This month’s Hero Award recipients are Michele Davis, business manager for multiple units on campus; Cornell Lewis, IT portfolio and relationship manager for Information Technology Services; and Emily Eden, a business support specialist II for the College of Education. (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 Michele Davis, business manager for the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center, the Center for Teaching and Learning, the Division of Student Affairs and UMSL Athletics; Cornell Lewis, IT portfolio and relationship manager for Information Technology Services; and Emily Eden, a business support specialist II for the College of Education.

Michele Davis

Davis has been a familiar face on campus for the past 15 years, but others outside of the university might recognize her from her time on stage.

“I sang with cover bands around the St. Louis, St. Charles area, and then I also became a backup singer for an Elvis tribute artist between 2012 to 2015,” Davis said with a laugh. “I also made all of his silk scarves that he handed out to the women in the audience.”

Davis comes from a musical family. Her father was a country singer in the mold of Hank Williams Sr. and Hank Snow, who would sing live on the radio during the 1950s. In the ’90s, her brother was writing songs and performing with a band in Nashville. Occasionally, Davis would join her brother in Music City to sing with his band at famed honky-tonks such as Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge.

That background in the arts led Davis to apply for an office support position with the former College of Fine Arts and Communication, now part of the College of Arts and Sciences. Previously, Davis had worked mostly with small businesses, but she enjoyed the move to higher education, particularly her proximity to performing arts faculty and students. Around 2016, she began working for UMSL Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations Tanika Busch, who was then a fiscal officer in the College of Arts and Sciences.

“I loved working under Tanika,” Davis said. “I mean, she gave such great direction, and then from there, I was promoted to a business support II.”

Near the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Davis became a senior business support specialist for the Department of Art and Design, the Department of Music and Gallery 210 within the college. Joanna Mendoza, chair of the Department of Music, commended Davis for her work during a challenging time.

“Our departments are unusual and particular in our needs and operations, but she navigated all of it with grace and kindness,” Mendoza wrote in her nomination. “She took care of our students and faculty with understanding and a commitment to our teaching and learning experience at UMSL. Everyone on the faculty and all of the students appreciate her so much!”

Last summer, Davis assumed her current role as business manager, overseeing the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center, the Center for Teaching and Learning, the Division of Student Affairs and UMSL Athletics. The new position has entailed more extensive budget preparation work and more hands-on purchasing approvals throughout those units, but she has handled the transition with self-assurance, motivated by the community for which she cares deeply.

“I just really love being here at UMSL,” Davis said.  “It is so much different than working at a position outside the academic world. I love the people around UMSL. I also loved the interactions, when I was more on the academic side, dealing with the students and helping them. I love the overall atmosphere at UMSL.”

Cornell Lewis

By his own admission, Lewis isn’t one for self-promotion. So, in discussing his recent UMSL Hero Award, he stressed that he’s just one part of a bigger team that’s doing great work for the university.

“I think that there’s a lot of heroes in ITS and UMSL-wide, who are doing real hero stuff, putting out fires every day,” Lewis said. “For me to be recognized, for someone to think that what I do is deserving of recognition, I’m humbled by it.”

Lewis started his career at UMSL in 2006 as part of Student Financial Services, which is where his focus on process improvements began.

“The very first thing I worked on was the MyView student system implementation,” he recalled. “I had a part in that, and it got me really interested in process improvement because it was a big improvement for the campus to move from the old legacy student system to MyView. A lot of pieces needed to be set up in the new system that we still use today, almost 20 years later.”

From there, Lewis moved to the Graduate School, where he applied many of the same lessons in process improvement that he learned in Student Financial Services. That has carried over to his current work in ITS, as well. As IT portfolio and relationship manager, he assists other units on campus transitioning to a new software or to integrating one software system with another.

In his previous roles, Lewis worked with two units on campus. Now he gets to work with every unit on campus, which has been inspiring. He gets to see the good work people across the university are doing and often gets to learn about new initiatives firsthand. Through this work, it’s become clear people are working every day to make things better for the UMSL community.

“If someone has a vision, if someone has foresight to say, ‘This could be better,’ and they want to move forward to try to make it better, I think that’s a great thing,” he said. “Because a lot of times, we can get stagnated because this is the way it’s always been done.”

While Lewis loves to turn the spotlight on others around campus, those who regularly work with him are happy to return the favor. Loyola Harvey, who recently retired as a longtime staff member at UMSL, noted that Lewis is quiet and unassuming but staff members like him are “the backbone of UMSL.” Jennifer Simms, associate director of campus relations and communications in ITS, concurred.

“Cornell’s unwavering dedication, passion for helping others, calm presence and positive outlook make it an honor to work alongside him daily,” Simms wrote in her nomination. “Cornell is a beacon of connection, and his spirit of building camaraderie and dedication to his work, UMSL and the Information Technology Services department drive him to excel in his role as IT Portfolio and Relationship Manager. His even-keeled and pleasant personality promotes a welcoming and engaging work environment. Upon arriving at work, he stops by my office to say hello and proceeds to sit down because he knows I use this opportunity to bounce off ideas to garner his wisdom and feedback.”

Emily Eden

In 2019, Eden transferred to the UMSL to be closer to her family. As a transfer student, Eden wasn’t sure what to expect. However, during her time as a student in the College of Education, she found an incredibly welcoming environment.

“My experience as a student in the College of Education was really an experience like no other,” she said. “I just felt more supported and seen, and I really had a deep connection with some of my professors.”

The faculty and staff members that made an impact on Eden included Associate Teaching Professor Julie Smith Sodey, Associate Professor April Regester, Associate Professor Amber Candela, Senior Academic Advisor Karen Allman and Senior Academic Advisor Sue Bateman. The latter two helped Eden navigate the ups and downs of college and a change of majors.

“I went through some rough patches, and that’s exactly what [Allman’s] job was, to help students going through some rough patches,” Eden said. “I felt she went above and beyond to support me. Then also Sue Bateman. Even though I didn’t graduate from the College of Education, she was really influential in helping guide me to the Bachelor of Liberal Studies.”

After graduating in 2022, Eden returned to the university in 2023 to take a business support I position with the College of Education. The professors and staff members she had looked up to as mentors were now colleagues. She still talks to many of them on a weekly, if not daily basis.

“What I really derive joy from in my job is all the interactions with people,” Eden said. “I love being helpful and doing things for people. When they say, ‘This is great. This is exactly what I was looking for.’ That just brings me a lot of joy.”

Eden clearly brings joy to her colleagues, as well, judging by the multiple nominations from College of Education faculty and staff including Candela and Interim Dean Nancy Singer. Candela praised Eden’s positive attitude and ability to adapt, particularly after being promoted to the business support II position.

“Emily has moved up in positions and has seamlessly taken on new roles and responsibilities while continuing her past roles until those positions could be filled,” she wrote in her nomination. “Emily has done so in a way that she always has a smile on her face and is joyous throughout.”

Some of those new responsibilities have included working with faculty who have grants to do budgeting and communicating with the university’s grant office. Eden has also added a few things that aren’t exactly in her job description like creating a “find a frog” game in the college. She purchased plush frog key chains, hid them throughout South Campus and attached QR codes for faculty, staff and students to log their finds.

“I just want to emphasize how much I love UMSL, and how much the UMSL community means to me,” Eden said. “To interview for my previous position, then get hired and be able to work and continue to both feed this community and also be fed by this community – it’s absolutely changed my life.”