Susan Millerd Named Outstanding NPC Staff Member

Susan Millerd standing in front of greeneryNational Park College (NPC) presented the 2020 Outstanding Staff Member award to intervention specialist and counselor Susan Millerd during the June regular board meeting. Millerd has a Bachelor of Science in Social Work from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and a Master of Science in Social Work from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR). She is a licensed clinical social worker and certified alcohol and drug counselor.

Millerd started her career at NPC eight years ago after a conversation with then College president Dr. Sally Carder. “Eight years ago there wasn’t as much social awareness or someone at the College as focused on mental health,” Millerd explained. “Dr. Carder was looking for a way to retain students by providing mental health services.” At the time, some two-year colleges were contracting mental health agencies for these services, but Dr. Carder was concerned for students who may not have insurance.

“Susan is a compassionate and conscientious person,” said Vice President for Academic Affairs Wade Derden. “She is respected across the campus because she truly cares for the well-being of every individual at NPC in her role as an intervention specialist and counselor. Additionally, she is a respected Social Work instructor, and it is because of her efforts that we have a Social Work program on our campus with a close tie to the UA-Little Rock program. That transfer relationship has become one of our strongest.”

In addition to her numerous roles, Millerd is also the Title IX coordinator for the College. “That’s become a big piece of my job,” she said. “Professionally, that is in my gut and in my heart so Title IX fits well with who I am and with my other hats that I wear.”

Millerd participates in the campus Cultural Diversity Awareness Club, the crisis team, the behavioral intervention team, and the risk management committee. She is the advisor for both the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) On Campus student organization and the Anime Club, which Millerd began not long after joining NPC. “I looked at these students that were searching for places to belong, and I found that a lot of my students shared this common interest,” she said. “It was a fun way to bring those students together.”

Off-campus, Millerd is on the board of Suicide Prevention Allies and is the domestic violence task force co-chair for 2020.

“I’m honored – absolutely tickled,” Millerd said of winning the award. “It feels good to be noticed. I think I spend most of my time at work. I have always worked and to be recognized by my friends and my peers at the College is really validating for me and for all of the things that I’m passionate about.”

“I’m excited to grow with the College,” she said. “I work with lots of fun people and I like hanging out with my NPC friends and my students.”