Published: March 9, 2017

CUPA-HR award recipients

Pictured left to right: CUPA-HR VP and COO Rob Shomaker; HR Assistant Director for Service Center Kenny Nelson; Onboarding Manager Chrissy Harrison; and CUPA-HR President and CEO Andy Brantley

On Feb. 26, Department of Human Resources (HR) employees Chrissy Harrison and Kenny Nelson received awards at the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) Western Region Conference in Houston, Texas. 

Chrissy Harrison, onboarding program manager, received the HR Excellence Award. This regional award honors transformative HR work in higher education, recognizing individuals or teams who have provided HR leadership resulting in significant and ongoing organizational change within their institutions.

The CU Boulder onboarding program for university and classified staff launched in 2016. This program includes the New Employee Welcome Experience, CU Discover Series and comprehensive tools and resources for hiring managers and new employees. 

As the recipient of this award, Harrison received a $1,000 donation to the institutional endowment or scholarship fund of her choice. She selected to have the donation be made to the Nontraditional Student Incentive Fund, which benefits undergraduates at CU who face a multiplicity of responsibilities yet have very little support or resources to reinforce their educational endeavors. 

Kenny Nelson, assistant director over the HR Service Center (HRSC), received the Emerging Leader Award. This regional award identifies and recognizes a human resource professional who is a positive role model and mentor and has made significant contributions(s) to the profession, respective campus and/or CUPA-HR.

Under Nelson's leadership, the HRSC has quickly grown from the initial 12 employees to 22 employees. The HRSC serves 90 CU Boulder departments by providing transactional HR and payroll support, including the College of Arts and Sciences; College of Media, Communication and Information; and Auxiliary Services. 

The Department of Human Resources provides employee relations, organizational and employee development, compensation and analytics, talent acquisition, and HR transactional support for the CU Boulder campus. Visit the HR website for more information.