NATCHEZ — The director of library services at Copiah-Lincoln Community College’s Natchez campus said waking up and going to work is easy because she knows her coworkers have a similar goal — making sure students succeed.

Staff job satisfaction was one of the reasons Co-Lin was recently named one of the best colleges in the nation for which to work by The Chronicle of Higher Education, a trade publication for colleges and universities. The school is one of 93 institutions to receive “Great College to Work For” recognition.

“When everyone comes to work with a shared goal of making sure students succeed, it makes it easy for the individual to do well,” library director Beth Richard said. “What’s great about Co-Lin is everyone does what they can to see the students graduate, transfer or get out into the workforce to help improve the community.”

Richard said she knows of no better morale booster than seeing former students go on to do great things.

“It is fun working with students and seeing how they progress,” she said. “The staff works together as a team to make sure students get ahead.”

Director of Student Support Services Janice Jarvis said not only does the staff work well together, it’s like they are a family. She said that support makes it fun to come to work.

“We keep it fun and loose,” she said. “Students can tell when you are not happy and stressed out, and I think they feed off that.

“If we come in stressed out, that’s the kind of energy the students are going to have.”

Co-Lin Vice President Teresa Busby said she recognizes that calling a workforce a family is cliché, but she admitted she agreed with Jarvis about the staff being just that.

“It is a wonderful honor for our faculty and staff,” she said. “When people love working with students and love what they do, it makes everything else fall into place,”

Busby said the staff does show up to work with a good outlook.

“No one ever says, ‘That’s not my job,’” Busby said. “Everyone pitches in to make sure we do what is best for the students.

“Plus we have good students, so it makes it easy to have a good attitude.”

Co-Lin was one of 25 community colleges in the nation to receive this honor; two other two-year college systems in Mississippi received the honor.

Co-Lin was recognized in the categories confidence in senior leadership, leaders have the knowledge, skills, and experience necessary for the success of the college; job satisfaction, there is an overall sense that the job is meaningful to the employee and to the college; and professional/career development programs, employees get chances to develop skills and understand requirements for career advancement.

“We are very pleased to be included among the listing of colleges and universities that have been recognized as ‘Great Colleges to Work For,’” said President Ronnie Nettles. “For over 100 years, Co-Lin employees have impacted the lives of our students, and the communities we serve and we have been blessed with instructors and staff who truly care about the success of our students.”