Emilie McLarnan, a new hire to the University of Idaho, hasn’t wasted any time making a good impression.
McLarnan is the most recent recipient of the Staff of the Month award. She began her position as the coordinator of Violence Prevention Programs back in July.
Although she is new in her roll at UI, McLarnan said she has worked within the Palouse for about 10 years.
McLarnan lived in Ohio before settling in Moscow. She said she decided to leave Ohio in order to be closer to the man whom would later become her husband.
“The reason I was looking for a job out here is because the guy who I was in a long-distance relationship with lived out here,” McLarnan said. “And now we have two little boys.”
McLarnan said she worked with Alternatives to Violence of the Palouse for almost 10 years. She said she worked as a domestic violence and sexual assault advocate for the majority of her employment, but it wasn’t until this summer that she was hired by the university.
Working in the Office of the Dean of Students, McLarnan said her main goal is to lower the number of violent altercations in the community.
“The overall goal has been to reduce the number of incidences of sexual violence, domestic violence and stalking,” McLarnan said. “We also want to make sure that there is a good coordinated and consistent response for survivors of violent acts.”
McLarnan said her job is to be an advocate to some extent, but she also works with survivors to make sure they are in easy contact with every recourse available to them. She said being educated about these subjects is crucial.
“It’s great that we can treat these topics as seriously as they deserve to be treated and at the same time help people become engaged, and not threatened by these sensitive subjects,” McLarnan said.
She said being able to engage with students, staff and faculty around violence issues is her favorite part of her job because it is so important in a college community to do so.
Sam Koesters, a management assistant in the College of Graduate Students, was the one to nominate McLarnan for Staff of the Month earlier in the semester.
“I nominated Emilie — back in the beginning of the semester for her outstanding involvement with two events that we host the weekend before school starts in the fall,” Koesters said.
Koesters said over the summer he reached out to McLarnan to give a presentation about Violence Prevention to the Teaching Assistant & Research Assistant Institute and those in attendance for New Graduate Student Orientation.
Koesters said her presentations were beneficial to graduate students, as many of them don’t know about all of the resources on campus. He said since these graduate students are in leadership roles within the classroom, they now have the ability to help undergraduate students who may be in potential trouble.
McLarnan said she appreciates the UI mentality of “I got your back” for people in need.
“I believe that Vandals are looking out for Vandals,” McLarnan said. “We’re able to help each other, and people here are able to step in and help their fellow students.”
Andrew Ward can be reached at [email protected]