This month’s Hero Award winners are Susan TeStroete, senior associate director of gift compliance and stewardship; Eboni Valentine, the executive assistant to the dean and marketing and communications coordinator for the Ed G. Smith College of Business; and Derik Holtmann, UMSL’s campus photographer.

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 Susan TeStroete, senior associate director of gift compliance and stewardship; Eboni Valentine, the executive assistant to the dean and marketing and communications coordinator for the Ed G. Smith College of Business; and Derik Holtmann, UMSL’s campus photographer.

Susan TeStroete

One of Susan TeStroete’s primary responsibilities is partnering with colleagues to ensure that gifts to the University are meaningful to the donor and beneficial to the University. Just as importantly, TeStroete and her team work to show donors how their support is benefiting students.

“We really want to highlight the impact of their gift,” she said, “whether it’s supporting scholarships, contributing to the Nursing Simulation Lab, or supporting the CLIMB program, our goal is to show the difference their generosity makes.”

TeStroete is passionate about her work because she sees firsthand how UMSL puts those gifts to work in ways that positively shape lives.

She traces that passion back to her own UMSL experience. When she chose UMSL a few years after high school, her primary goal was finding the quickest, most direct path to finish her degree. At UMSL, though, she met students in the social work program, and that led to meeting faculty member Beverly Sporleder. A new path was set in motion.

“I thought it was amazing, so I pursued social work, and that’s what I did for 20 years,” TeStroete said. “I worked with runaway and homeless youth, and through that work, I was exposed to grant writing, and eventually moved into the development side of nonprofit.”

Working at Youth in Need and Epworth Children and Family Services, she saw on a daily basis how quickly a life can turn.

“When you’re working with young adults, you start to realize how very small things can become life-changing, both good and bad,” she said. “Figuring out how to engage with those youth at the exact moment, at that critical juncture, that’s a game-changer for them. When I look at adults who are struggling, my immediate response is to think somebody missed that critical point in their life that could have been a change-maker for them.”

She sees parallels within the UMSL student body.

“For so many of the students attending UMSL, this is their path to success,” she said. “This opportunity allows them to thrive. As part of the advancement team, I see it as my core mission to ensure we have the resources in place to help these students achieve their goals.”

Her efforts have been noticed across campus.

“Susan is a beacon of light, consistently saying ‘yes’ and serving others with unwavering dedication to the UMSL community,” said Associate Vice Chancellor for Development Holly Miori, who nominated TeStroete for the award. “She embodies transparency and always prioritizes the core mission of UMSL. Her support and trust in UMSL’s values are evident, and she brings a touch of humor and always a smile to everything she does. Many ask for her by name to be part of projects to support mission critical work.”

This Hero Award shines a light on someone who prefers that others get the spotlight.

“I am all about the back office,” TeStroete said. “I love supporting this team because they’re doing amazing work – connecting donors, organizations and community members to UMSL and I want to make their efforts as seamless as possible. I love UMSL; it’s an incredible organization and I just feel lucky to be a part of it.”

Eboni Valentine

For Eboni Valentine, UMSL is home, in more ways than one. It’s quite literally in her hometown – she was born and raised in St. Louis – and it’s also where she has found her professional home. From her time as an undergraduate to earning her MBA to her current role as the executive assistant to the dean and marketing and communications coordinator for the Ed G. Smith College of Business, Valentine has seen nearly every facet of the university.

“I absolutely love the environment here in the College of Business, and just the UMSL community as a whole because I work with people across campus, too,” she said. “Everyone I’ve come across has been super nice, super helpful. Working with Dean Shu Schiller, she works closely with the students, and so I get to help with them, and they’re great, too.”

That love of her university is on display every day, whether she’s creating and updating website pages for different departments and clubs, serving on various committees across the university, creating promotional videos, attending various events to capture content for social media or any of the other tasks she’s willing to take on.

Virtually everyone who has interacted with Valentine has heard the same thing when they ask for her assistance.

“One of her favorite things to say is, ‘I’m always happy to help,’ and she truly means it,” said Kellye Tyler, the senior office support assistant in the College of Business. “She is the kind of colleague who consistently goes above and beyond – not because she has to, but because she genuinely cares. She does her best every single day and always puts her best foot forward, no matter the challenge.”

For Valentine, challenges are welcomed. For example, when she started her final undergraduate year, she realized she could add a digital marketing minor, too, so she reached out to Perry Drake, the chair of the Marketing and Entrepreneurship Department, who taught the classes she needed.

“I said, ‘Hey, I know you don’t know me, but I promise that if I can take all your classes at one time, I’ll do the work and I will pass,’” she said. “So I did that and graduated in the spring of 2018. I kept in contact with him, and in 2021, he reached out and was like, ‘Hey, do you want to come back to UMSL? You could be my graduate teaching assistant, and you can go to school for almost free.’”

That’s exactly what Valentine wanted to hear.

“I had told myself when I finished my undergraduate degree that if I could ever go back to UMSL for basically free, I would,” she said. “So when he called me, he said, ‘If you need some time to think about it, let me know.’ I was like, ‘Nope, I want to do it. I don’t need any time. Let’s get started.’”

A few months into her MBA program – which she finished in December 2023 – the executive assistant position opened up. Encouraged by Drake and others, she applied and was hired by then-Dean Joan Phillips. Valentine kept the position with interim Dean Michael Elliott and again when Shiller was hired in April 2024. Each recognized her UMSL passion and knowledge, and keeping her in that role was an easy choice.

“As a former student, she is a familiar and respected presence on campus,” said Sherry Fantroy-Ross, operations manager in the College of Business. “Her deep connection to the institution and her ongoing contributions reflect her commitment to its mission and success. Her dedication to excellence is evident in the quality of her work, and she continues to be a significant asset to the college community.”

Derik Holtmann

As UMSL’s campus photographer, much is asked of Derik Holtmann.

He supplies visual content for stories that appear in UMSL Daily – the weekly Eye on UMSL showcases some of his best work – and UMSL Magazine. He takes headshots of UMSL students, faculty and staff members for departments throughout the university. He covers multiple events each week of the school year, all across campus. He’s documented each step in the Transform UMSL construction projects that are upgrading campus facilities, often using his drone license to document from above.

Holtmann’s ability to not only handle every request, but to consistently deliver stellar results, is why he’s one of this month’s Hero Award winners.

“Derik has become a fixture across the university in his role as campus photographer,” said Justin Roberts, UMSL’s vice chancellor for marketing and communications, who nominated Holtmann. “You can find him in the studio taking portraits, at executive events, at student activities and simply capturing day-to-day moments of our students, staff and faculty at work and play. He has been an excellent addition to UMSL.”

Holtmann’s uncanny ability to thrive with the heavy workload stems back to his roots as a photographic journalist. He spent nearly 30 years working as a newspaper photographer – primarily with the Belleville News-Democrat – covering everything from breaking news to features to sports and everything in between. Sensing the uncertainty in the print news industry and looking for a bit of a career change, Holtmann joined the UMSL staff in April 2023.

And those journalistic instincts have helped him find new ways to showcase the campus.

“When I’m walking the campus, I’m always looking for different places to take portraits, different angles on construction shots and buildings themselves, showing the transitions going on with the buildings,” Holtmann said. “And the time of day makes a big difference, too, just how the light hits the buildings. When I’m walking back from an assignment a lot of times, I’ll just pop the camera out, because there are different things that I might not have seen before.”

Holtmann doesn’t just show up to take photos; as a photographer with a journalist’s soul, he asks questions because he genuinely wants to know about the people he’s photographing.

“I enjoy talking to all the faculty and staff about their backgrounds and why they got into the job,” he said. “The research that people are doing on campus is just amazing, and finding out why they’re doing the research, how they’re doing the research, I find that really interesting. And then just talking to the students and how excited they are, and what they’re wanting to do for their future, and interacting with them on a lot of different levels, it’s fun.”

His friendly nature has been noticed and appreciated across campus.

“While he’s taking photographs and producing videos from major university events and student-organized activities alike, he’s eager to engage with everyone and learn about their work while seeking the best ways to highlight it visually,” said Steve Walentik, UMSL’s director of public relations and content. “Talk to him long enough, and he’ll also happily share information about one of his personal passions, caving.”

Holtmann is an avid outdoors enthusiast who is a member of multiple cave-exploration groups, locally and nationally, that are focused on conservation, cave science and collecting data. Holtmann has shared that passion with others on campus, leading multiple cave explorations in southern Illinois for students in UMSL’s Environmental Adventure Organization.

“I’ve taken them on three or four cave trips, and we’re planning one for this fall,” Holtmann said. “For most of them, it’s usually a first-time experience, a bucket-list type thing.”

The biggest bonus of going on a cave trip with Holtmann, of course, is the photographs students get to keep to help remember the experience.