WWC announces exemplary employees of the year

For The Herald
Posted 5/2/17

The Wyoming Women’s Center (WWC) is pleased to announce Correctional Officer Laura Vaselin and Ms. Ashley Miller, Business Manager, as Exemplary Employees of the Year.

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WWC announces exemplary employees of the year

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The Wyoming Women’s Center (WWC) is pleased to announce Correctional Officer Laura Vaselin and Ms. Ashley Miller, Business Manager, as Exemplary Employees of the Year.

Correctional Officer Laura Vaselin began her career with the Wyoming Department of Corrections (WDOC) as a Correctional Officer in July of 2014 at the Wyoming Women’s Center (WWC).  She has a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Criminal Justice from Chadron State College.

As a correctional officer at WWC, Vaselin wears several hats.  She has become a field training officer (FTO) and assists new staff with learning the job. She is also a member of the WWC Correctional Emergency Response Team (CERT) and is committed to maintaining training for this position. She has also taken the required training to be an Incident Command Systems for Corrections (ICSC) instructor and has assisted the facility in the transition to the new emergency preparedness process. As a transport officer, she ensures the safety of inmates and the public in carrying out these duties. She maintains firearm certification and she provides customer service to outside facilities and agencies and sets a good example for WWC.  As a recruiter, she is detail oriented and sets high goals.  Her professional demeanor includes being self-confident and treating others fairly and respectfully.

Officer Vaselin avoids conflicts of interest and holds herself accountable in demonstrating high integrity.  She is honest and presents herself as a professional with a positive attitude.  This has led to her success in recruiting for the WDOC, where she has been very successful in helping the department fill many vacant positions.  Her professional demeanor also led to her having a role in the development of the new Departmental recruiting tools. In her short career with WDOC she has exhibited commitment and demonstrates professional performance in everything she does.

Vaselin continually looks for opportunities to learn new things and her can-do attitude is a bonus.  She enjoys playing sports and has participated on the WWC softball team.  She has also helped coach youth basketball in the local community.  She is currently training for a ? marathon coming up in in June and plans to run a full marathon in August.  She likes to hunt and enjoys shooting guns which fits in well with her need to maintain firearms certification.  She is also involved with her church.

Ms. Ashley Miller began her career with the WDOC in April of 2007 as the Administrative Assistant to the Associate Warden at the Wyoming Women’s Center (WWC).  She later worked her way into the business department as the inmate services officer.  She applied for and earned the position of Business Manager for the WWC in June of 2011.  While working in her manager’s  position, Miller was also doing “distance education” through Chadron State College and earned her Masters of Business Administration degree in 2014.  Additionally, she earned her Correction Management certification through the American Correctional Association in May of 2015.  

Ms. Miller has worn many hats as the business manager for WWC.  In just the past year, the Business Office staff of four was down to 2 people for about three months, with one individual on extended leave and another position vacant.  Nevertheless, she managed to ensure all critical tasks were completed for the vacant positions while still ensuring her own tasks were complete.  She also performed several Human Resource (HR) manager duties while that position was open for several months.  In the years Miller has worked at WWC she has served the Department on many different committees to include being a Wellness Champion and serving on the Employee Activity Committee.  She is presently a member of the Response-Ability Implementation Team (RAIT).

Miller is a leader always.  She never asks her staff to do something she would not do herself. She is usually the one who rolls up her sleeves first, dives in and gives an excellent example of how to get a job done.  When there is a holiday and there are trucks expected, she is the one who will come in and cover that work so her team members can enjoy the holiday off.  Miller is an excellent role model. Her work ethic is unparalleled.  She sets clear goals for herself and her staff.  She will help when someone asks and sometimes when not asked, when she knows an individual needs the help.  Miller handles stress and decision making with authority and knowledge.  

On the home front, Miller enjoys being active with her children and nephews.   She strives to be a positive influence in all their lives.  Additionally, Miller serves the local community as an elected board member for the local school district.  She is also active in her church doing child care and teaching children’s classes.    

WWC congratulates both employees on their accomplishments and wishes them all the best in their continued, future success.