Kristen Lawson elected to staff senate as CBSHS representative

For the next three years, Kristen Lawson, the School of Nursing’s project manager, will be serving as the College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences (CBSHS) staff senator.

As staff senator for the college, she will represent the CBSHS staff in Staff Senate meetings and bring their questions and concerns to the senate and University leadership. One of her objectives is to increase communication and collaboration between the staff across all the departments in the college.

“My goal is to make sure the voice of staff in our college is represented,” Lawson said. “I also want to increase staff awareness of the Staff Senate as their represented voice to the university’s administration.”

On Aug. 26 at 9 a.m., Lawson will be leading  a college-wide staff meeting as way to start working toward her goals and increase her visibility as a staff senator. Dean Leslie Hossfeld will participate in the first 15 minutes of the meeting to listen to and hear from CBSHS staff.

“I am excited for Kristen in this new role,” Hossfeld said. “Shared governance is a critical part of university life. As I do with faculty senators, I will meet monthly with Kristen to discuss staff concerns, activities and updates and work together to continue to strengthen our work in building people and communities within and outside of the University.”

Lawson said her favorite thing about working in CBSHS is that, although each department is unique and staff have varied roles and responsibilities across the departments, we are all working toward a common mission. But because of our differences, she wants staff from across the college to have the opportunity to get know one another better at the annual staff retreat and through regular staff communication and collaboration.

“I want us to get to know one another so we can better support each other across departments,” Lawson said. “I want to break down any perceived silos.”

Lawson said she looks forward to supporting the college’s strategic plan for Inclusive Excellence. She wants to make sure that communication from leadership to the staff is open not only on the college level, but also at the University level. One thing that will help her accomplish that is her work on the membership committee that she’s been assigned to this year to help engage the staff senators better across the University.

For Lawson, Clemson is home. Though she lived in various places around the country for 20 years, she grew up in the Clemson and Central area. Her mother worked at Clemson, and now her brother works at the University as well. Lawson joined the Clemson family six years ago after returning to Clemson with her husband, who is a Gamecock fan, and their dog Sammy.

For the first three years she was at Clemson, she managed the operation of the Bettye Cecil Learning Resource Center for the college. Now, as project manager, she supports tasks associated with the School of Nursing academic initiatives. Collaborating with the school’s director, associate directors, program directors, faculty, and staff, her role includes managing quality improvement processes relating to the curriculum and the school’s strategic plan while advocating for the school’s mission, programs, and objectives.

Outside of work, Lawson loves spending time with extended family, reading, finding new recipes to try, and going to the Clemson Jazzercise Center. While Lawson is from this area originally, she said she’s a proud, second generation American. Her maternal grandparents came to the United States from Ireland and her paternal grandparents from England and Russia.

Concerns and questions that staff would like for Staff Senate to address can be sent to Lawson at cbshsstaffsenator@clemson.edu.