The College of Education and Human Sciences was selected as the recipient of the 2026 Clifton Strengths Institute Campus Partnership Award.
The award celebrates teams and units around the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus who are working to identify and develop the strengths of students, faculty/staff, and others in the campus community.
CEHS was recognized for having integrated strengths content into its Start Smart course, an online orientation course for all first-year students in the college. Through that, more than 400 new CEHS students learned about their Clifton Strengths and participated in 1:1 coaching to help them discover, develop and deploy their top talents to be successful in the classroom and beyond. In addition, several staff from the college have become Gallup-Certified Strengths Coaches, and the college participated in the Strengths Across Campus events, as well as the Clifton Strengths Institute’s summer conference.
“We are grateful for the partnership and guidance from the Clifton Strengths Institute team with our initial efforts introducing strengths to first-year students in CEHS,” said AnnMarie Gottner, senior director of student services in CEHS. “The generous support they provided by facilitating peer coaching with their talented and well-trained Student Strengths Coaches was integral to the success of this effort. The transition to college is both exciting and overwhelming, empowering new to CEHS students to better understand their unique talents and strengths during this transition felt like a great way to support students in their transition to college.”
Based on positive feedback from first-year students on their experience, the effort will expand next year in CEHS to include transfer students as well, with strengths coaching led by CEHS career coaches Courtney Eitzmann and Abbie Reynolds. The Student Services team also hopes to partner with CEHS academic programs, classes and/or student organizations interested in integrating Clifton Strengths as well.
The College of Education and Human Sciences was recognized with its award during the Clifton Strengths Institute’s End of Year Recognition Ceremony in April.
