Student Affairs Staff Spotlight: Juanita Murillo Garcia (December 2021)

Nominated by: Liz Hansen

Nomination:

I would like to nominate Juanita Murillo Garcia for the November Staff Spotlight. As the Director of the Veteran & Military Resource Center, Juanita is in a unique role to directly influence and support student access, belonging, engagement and success on our campus – the four pillars of education for our division. With Veteran’s Day being recognized in November, I think it’s even more appropriate to direct our spotlight on Juanita, who served our country for many years in the Army.

Last week, Juanita and her team executed multiple events for our veteran and military connected community, including a new event (Husky Virtual 5k), a dinner ceremony, and their annual flag planting on the Prairie Line Trail. Coming into this quarter, the VMRC staff had to adjust to new federal guidelines around veterans benefits, which they needed to get quickly educated on in order to support our students and answer their questions.*  

On a personal level I have wanted to nominate Juanita because she has been a supportive colleague to me. I reached out to her for advice on an issue earlier this quarter and she was so helpful and provided me with some great insight, which helped me improve my working relationship with some students. Our conversation was fun, reaffirming, and really insightful!