2025 Student Employee of the Year Award Recipients
Recipients: 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020
The President's Student Employee of the Year Award is given annually to an outstanding student employee who has made a positive impact on the University and has demonstrated an exceptional quality of work and commitment to the University’s purpose and core values.
2025 President’s Student Employee of the Year Award Winner
Congratulations to Danielle Zaleski, recipient of The University of Texas at Austin 2025 President’s Student Employee of the Year Award!
Danielle is a senior pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Geological Sciences; and she is an Undergraduate Research Assistant for the Institute for Geophysics. In her role, she has worked on a collaborative project with the City of Austin’s Quantification and Correlation of Sediment Microplastics and Nutrients with Population Density in Austin’s Waterways. While working on the project she was also able to maintain working in multiple sediment and photo labs and spearheaded a group poster submission on a microplastics project for Jackson School of Geosciences’ (JSG) Student Research Symposium. Most notably due to her work and environmental nature of the project, microplastics in Austin’s lakes will impact the larger Austin community. The university can now better understand the distribution and dynamics of microplastics, a potentially life harmful pollutant, as a direct result of her work. Danielle is an exceptional student and truly understands that the core purpose of the university is to transform lives for the benefit of society.
| Photo | Name | Title | Department |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Danielle Zaleski | Fall 2024, URA, Davis | Institute for Geophysics |
2025 President’s Student Employee of the Year Award Finalists
| Name | Title | Department |
|---|---|---|
| Lauren E. Barrow | 24/25 TXLD Student Associate | Office of the Dean of Students |
| Sophia I. Gallegos | Student Occupancy Management Assistant | University Housing and Dining |
| Noah L. Graham | MBA Marketing Student Assistant | Red McCombs School of Business |
| Kate Ivie | 24-25 Communications Student Associate | New Student Services |
| Sarah E. Johnson | ASW Facility Assistant WWF | Recreational Sports |
| Jia N. Kanar | Student Associate - SDS | Department of Statistics and Data Sciences |
| Jadyn J. Martinez | IMA Intramural Assistant | Recreational Sports |
| Alex Medrano | Student Assistant | University Development Office |
| Sofia M. Messer | Plan II Receptionist III | Plan II Honors Program |
| Michelle Nguyen | UA for Fink | Department of Management |