Woman of the Year awarded to a USU-CEU staff member
The recipient of the Woman of the Year, an award presented by the Sun Advocate is USU-College of Eastern Utah’s Director of Academic Records, Jan Young. To Young’s credit, several members of the Price community nominated her as Woman of the Year in the newspaper’s business section.
Young is excited about the award. “When Rick Shaw from the Sun Advocate came to my office and asked for the interview, I was very surprised.”
This archived article was written by: Kristen Zarucchi-Mize
The recipient of the Woman of the Year, an award presented by the Sun Advocate is USU-College of Eastern Utah’s Director of Academic Records, Jan Young. To Young’s credit, several members of the Price community nominated her as Woman of the Year in the newspaper’s business section.
Young is excited about the award. “When Rick Shaw from the Sun Advocate came to my office and asked for the interview, I was very surprised.”
She has worked at the college for over 29 years. Over the years she has noticed the incredible amount of technology the school uses when dealing with student records and transcripts.
“I’ve noticed how impatient student’s have gotten since technology has been introduced,” she joked.
“A couple years ago, it used to take anywhere from two to three weeks to get students their grades after the semester was over. Nowadays, grades are available almost instantly.”
When Young started working in the CEU records clerk’s office in 1981, she found support from the administration. There weren’t many women in management positions so the encouragement from other faculty was welcomed.
She is used to seeing 20 students in her office daily. The number of students visiting her office has increased lately due to students registering for next semester’s classes. She usually is in her office a quarter to eight in the morning and stays late at night, sometimes working weekends.
Young deals with student transcripts and files dating back to 1937. Most files between 1937 and the early ‘80s are held in a vault in the records office. After the ‘80s, however, the files were input on computers and stored.
There are about 100,000 student files recorded at USU-CEU. Transcripts have to be held for 75 years, according to Young.
She loves to watch the students she helped graduate. “Education is very important,” she says. “Students should seize it and take all the opportunities to further their education.”
In regards to the merger between CEU and USU, she said, “It will be hard work for a year or two, but it will be worth it.”
The educational programs and transferability offered to students because of the merger are some of the reasons why she feels that this was a good idea.
Young wants to let readers and students to know how helpful the administrative office can be. She says that students should take full opportunity of the resources available. The staff in the office is helpful and willing to answer questions.
She says that students must take control of their education. “Things won’t just fall into your lap, go out and find what is available.”
