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Christensen was announced as the recipient of the award at the Idaho Career Development Associationā€™s annual conference held in April in Boise, but received a plaque from Nilsson at an informal awards ceremony at the Career Center on Aug. 28 that was attended by his colleagues and Lyn Redington, ISU vice president of student affairs.

ā€œIt is always good to recognize someone who has done a great job,ā€ Nilsson said. ā€œJeff is very deserving of the award and I appreciate what youā€™ve done for career development in Idaho.ā€ 

Christensen and Lance Erickson, Career Center director, estimated that Christensen has likely served about 10,000 students during his six-plus years at ISU as a career counselor, through counseling appointments, teaching classes, making presentations and other contacts.

ā€œHis passion comes through when he is helping students,ā€ Erickson said.  ā€œIā€™m very appreciative of what Jeff does and the positive impact he has on our students here at ISU.ā€

Erickson said that Christensen stepped up when a former Career Path Intern (CPI) coordinator had to leave the job unexpectedly because of health reasons.

ā€œI turned to Jeff and said ā€˜you have to help me out hereā€™ and Jeff ran the CPI program for almost a year, all the while being a career counselor as well,ā€ Erickson said. ā€œHe did a tremendous job.ā€

Christensenā€™s connection with the Career Center predates the years he has worked there. When he was a student about 11 years ago, Christensen used the Career Centerā€™s services, and had Erickson as a counselor.

ā€œI came to the Career Center to figure out what I wanted to do when I grew up,ā€ Christensen said.

Heā€™d grown up on a farm and was good at operating and fixing equipment, and had been in ISUā€™s auto body program. However, working with Erickson, Christensen took some skill assessments, which indicated his personality was ā€œgeared toward helping people.ā€  He discussed becoming a career counselor with Erickson, who recommended Christensen get a bachelorā€™s degree and follow it up with a masterā€™s degree in counseling. 

ā€œSo I made a six-year plan to do that, and ended up doing my internship here, and miracles happened, where I was able to get hired on here full time,ā€ Christensen said. ā€œIt is perfect job.  Iā€™ve gone full circle and it has been fantastic. I owe this award to everybody that we work with.ā€