Lake Washington Technical College’s (LWTC) Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Student Chapter has received the Superior Merit Award from the SHRM. The LWTC SHRM Student Chapter was honored for their “exceptional job of providing opportunities for growth and development to its student chapter members.”

The LWTC Student Chapter will receive a plaque to display at the college and will be recognized in SHRM’s publications and conferences.

“Outstanding news for our chapter,” says Greg Roberts, LWTC’s Executive Director of Human Resources and the group’s co-adviser with Renée Mangini, SPHR, lead faculty member, and HR program coordinator in the school’s Human Resources Generalist program. “Renée has worked very hard to get students involved in the chapter and aligning our chapter’s activities and curriculum with SHRM.” Her dedication has resulted in the students nominating her for the 2010 SHRM Foundation Advisor of the Year Award.

An active chapter for 18 months, LWTC’s students finished third in a recent case competition at the North West Human Resource Association (NHRMA) Conference while competing against chapters from four-year colleges and universities. “Renée did a great job in preparing the students,” said Roberts, who also praised the work of Ed Sargent, LWTC’s Associate Dean of Library Services, who worked with the students regarding online research.

Over the last year, the LWTC Chapter has been involved in several SHRM regional and local events, Northwest Human Resource Association (NHRMA) events, and has sponsored special events for its members. These include:

• Attending the NHRMA Student Conference. A student team finished third in the Case Competition (Terry Ramussen, Natalie Wiley, Este Walker, and Pam Davila)

• Attending the SHRM Human Resource Career Connections Conference. Terry Ramussen, LWTC Chapter President, won a HR Student Award.

• Volunteering student assistance for the Lake Washington Human Resource Association (LWHRA) Silent Auction, the SHRM Washington State Council 2010 “Advancing HR Influence” Strategic Conference, and the SHRM Washington State Council 2010 Employment Law & Legislative Conference.

• Sponsoring special club events, including scheduling guest speakers from LWTC’s executive staff, LWHRA and HR professionals from the Northwest business community.

• Supporting LWTC Associated Student Government college-wide events and student club organization initiatives.

• Developing new club member communications pieces and networking tools.

“We are proud to recognize the LWTC SHRM Student Chapter as a Superior Merit Award winning chapter,” said Chuck Salvetti, SHRM’s Student Programs Manager. “The students and their advisers have demonstrated leadership through a proven ability to serve the networking and educational needs of human resources students and to the advancement of the human resources profession.”

The SHRM student chapter merit award program, which began in 1972, exists to develop more effective student chapters, and to promote outstanding activities and projects by student chapters in four areas: basic student chapter requirements, chapter programming and professional development of members, support of the human resource profession, and partnership with SHRM.