Indianapolis, IN (July 2015)- Craig Pelka, assistant director of student employment services and assessment of the Office of Student Employment in the Division of Undergraduate Education, recently received two awards from the Midwest Association of Student Employment Administrators (MASEA): the President’s Award and the Dan Kreidler Newcomer Award.
MASEA functions from the contributions of its members, and many times members must go above and beyond the call of duty to uphold the mission of the association. The recipient of the President’s Award goes to an individual who has provided outstanding contributions to MASEA during the president’s terms of office and is selected by the current president of the association. Pelka was selected while serving as president-elect of the association. He began his role as president on July 1, 2015.
Among Pelka’s contributions were his assisting with the development of new social media communication, leading a social media initiative to engage membership, facilitating recruitment of new state representatives, creating new material and resources for the website, and creating a new onboarding process for newly appointed board members.
Pelka also received the Dan Kreidler Newcomer Award which is given to a new MASEA member who has contributed uniquely to MASEA within two years of his or her membership.
As part of his nomination for this award, it was noted that at his first MASEA conference in Detroit, Pelka was hooked, ready to share his passion for student employment, and that since then he has been a strong innovator for the association. Remarking on Pelka’s term as president of MASEA, his nominator for the Kreidler award also stated, “It’s exciting to see where the board will move the organization under his leadership in the next year. This individual’s energy and effort have proven to be invaluable, and he really is just getting started!”
When asked how he feels about receiving not one award, but two, Pelka states, “I’m incredibly honored and humbled to be recognized with these two awards. Doing this work to support student employees and the field of student employment is already especially rewarding, so to be recognized in this way, for something I love doing, is extra special. I’m so thankful to my supervisor, department, the Division of Undergraduate Education, and IUPUI for supporting student employment, as well as thankful to MASEA for these incredible honors.”