Amanda Smits (MEd \u201917) has a knack for spotting potential links that could benefit students, researchers and community partners. And she isn\u2019t afraid to speak up about them.<\/p>\n
Her ability to connect the dots recently led to Smits, the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC) Administrator, being announced as this year\u2019s recipient of the Faculty of Social Sciences Staff Student Experience Award winner.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking with students is one of the highlights of my role here at Brock, and I can\u2019t help but notice ways \u2014 almost daily \u2014 that I can help to create connections and experiences for them,\u201d says Smits. \u201cWe are so fortunate to have several partnerships with community organizations where making these experiences come to life, even in the virtual world, is completely possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smits also previously received the Staff Community Engagement Award for the Faculty in 2019.<\/p>\n
But she is quick to point out that she is part of a large community of staff members committed to creating the ultimate experience for Brock students.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are many other staff members within the Faculty and across Brock who are doing this same type of work each and every day to find ways to create amazing experiences for Brock students,\u201d says Smits.<\/p>\n
Smits worked closely with students for several years in Recreation Services before joining the ESRC in 2017.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve come to realize there are so many different ways to help make connections between students and faculty, whether through different research projects faculty may be working on or community partnerships they may be a part of,\u201d says Smits. \u201cIt obviously does take extra time and effort, but in my experience, it\u2019s always been worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also credits the open ears and minds of faculty members in the ESRC, as well as their willingness to put in the extra work that developing rich student experiences requires, with the Centre\u2019s success in this area.<\/p>\n
Smits encourages other Brock staff members not to shy away from sharing their ideas with colleagues.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m not scared to bring ideas forward \u2014 and not every one of them has worked out,\u201d she says. \u201cThere have been ones that are flops, and that’s OK, too, because the results of the successes can have a lasting impact on students\u2019 career trajectories.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smits knows when efforts are paying off because she hears from students, who often reach out to thank the team. She has also gotten great feedback on course evaluations, including a course she recently began teaching for undergraduate students in the Minor in Environmental Sustainability program<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI started teaching an internship course last winter where we match students to a partnership or project we’re working on,\u201d says Smits. \u201cReally working closely with those students was a huge turning point for me because the feedback was amazing. Even afterward, they’d reach out with ideas for the future, so you can really tell it’s had an impact on what they want to do with what they\u2019ve learned in the program.\u201d<\/p>\n Sustainability has long been a personal passion for Smits, who completed her Master of Education in Administration and Leadership at Brock in 2017. As part of her degree, she took a course in Sustainability through the ESRC and went on to write her major research paper about sustainability policies in post-secondary institutions, with a focus on Brock\u2019s Sustainability Policy.<\/p>\n By 2018, she was helping to lead the development of a full Environmental Sustainability Plan<\/a> (ESP) for Brock, which grew out of the Brock University Project Charter<\/a>, launched that same year. She continues to collaborate with colleagues in Facilities Management and several co-op students, for whom she has worked to secure Canada Summer Jobs funding and research assistantship opportunities.<\/p>\n