The 2018 outstanding employee of the year was announced at Staff Recognition Day on March 29, the winner will be using the prize money for a trip to Alaska with their significant other.
“I told my husband, I said, ‘well I’m not sure if I won it, but if I do, I’ll take you to Alaska,’”Department of Zoology and Physiology Senior Accounting Associate, Shawn Sheen said. “Then when I called him and told him I had won it I said ‘guess who’s going to Alaska?’”
Sheen is using the trip as a second honeymoon for her and her junior high sweetheart and husband of 36 years. She is in the process of planning her trip and getting everything in order.
“I am very happy she won the award because she deserved it and I am very happy that she is using the prize to go to Alaska,” Department Head of Zoology and Physiology Merav Ben-David said. “I am glad she will get to see Alaska, have an opportunity to have fun and enjoy herself.”
Sheen has two sons and three grandchildren. She said she enjoys family time and being outdoors in her spare time. Sheen tries to go to her cabin in Fox Park as much as she can with her family.
“Our boys called immediately after they found out and they said ‘you don’t spend it on us, or the grandkids, you spend it on you and dad,’” Sheen said. (Laughing) “Well, I have no problem with that.”
Shiela Krupp, office associate and co-worker of Sheen, initiated the nomination, as well as her supervisor Office Manager Carol Pribyl.
“That was pretty awesome for them to think of me and to do that, they’re wonderful people,” Sheen said. “They’re not just co-workers they’re very good friends and that makes it even more special.”
Krupp said she decided to nominate Sheen because of how deserving she was for the award.
“She’s one of the best people I have ever worked with and is very deserving of the Employee of the Year award,” Krupp said. “She is always there to help anyone that needs help and is in good spirits. She makes every day a joy.”
After Sheen was told she was nominated she said she cried. There were three other individuals nominated and she said she felt honored to have won it.
“[It felt] awesome,” Sheen said. “It was quite a shock, a great honor. Many people on campus are deserving of this award. But I’ve been privileged to have wonderful co-workers who nominated me, great people, like I said, in this department that supported me and voted for me.”
Sheen started working for the university in 1996 in the human resources (HR) department as an “I-9 girl,” as she called it. After 22 years of working at the university, she experienced three different departments: HR; the geology department; the zoology and philosophy department.
Sheen was originally going to be a secretary for the zoology and philosophy department, however, because no one attended to the grants, she was able to take on that position for the past eight years.
“I love the people that I work with,” Sheen said. “It’s a very nice department to work for. We have a wonderful staff that work well as a team and our faculty and students are awesome. I couldn’t ask for a better department.”
Sheen wears many hats when it comes to her work. Not only does she do the grants for the department, but she works in WyoCloud as well.
“She does a lot more than what she is in charge of,” Ben-David said. “Shawn [Sheen] has been doing above and beyond what’s asked of her in every aspect. She’s always ahead of the game. If something is missing or the faculty or students miss something she’s always ahead of us, reminding us of what needs to be done.”
Sheen is always helping whenever she can. She assists students who come into the front office and helps organize activities that are above the qualifications of her job description.
“We help the grad students that are here, arrange rooms for classes,” Sheen said. “Mostly we just help out in the department wherever we’re needed. And being a team, like we are, it’s easier to get things accomplished.”
Ben-David summed up Sheen and her work in one word, “invaluable.”
