Kirk Beyer Receives Donald E. Dickason Award

Kirk Beyer, director of human resources at Gustavus Adolphus College has been named the 2012 recipient of the Donald E. Dickason Award by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR).

Named for CUPA-HR’s founder, the award is the association’s highest honor and recognizes an individual for outstanding service to CUPA-HR. Beyer has been a CUPA-HR member for 27 years and has been a contributor, volunteer, and leader for the past 25 years. Among his many CUPA-HR roles, Beyer founded and served as the first president of the association’s Minnesota Chapter; served as chair of the Administrative Compensation Survey committee; served in a variety of leadership roles on the national board of directors, including chair in 2008-09; and was a key contributor to the association’s awards committee, combined operations task force, Knowledge Center committee, building task force, and budget and finance task force.

“In addition to 25 years of faithful, creative service, Kirk has persistently contributed innovative ideas, provided mentoring support to other CUPA-HR members, and advanced the spirit of the association through his unselfish dedication to achieving excellent results,” said former CUPA-HR board chair John Toller of East Carolina University. “He has worked with many groups over the past 25 years and each of those groups has been successful due in significant part to his focus, insight, leadership, and relationship-building skills.”

Beyer has been a fixture in the Gustavus Office of Human Resources since 1993. Prior to coming to Gustavus, he worked for eight years in human resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He holds a bachelor’s degree from South Dakota State University, a master’s degree in business administration from Boston University, and a Ph.D. in higher education administration and human resources from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

As this year’s Donald E. Dickason Award winner, Beyer will have the opportunity to designate a $4,000 contribution to the endowment or scholarship of his choice.