12bet中文官方平台负责校园安全的副校长 & 物流. 电子邮件表情包之王. The source of admiration for countless AU students — most often shown through social media. Rick Tupper is many things at Augustana, and, 现在, he’s an Augie Pride Award winner, too.
The Augie Pride Award — given to those who go above and beyond the call of duty to provide exceptional service to the university and nominated by other AU employees — is traditionally presented at the university’s annual Service Awards. 然而, because the Augie Pride Award Committee knew Tupper wouldn’t be able to attend the Service Awards this year, 他们决定提前给他一个惊喜.
在周五, 4月21日, Tupper was asked to meet with President Stephanie Herseth Sandlin — a regular occurrence for the head of 校园安全. 当他到达行政大楼的总统套房时, Tupper was greeted by a number of administrators there for a “meeting” with Provost & 执行副总裁. 科林·欧文——另一个常客.
Herseth Sandlin told Tupper their meeting would begin momentarily; she just had to address Irvine’s meeting first but that he should stick around. 然后, Herseth Sandlin began to speak about the Augie Pride Award and read comments from Tupper’s nominator — who wrote about his willingness to take on extra responsibilities and constantly going above and beyond.
“(里克)在准备中茁壮成长, 尽职调查, 解决问题, 风险评估及, 最重要的是, 他周围人的安全,提名人说. “He is often responsible for dealing with uncomfortable student and employee situations. He man年龄s these situations with integrity, sensitivity and professionalism every time.”
正如Herseth Sandlin读到的这些评论, Tupper continued to wonder what he would be meeting about with the president.
“我真的没有太在意，因为这是她的会议, 但随后她使用了“风险评估”这个词,’我想, “好吧, 这是我的工作. 这是怎么回事?’”塔珀说. “然后事情变得很明显, and that's when I had to put my coffee cup down because my hands started shaking.”
对于塔珀来说，这个奖项意义非凡，但却出乎意料.
“我觉得我不配, but it's great to be recognized by your colleagues — that hopefully what I’m doing means something and is recognized as being important,塔珀说. “因为我需要他们每一个人，我们才能成功.”
“没有一天是相同的”
This is Tupper’s 20th year at Augustana, but he hasn’t always worked in a university setting. 这位南达科他州沃特敦人加入了美国军队.S. 17岁加入海军. 他的父母必须在允许他入伍的文件上签字. 塔珀在海军预备役服役了8年，两次在西班牙服役, 巴拿马运河, 英国和佛罗里达州的彭萨科拉海军航空站.
在海军服役之后, Tupper earned a degree in law enforcement from Alexandria Vocational Technical Institute (现在 Alexandria Technical & 社区学院). 然后他在麦迪逊和沃特敦的警察局工作, 南达科塔州, 直到1989年被苏福尔斯警察局(SFPD)聘用.
正是通过旧金山警局，塔珀和12bet游戏平台有了联系. 他负责监督个人保护细节, he began to get involved with Augustana’s annual Boe Forum on Public Affairs.
“I did the Mikhail Gorbachev (former president of the Soviet Union) Boe Forum, 但我记得最重要的是约翰·梅杰, 谁是英国的首相,塔珀回忆道. “So, I had the opportunity to work with Scotland Yard (headquarters of the London Metropolitan Police) while they were here and get to k现在 them. 这实际上为我打开了去美国工作的大门.K. 我和苏格兰场一起工作，也在美国工作.S. 大使馆，都是因为跟奥吉有关系.”
Eventually, Tupper was asked to interview for the position of Augustana’s Director of 校园安全. When he began, Tupper also oversaw housing, which he said was an “interesting challenge.”
但, 挑战让塔珀茁壮成长, 而且是在大学里, 这些教训让挑战变得值得.
“In criminal cases, you found a bad guy, could arrest a bad guy and then you were done,塔珀说. “What I love about being in a campus setting is we get to throw one word into the equation — education. 所以，我也能在每个人的教育目标中发挥作用. No matter what you do, if I get involved, it's not just about finding responsibility and punishment. 它还试图帮助你弄清楚，‘你是如何来到这里的? 你如何继续前进?’
“18到24岁的人会犯错误，”他继续说. “我很高兴能成为帮助他们解决问题的一部分.”
塔珀对学生的尊重是双向的. He is an admired and beloved figure on AU’s campus — thanks, perhaps in part, to his famous emails.
塔珀负责全校范围内的交流, 包括校园关闭, 停车通知和天气更新. 在过去的几年里, he has found success — and adoration — through including memes and humor in these weather updates that often bring news of yet another s现在storm.
“I try to be very cognizant of what I send out because I k现在 everybody is bombarded with information from every form of media, 但无论如何我需要你得到这个信息因为如果你不, 不好的事情可能会发生,塔珀解释道. “几年前, 我只是附上了一张照片，因为那天是下雪天, 我得到了一些很好的反馈.
“So, one day, I sent another mess年龄, and I asked my daughter (Ryleigh Tupper ’26), ‘Did you see it?’她说，‘不，你什么都没写进去.“我突然意识到，我必须以某种方式吸引他们的注意力. So, 现在, 这就是我开始使用的平衡, “我怎样才能吸引你的注意力，同时又能把你吸引进去??’”
“我和他有一个不同的共享文件夹, 现在有更多的表情包可以发到校园里,瑞利说. “The people that I k现在 absolutely love the emails and look forward to what memes he includes. I can’t take all the credit because he does find many of them on his own. 但, I think it's safe to say that the whole campus very much enjoys the little bits of humor he includes.”
对于Ryleigh, 非盟一年级学生, 她也喜欢他给校园带来的表情包和幽默, 但在一天结束的时候, 瑞克就是她的爸爸.
“Every Thursday, we block off an hour in the morning to get coffee and talk,瑞利说. “We sit down in the Siverson Lounge and chat about life, school and the future. Some days, I walk into his office just to say ‘hi’ or get a hug if I’m having a bad day.”
Rick’s older children are also Augustana graduates, Macey ‘19 and Jacob ’21.
“我认为我的父亲对学生和员工来说意义重大，”瑞利说. “他的工作不容易, 他需要做出艰难的决定, but he truly cares about the students and puts their best interest first. 看到他给校园带来的快乐让我很开心. 自从来到奥吉，我觉得我们的关系有所发展. 我们开玩笑，但我知道，当我最需要他的时候，他就在我身边.”
在他空闲的时候, Rick is the chair of the Board of Directors for the Sioux Falls Air Show, member of the city of Crooks’ Parks Board and has served as the chair of the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce’s Military & 退伍军人事务委员会, president of the Sioux Falls Veterans Memorial Park Board and board member of the International Association of 校园 Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA).
Among his many responsibilities, though, Rick never stops working hard for Augustana.
“No day is the same, every year has changed, and that’s what I love about being here.”
奥吉骄傲奖始于1999年. 要查看所有过去的收件人，请访问 奥吉.edu/ServiceAwards.