OIT product manager wins BYU’s student employee of the year award

BYU Student Employment Office kicked off this year’s student employee appreciation week by awarding Brenna Scadden-Nelson, a product manager in the Office of Information Technology department, the title “student employee of the year.”

Scadden-Nelson, under the impression she was going to a work meeting, looked shocked at the sight of her family, husband, colleagues, a dessert table, gold stars, and a white and blue balloon archway.

Human resources training and development coordinator Molli Craghead said Scadden-Nelson earned the title over 16,000 other student employees due to her strong work ethic, responsiveness and high-quality deliverables. These qualities were highlights from a six-page nomination submitted by Nancy Norman, Scadden-Nelson’s supervisor.

“Brenna’s understanding of DevOps and agile methodologies has been instrumental in the DevOps transition for the HR team,” said Norman. “It’s almost on par with what would be expected from a full-time, experienced product manager.”

Craghead said this level of work and responsibility isn’t uncommon for BYU student employees and said BYU entrusts its employees to do things that other universities usually would not.

“I think it’s because we know students do such a great job, and also because we want to give them those challenging assignments that build resumes and help students develop so when they leave, they’re entering the workforce well-prepared,” Craghead said.

The coordinator for this event Kathleen Christensen said the employee of the year award is the main highlight of student employee appreciation week, but the university also wishes to recognize the work done by all its employees.

Christensen invited all students to visit the student employment center at WSC 2014 to pick up a treat in appreciation for their hard work.