Congratulations to Hannah Hounsell ’17, program support assistant in the Open CoLab, for being named the recipient of this year’s Sara Jayne Steen Operating Staff Service Award. This award recognizes an OS member who exemplifies the institutional spirit and values of Ut Prosim (That I may serve) and who demonstrates a dedication to serving the campus and community.
“Hannah has excelled in her position while still finding time to devote herself to many campus causes that run parallel to her job duties,” says CoLab Director Robin DeRosa. “She has an amazing ability to integrate the many roles she plays here, and is a wonderful model of someone who takes a holistic approach to serving our students.”
Though Hounsell’s full-time employment started in 2018 as a CoLab program support assistant, her PSU history began a first-year student in 2013. She was an outstanding member of the Writing Center staff all four years she attended Plymouth and she also worked one year in the English department. She has excelled while still finding time to devote herself to many causes outside of her job duties. These include handling event planning for the Cluster Pedagogy Learning Community; coordinating the Young Writers Institute for the National Writing Project in New Hampshire; participating on the President’s Commission on the Status of Women, Queer Council, Dining Advisory Board, and Staff Learning Community; and representing PSU at the Pemi-Baker Literacy Spelling Bee and at the Digital Pedagogy Lab conference in Virginia.
Her civic involvement beyond campus also includes judging 80+ pieces of student writing for the Scholastic Writing Awards and working as the program specialist for many years at a summer family camp run by the Girl Scouts.
Here are Hannah’s remarks as she accepted her award (virtually) at University Days:
I want to begin by thanking the Interdisciplinary Studies students and the colleagues who originally nominated me and for the Sara Jayne Steen Service Award. It is an incredible honor to, not only receive this recognition, but be part of a team who goes to such lengths to show their appreciation for my work at the university. I am privileged to work in the CoLab and be mentored by my coworkers Robin, Martha, and Matt. Robin, in particular, I’m not sure if you know exactly how much you have changed my life with the opportunities, guidance, and care you have shown me as your student, colleague, and friend. I don’t know if there are any students are in the audience, but their involvement in the nomination process is no small thing to me. For students to take time from their busy lives and studies and extracurriculars to fill out an award nomination for me— I am intimately aware of the effort that takes and how much of an honor that is. I am filled with gratitude for this amazing community.
I would like to end my remarks by sharing a few of the values of service that I use to guide my work here at PSU as a student advisor and member of the colab. These are in no way definitive or conclusive but they come together as a gestalt of my approach to service.
1. Service is recognizing that you are a vehicle for support; not everything is your job, but you can use your place to advocate for folks and connect them to the right resources. This includes basic needs because 39% of college students are food insecure, 46% are housing insecure, and 17% are homeless.
2. Worthwhile service is guided by and designed for the people in the margins rather than the majority.
3. Service is walking a student directly over to the Speare building, finding the right room together, and staying to help them ask the right questions.
4. Service is creating boundaries, taking care of yourself, and preventing compassion fatigue from affecting your ability to help others.
5. Service is helping people feel heard, even if you don’t know the answers. Listening to, empathizing with, and affirming someone’s feelings and struggles is often the first step— sometimes it’s the only step.
6. Service is responding to emails, even with a quick “working on it;” we all want to be acknowledged.
7. Service is not a one-size-fits-all. You might find yourself working with someone once a week for an entire semester so they can finish designing their program of study. They are worth the effort.
8. Service is recognizing that students, staff, and faculty are humans first. Before grades and task forces and work flows and assessments, we all want and fundamentally need to be treated as humans with basic needs, pressures, barriers, and strengths.
Thanks again, everyone for the recognition. And congratulations to the other award winners!
