Beginning in January 2022, the Office of Financial Affairs has created a financial innovators award known as the Financial Affairs Service and Innovation Award. This award has been created to recognize those throughout the university who make significant and lasting contributions to the university through bold, innovative and creative approaches to common, everyday university problems.

The award is open to any university faculty, non-faculty, academic, administrative or skilled crafts/service/maintenance employees who bring forward fresh ideas that lead to process efficiencies, cost savings and/or increased productivity. Each quarter one employee will be selected to receive the award, and then at the end of the calendar year, an annual award winner will be selected from the four quarterly winners.

For 2022, we are pleased to announce our annual award winner as:

Jeremy Battjes, vice chancellor for Student Affairs

Battjes is the winner of the Q2 2022 FASI award. Battjes was nominated for the quarterly recognition by several of his Division of Student Affairs colleagues, all of whom spoke highly of his exceptional, purpose-driven leadership that promotes collaborative involvement. He was associate vice chancellor for finance and administration in the Division of Student Affairs during the period when he was nominated but recently appointed vice chancellor for the division.

Battjes' bold problem-solving and creative efficiency in financial decision-making has yielded significant benefits across the campus community. He has a true commitment to students and their families, and Jeremy is quick to encourage solutions that prioritize access and care for students, particularly those vulnerable to attrition due to financial or other hardships.

Battjes' dedication, innovative problem-solving abilities and impactful service make him very deserving of being named the 2022 Financial Affairs Service and Innovation Award. Please join us in congratulating Vice Chancellor Battjes!

If you know of an employee deserving of recognition for our next quarterly FASI award, we would love to hear about them. Please email your FASI nominations to either Sandy Sturgeon at sandras@uark.edu or Susan Slinkard at sslinkard@uark.edu.