Carmen Halcomb holds a plaque recognizing her as Regional Student Employee of the Year from the Southern Association of Student Employment Administrators. From left: Dr. Amanda Smith, dean of students; Danita Dudley, student employment coordinator; Halcomb; Nedra Goodrich, student employment coordinator at Texas Tech University; Lisa Adams, director of the Military and Veteran Center; and Yolande Evans, assistant vice president for Student Programs.

Three student workers at The University of Texas at Dallas have been recognized by their supervisors for their professionalism, work ethic and performance as part of National Student Employment Week.

During the week, held each year in April, the Career Center’s Student Employment Team organizes activities and honors student workers for their exceptional work.

UT Dallas presented its Student Employee of the Year Award to Carmen Halcomb, a business administration senior in the Naveen Jindal School of Management who works as a team leader in the Military and Veteran Center.

Halcomb also received the Regional Student Employee of the Year from the Southern Association of Student Employment Administrators, the first time a UT Dallas student has been a recipient. She was selected from nearly 1,000 nominees at 26 schools in 12 states.

Halcomb, an Army veteran, was a team leader for PAVE (Peer Advisor for Veteran Education), which trains student veterans to be peer advisors and then pairs them with incoming new student veterans.  

“Carmen successfully coordinated training for 13 peer advisors, matching them with 133 new undergraduate student veterans in fall 2016. This spring, she successfully trained three new peer advisors, and matched 11 peer advisors with 64 new undergraduate student veterans,” said Lisa Adams, director of the Military and Veteran Center.

As a result of Halcomb’s dedication and work, PAVE recognized UT Dallas as the National Campus of the Month in October 2016.  

Award finalists and their campus employers included: Jasmine Tsai, Communications, Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science; and Olufunto Faweya, Applied Research Center.

A committee of faculty and staff reviewed nominations and rated them on reliability, quality of work, initiative, professionalism and uniqueness of contribution. The Career Center’s Student Employment Team honored the finalists by presenting them with plaques and a small scholarship.

“It is an honor to witness the initiative and the professionalism of UT Dallas’ student employees," said Danita Dudley, student employment coordinator. "I am extremely proud to be a part of this celebratory event and look forward to acknowledging and honoring our exceptional student employees each year.”