Tiffany Dreyer started out as an 11-year-old playing around with Print Shop Deluxe and Microsoft Word designing logos and banners for her family’s business.

Now, at 26, the Sacramento State alumna is the design manager and gallery coordinator at the University Union and recently won the Debra L. Hammond New Professional Award for her work.

“I think that it really comes down to leading by example,” said University Union Director Bill Olmsted. “She’s in a management position, but she won’t ask her staff to do anything that she wouldn’t do herself or she hasn’t done.”

The award was given by the Association of College Unions International, a nonprofit organization consisting of 15 regions and more than 4,000 members from institutions in and out of the United States.

The organization gives the award annually to new professionals who “demonstrated exceptional employee service on their campus and volunteer involvement in the college union and student activities field,” according to its website.

Region 15 Regional Director Jeremy Hamlett, who nominated Dreyer for the award, said she was “extremely dedicated and committed” to her job at Sac State and with the Association of College Unions International. Dreyer also volunteers as marketing and website coordinator for the organization.

Dreyer graduated from Sac State with a bachelor’s degree in graphic design and a minor in photography. She started working at the Union as a graphic design intern. She now manages a team of student graphic designers, who create designs for the University Union, The Well and Recreational Sports.

Olmsted, who used to be Tiffany Dreyer’s boss when she was an intern, said she was “a breath of fresh air.”

“She was really not afraid of anything,” he said. “I can just give an assignment to her, sometimes with a lot of art direction, sometimes with a little, and she would just create something really appropriate.”

Dreyer’s parents, who owned a small business in Fremont, didn’t expect their daughter to go to college, said her mother Denise Dreyer.

“I asked her ‘Do you really need to go to college? You can just work at the machine shop,'” Denise Dreyer said. “But she was very driven with it.”

Tiffany Dreyer chose to go to Sac State after being accepted to four other universities and left Fremont in 2001. In spring 2006, she became the first in her family to graduate from college.

As a student, Tiffany Dreyer said she was more focused on her studies than on her social life. She recalled having to study in her car at night because of the noise of students partying in the residence halls.

“I hated it,” she said. “I wasn’t one to party in the rooms. I wanted to focus on my studies, but the study room was more of a social gathering for students.”

Denise Dreyer said that as a child, her daughter was a tomboy who preferred playing hockey and repairing computers and printers over dancing. She also described her daughter as “creative, artistic and athletic.”

“I’ve noticed that when she was younger, she’d look at things differently than how I would, and I knew that there was something going on in her head,” she said.

Denise Dreyer said her daughter is a good example for young women.

“She was saying that not a lot of people in her position are female,” Denise Dreyer said. “I think this is a really good example for women, that you can be female and young and still lead.”

In her position at the Union, Tiffany Dreyer has brought talented graphic designers into the department, Olmsted said.

“Her role has really made an impact on the department,” Olmsted said. “From what I can see, the people who work for her and with her love their job, and it’s hard to see that kind of teamwork.”

Junior electrical engineering major Alex Morales, who works for Tiffany Dreyer, said his boss is “really organized.”

“She’s always on schedule,” Morales said. “Basically, I have a schedule of what I’m going to do for the whole semester.”

Dreyer’s design team recently won 16 graphic and web design awards, including “Best in Show,” from the Association of College Unions International.

Sac State alumna Katie Keithler, who has been Tiffany Dreyer’s friend for eight years, said the award was given to the right person.

“I think her hard work, her creativity and solid leadership is what qualified her for that award,” Keithler said.

Tiffany Dreyer said she plans to eventually go to graduate school to continue her studies graphic design, which, she said goes beyond just creating something on a computer.

“There’s a lot of craft involved in design and the way we were trained was to do it by hand,” she said. “You pay attention and you have a different appreciation for things that are handmade because it’s easy to put anything on a computer, but if you hand draw it, it’s your own.”

Kristine Guerra can be reached at [email protected].