KU announces April employees of the month

Name: Deanne Arensberg

Title: Undergraduate affairs administrator, Department of Chemistry

Start date in current role: April 2012

What that means: Deanne Arensberg is the first point of contact for all undergraduate chemistry majors and handles admissions, schedules appointments with faculty advisers, prepares students for those meetings, supports the exam process and maintains all undergraduate information on the departmental website.

In a short period of time, Arensberg has learned the ins and outs of her position and has gone above and beyond expectations. Arensberg asks to take on more duties, and “never flinches when asked to assist.”  Arensberg was the first person to fill a newly created position. She quickly achieved the initial goals of the position and then took on new duties and broadened the effectiveness of the position she holds. 

Notable: Arensberg provides a unique perspective within her department as she is the parent of two college students. This perspective and experience enhances her communication with parents, giving them understanding and reassurances that department and the university are here to support their students. Although it is not part of her job description, she has developed and delivers effective and informative tours of the department for prospective students and their parents.

This example of Arensberg’s service to prospective students is not unique. She received a letter from a prospective student from Albuquerque, New Mexico, thanking Arensberg for meeting with her and her family: “My tour of the various chemistry labs in Malott Hall — that truly was one of the highlights of my entire campus tour. It gave me a true ‘behind the scenes’ view of day-to-day life as a typical chemistry student at KU.” This student, after visiting a number of universities, decided she would apply to KU because of her visit.

Arensberg additionally worked with an exchange student from Dublin University in Ireland. The student was frantic due to a miscommunication via Dublin University. Arensberg stepped in and solved the problem calmly. The student so appreciated Arensberg’s assistance that he stayed in touch with her throughout his time at KU.

Before working for the chemistry department, Arensberg was employed with Student Health Services.

Name: Terri Osborn

Title: Senior recruiter, BrassRing manager for Human Resources Management

Start date: September 1981

What that means: Osborn acts as the university’s system administrator for the applicant recruitment system, BrassRing. As such, she is heavily involved with development, implementation, training and supporting recruiting activities.  This responsibility requires Osborn to maintain current knowledge of university and federal policies and procedures regarding recruitment, provide ongoing support to Shared Service Centers, applicants and search committees.

Notable: In the last couple of years, the university has implemented two new applicant systems, of which Osborn has served as the developer, administrator and tester. She has also been responsible for related system training and troubleshooting to Shared Service Centers, Recruitment and Onboarding, Senior Recruiters, Search Committees, etc.  She is known for being responsive and personally invested in the success of the people who use the system, whether they are university employees or applicants, local or international.  She has been known to travel to an employee’s desk and provide one-on-one coaching to make sure individuals received the training and information they needed to utilize the system.

Osborn has dedicated innumerable hours toward the development of a new recruitment system as well as business processes that would accommodate all of the university’s recruitment needs. Many late nights and weekends have been spent in formulating ideas, designs, system requirements with her supervisor and teammates in an effort to understand a new software and its nuances. Osborn has often been met with challenges and system limitations, but through her diligence in learning all the aspects of the software, she has been able to propose ideas to produce a product that can efficiently meet the needs of the university as much as possible.

Osborn also is always the first person to organize community donations during the holiday months as well as remember to gather the HRM team together for employee celebrations. Osborn’s dedication and willingness to work hard is unmatched, but her sense of humor, consideration, generosity and the support she gives to her colleagues makes her truly an exceptional university employee.