Ms. Angela Rochat named winner of 2013 Outstanding Staff Award

At any college or university, there are the faculty who teach and research and there are the staff who get the faculty the resources they need to do the best job they can do. Getting those resources, whether it is grant funding or assistance from the federal government, is the job of Ms. Angela Rochat, director of the Fort Lewis College Office of Sponsored Research and Federal Relations and recipient of the 2013 Outstanding Staff Award.

For Ms. Rochat, the funding is a means to a very important end: helping others. She began her career with nonprofit organizations like Big Brothers/Big Sisters and Childhaven. Before coming to FLC, she worked with the Durango School District 9-R. It was during a joint working assignment between the College and 9-R that she discovered the impact she could have on so many.

“I wanted to come to FLC,” she says, “because when I was working in the social service sector of the nonprofit world I could see that education was often the key to breaking the cycle of poverty that was so pervasive and generational in so many of these families.  It became clear over time that education was a fundamental factor that provided better paying jobs and increased opportunities for families in poverty.”

Since joining the College, Ms. Rochat’s hard work has certainly paid off, giving FLC’s faculty the resources they need to offer their students the best education possible. “The accomplishments that I am most proud of are establishing the first Sponsored Research office, the growth in grant awards at the College, and increased level of federal activity at the College,” she says.

She was also instrumental in bringing First Lady Michelle Obama and vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan to campus during the 2012 presidential campaign, accomplishments that went a long way in increasing the reputation and recognition of Fort Lewis College on the national level.