Professional Staff Award for Excellence
The Professional Staff Award for Excellence recognizes a member of the professional staff whose work has demonstrated excellence in their work through one or more of the following: exceptional communication and interpersonal skills; exceptional integrity, professionalism, and job performance that inspires excellence in others; exceptional dedication to encouraging initiative, creativity, and exploration of new ideas through work and interaction with others.
Nominations for the Professional Staff Award for Excellence are now CLOSED.
Selection Criteria
Nominees for the Professional Staff Award for Excellence will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
A. Exceptional Communication and Interpersonal Skills (1-5 Points)
B. Integrity, Professionalism, and Job Performance (1-5 Points)
C. Initiative, Creativity, and Innovation (1-5 Points)
Bonus points are rewarded to account for years of service and previous year nominations as a means of recognizing and valuing long-term commitment and continued excellence.
Nominees are ineligible to win the Professional Staff Award for Excellence if:
- They are members of the Professional Staff Organization Executive Committee as of the nomination form deadline.
- They previously won the award while serving in their current role.
- They were not a member of the Professional Staff Organization as of the nomination form deadline.
- They retired from their role or left the university prior to the nomination form deadline.
For more information on the selection, eligibility criteria, and judging considerations, please refer to the PSO awards webpage.
Award/Recognition
Award Administration
Nomination Process
Additional Information
2026
AJ Barse - Center for Instructional Innovation, ATUS
AJ Barse is a two-time Woodring College of Education alum who has called WWU home for 14 years, serving as co-manager of the Student Technology Center before joining the Center for Instructional Innovation as an instructional designer.
In his current role, Barse partners with faculty and staff to design meaningful learning experiences, working at the intersection of instructional design and academic technology. From reimagining course structures in Canvas to helping educators thoughtfully navigate the challenges of artificial intelligence, he is known for making complex ideas stick, meeting people where they are with patience, humor and genuine curiosity.
Barse has created hundreds of professional development resources, presented at regional and national conferences including two appearances at Adobe MAX, and is the host or guest on multiple podcasts beyond his roles at WWU. His community engagement was recognized in 2024 with the Innovative Educator of the Year award from TAGNW.
At the core of everything Barse does is a commitment to lifelong learning and a conviction that technology should expand what is possible, not complicate it. It is a passion for creativity, exploration, and education that keeps him pushing the boundaries of what teaching and learning can be.
Carolyn Mulder - Child Development Center
Carolyn Mulder is the director of WWU’s Child Development Center, having formerly guided learning with young children for over four decades. Known for her exceptional interpersonal skills, consistent warmth and clarity, and deep attentiveness to children, her longstanding dedication leaves a lasting impact on families years after they leave the center. She also mentors and supports dozens of student employees, inspiring many to pursue careers in early childhood education, and shaping the profession for generations to come.
In the classroom, Carolyn fostered child-led, nature-based learning environments and encouraged teachers to bring their own vision and creativity into their classrooms. She empowered staff, interns, and student employees to experiment, grow, and innovate by offering support, trust, and flexibility while remaining responsive to feedback.
As director, Carolyn’s practices of transparency and honesty help build and maintain trust and morale among CDC staff and families during uncertain circumstances, such as when plans to open two new classrooms were temporarily delayed by supply chain disruptions and licensing challenges. Her visionary leadership and adept navigation of complex funding, planning, construction coordination and licensing requirements resulted in increasing the CDC's capacity by nearly 50 percent.
Carolyn is a community builder who encourages open conversations and models collaborative problem-solving. Her enthusiasm, optimism, and willingness to take on meaningful projects inspire those around her and strengthen the CDC’s culture overall.
Jenny Spurgin - Washington Campus Coalition for the Public Good
Jenny Spurgin has worked at Western for nearly 17 years, serving in roles across campus and supporting relationship building across and outside of the university. She is also a double alum, having come to Western as an out-of-state student for her bachelor’s degree and later completing her MBA as an employee.
As the associate director for Washington Campus Coalition for the Public Good, Spurgin supports the work of campuses across Washington, administers federal grants and manages statewide programs. She collaborates with colleagues regionally and nationally around civic participation, student leadership and community engagement. Spurgin came into this role during significant changes and disruption following the pandemic, organizational turnover and federal grants uncertainty. She worked hard to mitigate impacts and communicate with integrity and compassion.
Spurgin enjoys the connections this work brings both with Western and the Bellingham community and the broader higher education ecosystem, including partners at diverse institutions from all corners of Washington, policymakers and elected officials, and sister organizations across the country.
Serving in a leadership capacity in education is a privilege, and Spurgin embraces a lifelong-learner approach to her work and that of the coalition.
Past Awardees
4 awardee(s) for this year
2025 Awardees
Abby Senuty - Career Services Center
As a career counselor, Abby Senuty is passionate about supporting students and alumni as they envision and work toward their future plans. Her professional experiences prior to Western include college access advising and serving as a youth development Peace Corps Volunteer.
Relationships, continual learning, and a strengths-based approach are at the heart of everything she does. She is fortunate to work on a collaborative team that encourages building partnerships beyond the Career Center. Through these collaborations, Abby has supported students in exploring opportunities beyond traditional employment, including curating relevant resources for undocumented and DACA-mented students and partnering with the Blue Resource Center to offer programming about alternative career pathways. A member of the campus-wide Undocu Support Network and the city of Bellingham’s Keep Washington Working Act (KWW) Work Group, Abby advocates for inclusivity and access across Western’s campus and in our broader community.
Dina Murphy - Financial Aid
Dina has worked for the Financial Aid Department since 2000, when she began as a student employee while completing her bachelor’s degree in human services. After graduating from Western in 2002, Dina became a financial aid counselor and has had various roles in Financial Aid and the Scholarship Center since.
As assistant director of Financial Aid, Dina Murphy’s first priority is to do everything she can to ensure students get the financial aid they need, and she is tireless in this pursuit. People who work with Dina describe her as a beacon of hope to students. With her vast knowledge of scholarship criteria, she does her best to help students who are facing emergency situations. She’s also a valuable partner for departments throughout campus in their work to get scholarships to students.
This year, Dina was a leader in the complex process of implementing Western’s new Scholarship Portal that will make it easier for students to apply for scholarships at WWU. Dina’s leadership and vast knowledge helped ease campus partners through the transition to see the transformational opportunities that come with a streamlined scholarship application system.
Each day, Dina’s passion and expertise inspires her co-workers and makes a real difference in the lives of students.
John Thompson - University Communications
After a career in journalism, John has worked at Western for 18 years as the assistant director of the Office of University Communications, a role which touches almost everything the institution does from a communications perspective: emergency communications, crisis response, issues management, internal communications, media liaison work, and more.
But in his heart of hearts, John remains a storyteller, and telling Western's story, and that of its incredible students, faculty, and staff, is the favorite part of his job.
From a heartbreaking, tear-producing conversation with a student who suffered from childhood trauma only to emerge as an Outstanding Graduate, to three life-changing weeks in Ecuador with 21 incredible Honors College students, to the story of how one kind crane operator working on what would become the Interdisciplinary Science Building touched the lives and the imaginations of the tiny scholars in the AS Child Development Center, John seeks to tell stories about Western, and for the Western community, stories that inspire us, move us, and help us to feel proud about the work we do.
Maggie Feeney - Health and Wellness
Maggie has worked at Western for more than 20 years. For the past eight years, she has served as the Health Promotion and Communications Specialist in the Counseling, Health & Wellness Services unit within Student Affairs.
Maggie develops communication strategies to promote student well-being and access to student support services at Western. She designs messaging and materials for large-scale awareness months as well as stand-alone projects such as Western VoiceNotes, a well-being storytelling station.
Maggie's favorite part of her work is the opportunity to mentor student volunteers in the Wellness Advocate Program, helping to amplify their voices through the student-produced Campus Conversations podcast and @bewellwwu Instagram account. Their dedication to supporting their peers inspires her every day.
Maggie feels fortunate to collaborate with incredible colleagues across campus, people who are passionate about the holistic health and well-being of Western students.