Dale E. Dowden Award for Outstanding Student Services in Distance Education

Nomination Text for Julie Napier    

Describe the nominee's achievements and explain how the nominee fits each of the five selection criteria. Nominees will be rated on each criterion, so it's very important to address all five in your narrative. Please limit your response to 500 words or less.

Julie Napier is a shining example of a true service-oriented individual. Julie serves as VU's "point-person" when students contact Continuing Studies with questions or concerns about ICN courses. Though the majority of ICN registrations Julie processes are for other institutions' students she treats everyone with the same efficient courteous service. She works tirelessly to find solutions to students' concerns by serving as their intermediary with instructors, processing paperwork and contacting her peers at other institutions. Julie has actively supported VU's ICN commitment for nine years. During that time she has been very instrumental in the tremendous growth of ICN enrollments Vincennes University has seen. VU served as the Originating Institution for 1692 ICN students which equal approximately 5,000 ICN credit hours during the 2005-2006 fiscal year and we anticipate significant growth this fiscal year. Julie has willingly served as VU’s ICN Coordinator for numerous years. She represents Vincennes University’s Continuing Studies at ICN and IHETS functions and has made many collegial connections with her institutional counterparts. The inter-institutional relationships she has developed have proven invaluable in helping her serve ICN students. In order to properly service our ICN enrollment growth VU has hired additional personnel. Julie has overseen the training of these new personnel and imparted her service-oriented attitude to them. Under her very knowledgeable tutelage they have quickly learned how to efficiently process registrations. The workload these personnel resources absorb allow Julie to handle the out-of-the-ordinary situations that only a person with her vast experience can effectively resolve. Julie has served on several VU committees. Her committee leadership roles include serving as the secretary of the Support Staff Council. Her service on institutional committees has helped promote the ICN concept and convinced many faculty members to offer their courses via IUCN. Words cannot describe how valuable of a resource Julie is and how much VU relies on her for its ICN involvement. I can honestly say that without her ICN involvement VU would not be a major contributor to the Indiana College Network. Julie is impacting many students’ lives all around the state. All too often the individuals doing the “grunt work” become the unsung heroes, not receiving the recognition they so richly deserve. Julie is one such hero. I have absolutely no reservations in nominating Julie Napier for the 2007 Dale E. Dowden Award for Outstanding Student Services in Distance Education. 

Don Kaufman
Dean of Continuing Studies
Vincennes University