This month’s Hero Award recipients are (from left) Lester Stewart, Kaje Sanford and Melissa Laurenti (Photos by Derik Holtmann).

University of Missouri–St. Louis Chancellor Kristin Sobolik and her cabinet continue to recognize the exemplary efforts of staff and faculty members from across campus by bestowing the UMSL Hero Award on up to three individuals each month.

This month’s honorees are Lester Stewart, associate director of operations and event services; Kaje Sanford, senior assistant director of Student Financial Services; and Melissa Laurenti, associate director of program/project operations in the Sponsored Programs Administration.

Lester Stewart

If you’ve attended an event at UMSL within the past six and a half years, you have Stewart to thank. In the past fiscal year, Stewart and his team at UMSL Event Services produced or hosted 1,224 UMSL events for campus departments, student groups and external clients. But while Stewart plays a vital role in bringing these events to life, he aims to fall into the background.

“We kind of joke that no news is good news,” he said. “No communication after an event is good news because that means we did our job. Our goal most of the time is just to blend in and to fall to the back of the event so that we shouldn’t be the center of attention.”

As the associate director of operations and event services, Stewart manages the full-time staff who arrange and run the events themselves. The team oversees a wide range of events, from student organization meetings and the Student Leadership Awards to high-profile gatherings for the chancellor’s office and the Board of Curators.

“Lester is the quintessential ‘man behind the scenes’ in his role as associate director of event services,” Justin Roberts, associate vice chancellor for marketing and communications, wrote in his nomination for the UMSL Hero Award. “Whether working weekends to live stream commencement ceremonies or coordinating VIP events across campus, he is always thoughtful about both the client and guest experience.”

Stewart, who worked in hotel management for seven years before coming to UMSL, first fell into event management as a student employee at the University of Texas at Arlington after his RA told him about a job opportunity in the student center. Now, he’s been managing events at UMSL for nearly seven years. He said he’s stayed so long because he enjoys working with people all across campus – from faculty and staff to students who he’s able to watch progress through their college careers at UMSL.

“I like the dedication that the staff here have to their jobs and the way that they are here for the students,” he said. “Most of the staff on campus are here with the goal of bettering our students and making sure that they have a successful experience. I think it’s really great that my team is involved with not only the welcoming of the students, but also their graduation and commencement.”

As a former student worker himself, Stewart is passionate about mentoring student workers at UMSL, some of whom have gone on to pursue careers in hospitality management. Oftentimes, he said, people don’t even consider a career in hospitality, but he’s able to show students the many possibilities that could await them in the field.

And while Stewart himself aims to blend in at the events that he and his team host across campus, his work hasn’t gone unnoticed by his fellow staff members who nominated him for the Hero Award.

“I have observed the care and calm assurance that Lester provides to student groups and campus departments when executing the myriad details that ensure a successful event,” Susan Elliott, assistant vice chancellor for external and donor relations, wrote in her nomination. “He offers the same professional presence when interacting with external community members when they consider the UMSL campus as a venue.”

Kaje Sanford

Sanford often tells people that he likes to “move in silence,” so he was shocked – and honored – to be nominated for the UMSL Hero Award.

As the senior assistant director of Student Financial Services, Sanford manages donor-sponsored scholarship dollars, merit scholarships and institutional funds. He helps break down barriers around financial aid by helping students fill out their FAFSA forms, hosting orientations for UMSL students and giving presentations to high school students across the St. Louis area as a liaison for the Bridge Program.

“It gives them a person they can honestly see. It’s not just some random mailbox,” he said. “It affords them a space to say, ‘OK, I have questions about financial aid’ or ‘I tried to do this FAFSA process.’ I’m just there to make this more accessible, to break down financial aid and those barriers. I tell people all the time I may not have all the answers, but I can find the answer or find someone who knows the answer for you.”

Originally, Sanford wanted to be a therapist, earning both his undergraduate degree in psychology with an emphasis in child advocacy studies and a master’s of education in clinical mental health counseling from UMSL. After obtaining his undergraduate degree from UMSL, Sanford got his start as a college advisor for Missouri College Advising Corps. He said his current role at UMSL, which places him on the other side of the high school to college journey, has been a happy marriage of his interests and skillset.

“It works both ways,” he said. “I am able to incorporate my degree and the skillset I have obtained in my role when I talk to parents and students. I don’t think I could ever sit behind a cubicle. I love the engagement and working with students and families through a very confusing process. So I love being able to be that person and make it more approachable and understandable so people feel like it’s something they could attain.”

Last year, for instance, Sanford worked with a high school senior who had been having issues getting their FAFSA application submitted for a month. He sat down with the student, who did not have the help of their parents, and – after a lengthy process – was able to get the form submitted. He’s often faced with similar situations, in which students feel they can’t break down barriers to financial aid without some assistance or guidance, and it is always a rewarding experience to help students navigate that next step of their college journey after getting accepted. While rewarding, that work comes with challenges – which Sanford is well-equipped to handle, according to his Hero Award nominator.

“One might assume that distributing scholarship funds would be one of the simplest tasks on campus; however, Kaje’s reality in managing scholarships is far more complex,” said nominator Mitch Hess, director of Student Financial Services. “He frequently faces a steady stream of requests, whether it’s processing scholarships, making exceptions for students, adjusting award amounts, or altering the manner in which funds are disbursed. Despite these challenges, he approaches each situation with a positive attitude and a willingness to help.”

Melissa Laurenti

Although the Sponsored Programs Administration office – the central office for funded research and other sponsored projects at UMSL – has gone through staffing shortages, Laurenti alone has submitted hundreds of proposals in the past two years.

As the department’s associate director of program and project operations, Laurenti leads the pre-award side, helping faculty submit proposals, and also helps the office overall on the post-award side. She enjoys working with the faculty and staff who submit proposals and learning about their research, community programs and what they’re excited about.

“I think that UMSL is passionate about our community and the fact that we graduate more alums than any other university in St. Louis is just amazing,” she said. “I like what UMSL’s about.”

A north St. Louis County native and an UMSL alum herself, Laurenti has worked at UMSL for the past 16 years. Her first “real job” was in the mortgage industry, working as an underwriter for a mortgage company and loan processor. After she was laid off during the 2008 recession, she started looking into different positions and came across a listing at UMSL.

“I’m so grateful that they took a chance on me way back when because it’s similar to what I was doing with compliance and things like that,” Laurenti said. “Most people don’t think about this as a profession, and it is a growing profession. I kind of fell into it, but I love it.”

Laurenti has enjoyed connecting with staff and faculty from across the UMSL campus over the years, so she was particularly excited to be part of the first cohort of the UMSL Emerging Leaders Program, which included both faculty and staff members. The experience gave her the opportunity to hear from faculty members on topics outside their research, such as how they approach leadership.

Laurenti said she loves what she does, and she’s grateful to those faculty and staff members for the support they offer as she carries out her work. Her dedication to that work caught the attention of Karen Boyd, director of Sponsored Programs, who described Laurenti as a trusted coworker and an invaluable UMSL staff member in her nomination for the UMSL Hero Award.

“Melissa takes great pride in her work and ensures every proposal submitted by our faculty is on time and accurate,” Boyd said. “In addition to submitting proposals, she takes the initiative to stay abreast of the latest regulations and systems needs to submit proposals, and she enjoys learning all areas of research administration. She takes the time to learn all university rules and regulations so that she can assist anyone who contacts our office for help with anything pertaining to the university. Our faculty members rely on her judgment and support. In her role in RECD she has an outstanding working relationship with many colleagues across the UM System.”