2017 NISOD Excellence Award – Staff
“We have to remember that this may be a student’s second or third chance at college but, more importantly, it could also be their last attempt at college. We have to do everything we can to encourage our students to succeed.”
These are the words of wisdom that stuck with and moved Lisa Haggard when she attended a National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) conference in Austin, Texas as the ASU Mid-South 2017 NISOD Outstanding Staff member.
Lisa has been with the ASU Mid-South for two years and she works in the finance department handling purchasing, employee travel and helping at the cashier’s window. “You just jump in where ever you are needed. It’s part of what I love so much about my job.”
The transportation industry is very near and dear to Lisa’s heart. Her husband is a driver and she came to ASU Mid-South from a twenty-year career as a part-owner in an intermodal trucking company. There, she carried a huge sense of responsibility and wore many hats. When asked to compare her previous career to her current career, Lisa responded, “There, I worked in a cross departmental capacity and the drivers were our customers. I had to learn many functions and then I had to do them all. Here, I work across the entire campus with people from every department and our students are our customers. They are different industries for sure. But for me, the key to any success is understanding and serving your customers.”
Lisa sees processes as critical here and she credits JaNan Abernathy with providing great leadership in the Finance Department. She truly enjoys her job and working with everyone on campus. She also particularly enjoys being able to interact with students at the cashiers’ window.
Lisa has a message for all employers on this side of the river, “I hope the employers here begin to see the resources they have right here on this campus. We offer them a skilled workforce. I’m just not sure they all really understand what they have here.”
A few things about Lisa: She is always going to be for the underdog. She is a mother of two daughters whom she has raised to be highly independent leaders and she is a fierce advocate for women in leadership roles. She feels we’ve made progress with equality for women in the workplace, but there is so much more to do.
In her family, Lisa is the keeper of the family treasures. She loves to quilt as a hobby and she loves to re-work and re-use everyday items. She believes that a person never stops learning. And you can learn new ”
