Bison Spotlight: Joshua “Shwa” Schroetter, Senior Technical Services Manager

The work of NDSU senior technical services manager Joshua Schroetter, better known around campus as “Shwa,” reaches nearly every corner of the university community. In recognition of the top-notch service he delivers to NDSU students, faculty and fellow staff members, the North Dakota University System presented Schroetter with the University System Staff Excellence award.

“Receiving this award is quite an honor and very humbling,” said Schroetter, who also served as Staff Senate president during the 2025-26 school year. “It’s also a little bittersweet because I feel like there are so many amazing staff members on this campus, and I want everybody to be recognized for their hard work.”

This is a new honor for 2026, created by the NDUS in conjunction with the North Dakota Staff Senate to celebrate staff members whose contributions have made significant and lasting positive impacts on higher education in North Dakota. Schroetter is one of three staffers at NDUS institutions to earn the award in its inaugural year.

Members of the NDSU community across many different departments credit Schroetter’s work with improving efficiency and saving the university money. They also praise his positive attitude and leadership for making the processes — often involving complex solutions featuring multiple departments — go smoothly.

“Shwa is a great coworker; he is always overly busy but always takes time to help everyone,” said Tim Schulz, dining technical services manager. “He is always trying to improve NDSU. His creative mind is always working to help departments and staff accomplish things in a fast, effective and efficient manner while maintaining the utmost quality.”

In all, over 30 members of the NDSU community nominated or wrote letters in support of Schroetter to be among the first to receive a University System Staff Excellence award. One major project frequently cited by nominators was the point-of-sale system Schroetter helped integrate with the grab-and-go in the Memorial Union food court.

“This is the first time we ever tried to do anything with online ordering, so you’re talking about changing over to an entirely different style of how we’re going to provide food to customers,” explained Schroetter. “There wasn’t a perfect solution, so we had to find the closest one and find ways to make it work. It was a very intense summer and major team effort, including Dining and IT, to make sure it worked.”

During Schroetter’s most recent tenure as Staff Senate president — his second time elected to that position — he represented the interests of over 2,000 NDSU staff members as part of the university’s shared governance model. He feels that his NDUS award also embodies the hard work of all NDSU staffers.

“This award has my name on it, but to me it represents all the staff members I’m so thankful for; the people I get to work with, the people I get to help and support,” said Schroetter. “NDSU staff members do so much to help our university run, and I want them to know how much it’s appreciated.”