Student Employee Development

UREC student staff member with laptop working on career ready skills

University Recreation + Wellness (UREC) strives to create a student employment experience that is developmental, community-oriented, and impactful. UREC aimes to have create graduates that are resourceful, resilient, team-oriented, and career-ready.

Our Programs & Initiatives

UREC LEAD is an interactive and customizable career-readiness development program primarily for UREC Student Staff that consists of 8-10 unique sessions throughout each academic year. Sessions focus on building awareness and skills in the eight UA Career Ready Skills and aim to assist students in discovering more about themselves and prepare them for their post-graduation plans.

Professional and Graduation Photos are offered each semester for NO COST to UREC Student Staff. Pictures can be used to update a student's LinkedIn page or celebrate and announce their upcoming graduation.

UREC Student Employee Advisory Board provides students the opportunity to have an even more active voice and role in the operations and policies at UREC. These students serve as advocates for UREC student employess and the University of Arkansas student body, providing an avenue for feedback and suggestions to and from UREC students and professional staff. To contact the board, please email urecseab@uark.edu. 

Recognition Programs at UREC focus on professional and academic success. Each semester UREC recognizes its Employees of the Term – nominated and selected by their peers and supervisor, and UREC Scholars - students who improved their GPA over the last semester. Additionally, UREC hosts an annual Honors & Awards Celebration each spring semester to recognize employees of the year for each staff area. 

National Student Employment Week is celebrated at UREC each April. UREC celebrates National Student Employment Week with a week-long itinerary of activities in recognition and appreciation for our student staff’s hard work throughout the year.

UREC Pilot Program: University Recreation + Wellness launched a pilot program to bridge the gap between campus employment and professional development. By hiring 55 student employees as Career-Readiness Associates, the department changed professional development from an extracurricular burden into a core job responsibility. This initiative successfully reduced participation barriers, fostered a peer community, and demonstrably improved students' mastery and application of the UA Career-Ready Skills. 

Student Staff Professional Development Fund provides support to student employees who are looking to continue their education and professional development. More information on this fund and application details can be found in the drop-down menu below.

The purpose of the University Recreation + Wellness Student Staff Professional Development Fund is to support and promote continuing education and professional development.  The fund will provide financial assistance to currently employed UREC Student Staff and UREC Graduate Assistants for certifications, trainings, conference registration and other activities that will further the applicant’s professional development and be of benefit to University Recreation + Wellness and its membership.

Student Employee applicants must meet the following criteria to be eligible for funding:

  1. Actively employed by University Recreation +Wellness for a minimum of 6 months
  2. Currently enrolled at least half-time at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville
  3. Maintain a positive work history within University, not having been dismissed or suspended from any program area or position. Disciplinary action within the semester of application will cause you to be ineligible.
  4. Up-to-date on all required trainings.

Application Process

  1. Student employee must submit completed application and professional resume
  2. Student employee must submit one letter of evaluation, cannot be from your direct supervisor.
  3. Student's direct supervisor will complete their own evaluation to provide feedback and context on the student application.
  4. Committee will review applications using the criteria outlined below, student employee applicants will be notified of award/denial within 2 business days of being reviewed by committee. 

Application Review Criteria

Review of applications is based on the following criteria:

  1. Relevance to current position or future career aspiration
  2. Commitment to applying knowledge/training within University Recreation + Wellness
  3. Letter of evaluation
  4. Supervisor Feedback
  5. Accuracy, attention to detail, and demonstration of need

Letter of Evaluation:

The letter should include evaluation of the applicant’s professionalism, accountability, communication, and teamwork.  Additional information to inform the committee about the applicant’s experiences in campus recreation or future career goals are welcome.  

Letters of evaluation from supervisors may be submitted to Kinley Davenport at kmd015@uark.edu or included in the application. 

Click here to apply for student staff professional development funding. 

Please contact UREC HR with any questions.