Harrison-Hopkins Named UW Employee of Fourth Quarter

Focusing on what is best for University of Wyoming employees and creating training resources to help them be successful have earned Kaylen Harrison-Hopkins the UW Staff Employee of the Fourth Quarter Award.

Harrison-Hopkins is an instructional designer and trainer in Human Resources, where she has worked since 2017. She also is the training lead for the WyoCloud project. In that role, she is responsible for creating all campus training content relating to all WyoCloud systems, including Human Capital Management (HCM) and Financial Management. Additionally, she is the co-lead for the implementation and management of the Employee LearnCenter, UW’s new employee training center.

Harrison-Hopkins’ nominators note she keeps UW employees’ best interests in mind when she works on projects.

“I had the opportunity to work beside Kaylen on the Employee LearnCenter project and, what impressed me the most and why I knew I had to submit this nomination was that, in every meeting, every discussion and every decision, she represented the employees of campus,” a nominator says. “Every plan put in place and decision made started with ‘what is best for our employees.’ Do what is best for campus -- not what’s best or easiest for us -- was the tone of every meeting she held and, with that idea, she implemented a piece of WyoCloud that’s actually running smoothly with no errors.”

“She is driven by the desire to help employees by ensuring they have access to quality training that allows them to be successful at their positions,” another nominator says.

The Employee LearnCenter not only provides a better user experience for online training, but also includes new reporting functionality to track employee training. Employees can view their employee training transcripts, and managers can check their employees’ training progress and status online.

Another colleague says Harrison-Hopkins’ training experience is “a huge asset to UW.”

“I hate to imagine how terrible the video and in-person trainings, and Quick Reference Guides for WyoCloud would be if it were not for her excellent work ethic, attention to detail and perseverance,” the colleague says.

Another colleague says she “looks at the big perspective but delivers at the personal level.”

Harrison-Hopkins says she is honored to be selected for the award.

“It has been a challenging and rewarding position trying to make sure employees have the resources they need to do their jobs with such a significant change as WyoCloud has been,” Harrison-Hopkins says. “I am privileged to be part of the WyoCloud team. It is through the team’s support that I am able to develop training.”

A reception to honor Harrison-Hopkins will be announced at a later date.

An Employee of the Quarter nominee can be any UW staff employee, and each must receive three nomination forms from three separate individuals. Nominations must be submitted to the Staff Senate office. The forms are on the web at www.uwyo.edu/staffsenate/employee-of-the-quarter.

For more information, call the Staff Senate office at 766-5300.