The Supervisor of the Year Award at Loyola Marymount University recognizes and celebrates student supervisors who excel in their positions and are highly regarded by their employees for their consistent leadership, integrity, understanding and support of their employees, both professionally and personally. This year, the award went to the Kathryn Ryan, reference assistant for the William H. Hannon Library.
Ryan’s responsibilities include supervising and training our Information Desk students and managing our classroom spaces. Being the reference assistant requires both technical and social skills: Ryan is comfortable handling both software and hardware issues while simultaneously working with students who are anxious about their research. She ensures that our research support spaces are consistently staffed. She has also developed skill-building workshops for our student employees.
Ryan has been working as the reference assistant since August 2012. While noting that she was originally not very comfortable with a customer service role, she finds it simple now to tackle the challenges thrown her way at the desk. Ryan says, “Students usually come up to the information desk feeling anxious about a paper and we’re able to jump in and help them right away.”
Ryan on Her Work
Over the years, Ryan has developed a deeper understanding of the lives of our student workers. LMU students, she realizes, are constantly involved with different activities on and off campus. Accordingly, she cultivates the character of someone who is “in the student’s corner” and approaches their questions and problems with understanding. She never wants a student to feel uncomfortable or left out. And she doesn’t do it alone! Ryan consistently seeks help from colleagues and other supervisors. For example, Ryan is a member of the library’s student supervisor working group. Together, they have created a student employee handbook detailing various policies, rules, and annual schedules so that no new student feels as if they were starting from scratch.
Ryan on Her Award
Receiving this award has helped Ryan appreciate all the hard work she puts into her job at the William H. Hannon Library. She hopes other supervisors feel motivated to strive for their best selves. “There are so many great supervisors,” she noted, “It was surprising that I won!” Her advice? Be constantly thinking of ways to help your students and improve your unit. Assume the best in everything and everyone. There is always a possible solution and, more importantly, there are always people there to help.
Please join us in congratulating Kathryn Ryan on her award!
Today’s post was written by Karolina Garcia. Karolina is a junior screenwriting major from Los Angeles. She enjoys watching horror movies and surfing.