staggering,” said Professor Shock. “It is no exaggeration to say that our large department has never entrusted so much to one person, aside from the department chair.”
Neal Walsh, director of the UNO Creative Writing Workshop said that he “could give no higher recommendation to anyone I’ve ever worked with in any job at any time than I could give to Katie Chosa.
Moreover, said Patricia Rodger, coordinator of undergraduate studies, “Her cheerful, positive attitude, cooperative spirit, love of literature and writing, as well as her sunny smile, all make her a joy to work with.”