Joshua Young 2/1/2023 --  Nominated by Sonja M. Johnson-Blaziak

Joshua provided excellent IT support with VPN installation problem on my MacBook. Joshua has a relaxed and calm manner while he works. He systematically worked through various steps until he successfully resolved the issue. He's a great addition to Technology Services and deserves recognition.

Janet Taylor 3/1/2023 --  Nominated by Jacqueline C Glover

I would like to recognize Janet Taylor for her great customer service. She answered the telephone call with a pleasant attitude, and providing knowledgeable and resourceful resources. Janet demonstrated active listening skills and took the time to resolve my issue in a timely manner. She is definitely an asset to your department.

Angie Wetzel 3/1/2023 --  Nominated by Kathleen Rudasill

Angie is an unfailingly responsive, thorough, and detail-oriented colleague. She explains complex information to others in a clear and concise way, and always makes sure that she makes time to do so. She feels very passionately about making time for helping others understand data, and when they have questions, she does deep dives to get the answers (and often more). I rely on Angie to provide accurate, clear, and concise information about many of the data-related aspects of our school, and she consistently does so in a timely manner.

Jamie Bittner 3/3/2023 --  Nominated by Kathleen Rudasill

Jamie Bittner is incredibly organized, responsive, and detail-oriented. She figures out solutions to complex problems, organizes her time efficiently, checks in to provide updates, and always provides top notch results. Most recently, I asked Jamie to provide a comparison analysis of two long and complicated promotion and tenure documents. She needed very little guidance and completed the task, along with many other tasks on her plate, in a week.

Jenna Lenhardt 3/3/2023 --  Nominated by Angie Wetzel

Jenna recently developed a new model to promote student participation in our incoming student surveys that we use in the School of Education to evaluate our admissions process and experience. Utilizing new software, she implemented a communications plan that promoted participation while offering education to our students on why we do surveys in the SOE to continuously improve our programs. Her work inspired us to try a similar approach for other surveys we do in an effort to ensure a robust and representative response. Jenna is a great colleague, always looking for ways to partner and innovate. I appreciate how she always pushing us to new and better places.

Jennifer Cousins 3/6/2023 --  Nominated by Jenna Lenhardt

Jennifer has taken on such incredible initiative in the School's time of transition and change. She has served multiple roles while onboarding, training, and supporting multiple departments with a colleague out for extended periods of time. With all of this responsibility, Jennifer is constantly interested in learning, kind, and puts students first in all that she does. I look forward to opportunities to work with her and I hope she knows how much she is appreciated in the School. Sometimes it can be hard during the busy times of year to see one's impact, so I wanted to send a quick shout out to let Jennifer know that the work she does for students, faculty and our leadership makes a huge difference. Thank you!

Danielle Cosby 3/8/2023 --  Nominated by Scott Stech

Danielle has done an excellent job coordinating Holmes Scholar travel and has been very diligent in her submissions of pre-approvals and expense reports for our students. I can be confident that when Danielle is submitting a travel request, receipts, per diems, and folios are uploaded correctly and all travel policies are adhered to. Her attention to proper procedure is valued and much appreciated - Thank you Danielle!

Jenna Lenhardt 3/3/2023 --  Nominated by Angie Wetzel

Jenna recently developed a new model to promote student participation in our incoming student surveys that we use in the School of Education to evaluate our admissions process and experience. Utilizing new software, she implemented a communications plan that promoted participation while offering education to our students on why we do surveys in the SOE to continuously improve our programs. Her work inspired us to try a similar approach for other surveys we do in an effort to ensure a robust and representative response. Jenna is a great colleague, always looking for ways to partner and innovate. I appreciate how she always pushing us to new and better places.

Jason Farrow 3/9/2023 --  Nominated by Shola Kayode

I am recognizing Ofc Farrow for 10 years of dedicated service. Officer Farrow continues to be a leader within the ranks and he continues to provide excellent service to VCU community.

Laura Domalik 3/13/2023 --  Nominated by Whitney Newcomb

I would like to recognize Dr. Laura Domalik for 25 years of service to VCU! Congratulations and THANK YOU for your dedication to education!

Misti Mueller 3/16/2023 --  Nominated by Whitney Newcomb

I would like to recognize Misti for 10 years of service and dedication to T&L and the field of education as a whole. Congratulations on this milestone! Thank you for all you do!

Katherine Dabney 3/13/2023 --  Nominated by Whitney Newcomb

 I would like to recognize Dr. Katherine Dabney for 10 years of service to T&L and to the field of education as a whole. Thank you, Katherine, for your dedication. Congratulations on this milestone!

Jon Becker 3/13/2023 --  Nominated by Whitney Newcomb

I would like to recognize Dr. Jon Becker for 15 years of service to the university! Congratulations on achieving this milestone and that you for your dedication and service to EDLP, VCU and the SOE!

Jeff Wilson 3/13/2023 --  Nominated by Whitney Newcomb

 I would like to recognize Dr. Jeff Wilson for five years of service to VCU! Congratulations on this milestone! Thank you for your dedication and service to EDLP, VCU, and the SOE!

Charol Shakeshaft 3/13/2023 --  Nominated by Whitney Newcomb

I would like to thank Dr. Charol Shakeshaft for 15 years of service to VCU! Thank you for your dedication and service to EDLP, the SOE, and to VCU! Congratulations on this milestone!

Tomika Ferguson 3/13/2023 --  Nominated by Whitney Newcomb

 I'd like to recognize Dr. Tomika Ferguson for 5 years of service to the university. Thank you for your dedication and service to EDLP, the SOE, and to VCU! Congratulations on this milestone!

David Clowser 3/14/2023 --  Nominated by Al Byers

In Mr. Clowser's role as the building manager for the VCU Research Engineering Building, he was my primary contact for a jointly held Metro Richmond Science and Engineering Fair on March 4, 2023. With 124 individual student projects, that included accompanying parents, and 65 volunteers and judges, the effort took considerable planning with David. Execution for the set-up of the collaboration hub, the judges lounge (off the hub floor), the command center (classroom off the atrium), and the foyer in Snead that served as our registration area and drop off. David was there and voluntarily assisted in helping break down the stored 8 foot wooden tables (which was such a blessing at 6:30 pm on Saturday night!). I was exhausted and when he saw my wife and I moving them, he stepped right in without being asked. He made himself available via his cell phone for any issue that arose, such as access to the classroom schedule when there was a mix-up in when we could use the room. I cannot say enough about the quality of his pleasant demeanor, his professionalism, and helpfulness. The VCU College of Engineering should consider itself fortunate to have a employee of David's leadership and caliber in their employ. It is with my utmost pleasure that I'd like to recognize Mr. David Clowser for his service to the university and our regional science and engineering fair effort.

Jenna Lenhardt 3/17/2023 --  Nominated by Tomika Ferguson

Jenna is celebrating 5 years working in the School of Education. We benefit tremendously from her strategic planning, passion for students and her work, her collaborative nature, and ability to tackle adaptive challenges. Thank you for all that you do and for your commitment to excellence!

Maryanna Stufflebeem 3/16/2023 --  Nominated by Sania Marcoccia

 Maryanna is a newer employee. She has been here less than a year, I believe. Not only is she a quick study, she is amazingly responsive, thorough and all around delightful. I am so happy she has joined the VCU School of Education team. Keep up the amazing work you do Maryanna! Thank you!

Sherrie Dabney-Washington 3/20/2023 -- Nominated by Lisa Ballance

Sherrie arrived early to ensure that everything was in place for our site visitors, reviewed the progress of the day, and invited discussion about learning more about program operations under research subjects protection. She is a person of integrity, always pitching in, and easily adapts to new processes and new situations. Thank you, Sherrie!

Sherrie Dabney-Washington 3/20/2023 -- Nominated by Lisa Ballance

Sherrie arrived early to ensure that everything was in place for our site visitors, reviewed the progress of the day, and invited discussion about learning more about program operations under research subjects protection. She is a person of integrity, always pitching in, and easily adapts to new processes and new situations. Thank you, Sherrie!

Jennifer Cousins 3/21/2023 -- Nominated by Maryanna Stufflebeem

Jennifer has been an invaluable resource as a new employee. She's quick to respond to requests for support and has reached out multiple times to make sure I'm feeling comfortable in my new role. I'm very grateful for her help and guidance!

Procurement Services 3/20/2023 -- Nominated by Sania Marcoccia

I could send a recognition form almost each and every day for the work of Procurement Services. From administrative support, purchasing, accounts payable, card services, travel/reimbursements to vendor and contracts management, EVERY encounter that I have with this team is beyond reproach. Supporting the University is a herculean task which is met by each individual in Procurement Services with respect, patience and support. Thank you ALL for working to ensure the cogs of our collective machine are well oiled and running at capacity. My sincere gratitude and appreciation to each and every one in Procurement Services.

Procurement Services 3/20/2023 -- Nominated by Sania Marcoccia

I could send a recognition form almost each and every day for the work of Procurement Services. From administrative support, purchasing, accounts payable, card services, travel/reimbursements to vendor and contracts management, EVERY encounter that I have with this team is beyond reproach. Supporting the University is a herculean task which is met by each individual in Procurement Services with respect, patience and support. Thank you ALL for working to ensure the cogs of our collective machine are well oiled and running at capacity. My sincere gratitude and appreciation to each and every one in Procurement Services.

Charles Johnson 3/22/2023 -- Nominated by Cleopatra Magwaro

Charles has been a youth advocate for may years. In the summer of 2022, the program for the safety and protection of minors transitioned to Equity and Access Services (EAS). Charles has since shown grit and dedication by working diligently in both spaces. This year, Charles has really risen to the challenge and advanced his vision for youth programming both in terms of the opportunities with the Mary and Frances Youth Center and compliance for the protection of all youth who will come into our VCU community for different activities, programs and services. Thank you for your 5 years of service and continuing hard work! Your work has significance and I am excited that you are part of our EAS team!

Eddie Smith 3/24/2023 -- Nominated by Shanea Raj

With sincere gratitude, I'd like to recognize Eddie Smith for always being helpful. I've contacted Eddie on many occasions for assistance with our ECC data files, and he has ALWAYS responded and is willing to help. I appreciate his commitment to helping our team! Thank you, Eddie!

Talicia Tarver 3/28/2023 -- Nominated by Roy Brown

Last week, I had a scheduling issue that did not allow me to teach a webinar. Even though she was not my backup for the webinar when I approached Talicia, she did not hesitate to help me and lead the webinar in my absence. I just wanted to recognize and thank Talicia for helping me out on short notice. She is a great colleague who can be depended on to help fill in when needed. Thanks again...

Joshua Young 2/1/2023 --  Nominated by Sonja M. Johnson-Blaziak

Joshua provided excellent IT support with VPN installation problem on my MacBook. Joshua has a relaxed and calm manner while he works. He systematically worked through various steps until he successfully resolved the issue. He's a great addition to Technology Services and deserves recognition.

Samantha Hope 2/6/2023 --  Nominated by Jenna Lenhardt

Sam and I have been working together almost daily for the last year on new, innovative, and operational items that many would have gotten overwhelmed with. Sam is responsive and works with the highest integrity and initiative. She solves problems not just for the specific issue that may have come up, but thinks about sustainable changes that can support student success beyond the individual situation. She is an incredible thought partner and colleague who I go to when I hit a snag or need ideas on how to move forward. I am incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to work with Sam and collaborate on programs that make a difference for our community.

Patrick Shi 2/10/2023 --  Nominated by Dr. Mary Harmon

I would like to recognize the excellent work of Patrick Shipy. Patrick (aka Shipy) has and continues to play a key role in developing the pathway to evaluate the feasibility of clinical trials conducted within VCU Health and, in turn, raise the quality of clinical research conducted at VCU and VCU Health. His work is also contributing significantly to instilling efficiencies to the clinical research start-up process and overall compliance of clinical research. He possesses a wealth of knowledge about Redcap and programming, that background work that most people don’t see but is vital for our everyday work, and freely shares it with anyone who asks. He is a pleasure to work with and we could not do what we do without him. Thank you Shipy!

Molly Case 2/16/2023 --  Nominated by Shana Ryman

Molly took over the lead for the Building Manager Awards processes. This is no easy feat and takes a lot of time and attention to detail. I continue to believe this process means a lot and is essential to recognize our Building Managers who keep our campus up and running in so many ways. She even did it with a positive outlook, so I wanted to briefly recognize her too.

Scott Stech 2/26/2023 --  Nominated by Lanee Prentice

Scott demonstrated a high level of responsiveness to the ideas generated in the Town Hall.

 

Felicia Harris 1/0/2023 --  Nominated by Elizabeth Fortune

Over the winter break, our primary federal sponsor submitted a request for documentation with a nearly impossible deadline. Ms. Harris was able to actively manage the JIT process in an organized and effective manner, working work effectively with Office of Sponsored Programs Special Teams, SOM Research Administration and all the named key faculty participants throughout the process, all while keeping the Principal Investigator and me fully informed. With her help and unwavering commitment, we were able to make that deadline, which will hopefully secure the next stage of grant funding for our Center.

Diane Bowman 1/10/2023 --  Nominated by Chuck Alexander

Diane sets the example for responsive and respectful administration, especially at the beginning and end of each semester. Her patience with multiple demands for course registration is unparalleled and I am so grateful and privileged to work with her. When I commit an oversight with course registration, she helps fix the issue in a timely manner. Ultimately, her acumen helps me deliver the best possible course content for our learners, enriching their learning experience. Diane deserves to be recognized for her hard work.

Andy Kollmer 1/10/2023 --  Nominated by Rochelle Jordan

I reached out to Andy for guidance on the purchase and set up of an Apple computer for a faculty member transitioning from his unit (school of Business) to mine (Graduate School). Dealing with Apple computers was new to me and Andy went above and beyond to walk me through the basics. He provided product information and specifications so that I could recreate a similar computer set up for our interim dean. Andy's responsiveness and thoughtfulness was greatly appreciated and helped me navigate an area that I was unfamiliar with.

Sonja Johnson-Blaziak 1/13/2022 --  Nominated by Chuck Alexander

Sonja sets the example for responsive and respectful administration, especially at the beginning and end of each semester. Their patience with multiple demands for course registration is unparalleled and I am so grateful and privileged to work with them. Ultimately, her acumen helps me deliver the best possible course content for our learners, enriching their learning experience. Sonja deserves to be recognized for her hard work in service to our learners.

Evan French 1/14/2023 --  Nominated by Alex Krist

Evan has taken over providing data analyses of the All-Payer Claims Database for researchers at VCU. We have long had a backlog of requests and not been able to provide the data needed in a timely manner to research. Evan has done an amazing job of learning to do APCD queries. He is amazingly responsive and able to deliver accurate and complete data in a timely manner that is super responsive to requests. Evan is leading and coordinating others in doing this work. He is an invaluable team member and resource for the Wright Center, VCU, and our broad public health efforts. His work is making a difference and helping many people.

Gaby Villalobos 1/16/2023 --  Nominated by Alex Krist

For the past three years, Gaby has led a statewide initiative to provide primary care practices facilitation and support for screening and counseling for unhealthy alcohol use. This study started with the pandemic, which made this a tremendously difficult task.  Gaby successfully recruited 60% to 300% more practices than the other 5 national grantees also funded to do this work. We just submitted a paper to JCATS on how the recruitment strategy we used created an equitable and inclusive study population and highlighted how innovative our approach and methodology was.  These successes are due to Gaby's hard work, responsiveness, and persistence. She is a critical team member and we could not do the work we do without Gaby.

Felicia Harris 1/25/2023 --  Nominated by Amanda Kain

Felicia, my current supervisor, has taken a new position within another department at VCU. In her last couple weeks with us, she has worked diligently to make sure her team is left with all knowledge necessary to fill in the gaps once she is gone. This includes working overtime, after hours, to put together a list of duties for us all moving forward so we know exactly what will be expected. Felicia has been meeting with us, almost daily, to teach us what we need to know and to make sure we are comfortable with the additions to our current job duties. Not only has she been meeting with us one on one, but she has taken us under her wings to other meetings so we can get a glimpse of how things will work when she is gone. Felicia has left no stone unturned in getting us prepared. She has gone above and beyond to make sure we feel valued, even as she prepares to take on a bigger role herself. Personally, I would not be where I am today without Felicia's guidance and persistence in getting the best out of me.

Caimdyn Stewart 1/26/2023 --  Nominated by Donte Sharpe

I would like to recognize Caimdyn Stewart for being an incredible colleague in the School of Education. Caimdyn is not only knowledgeable when it comes to advising, but is also patient. She takes time to listen and support our students, as well as our team. She is always solution-focused and will take time to explain so we understand. I appreciate Caimdyn for the incredible work she has done and continues to do for our students and for our team.

Sandra Mazzoli 1/26/2023 --  Nominated by Donte Sharpe

I would like to recognize Sandra for being incredible and for her supporting our graduate students in the School of Education. Sandra not only has taken the time to answer any questions I may have regarding graduate student processes, but also help to walk me through those processes. I am fortunate to call Sandra a colleague and want to thank her for all of her help.

Tré Straughter 1/26/2023 --  Nominated by Donte Sharpe

I would like to recognize Tré Straughter for being an incredible person who is a true advocate for our students. I have had the honor of working alongside Tré for years in the Student Commons. He has always been not only supportive of the work I did with student organizations, but has always been and continues to be a listening ear for our students and others. Tré makes every role better and brings creativity to any team that is fortunate to have him as a part of. Tré, thank you for your continued contributions to student success.

Diane Bowman 1/27/2023 --  Nominated by Sonja M. Johnson-Blaziak

Diane continually provides excellent support to the School of Pharmacy - Admissions Office. I rely on her every semester to facilitate and troubleshoot PharmD student record issues; in addition to partnering with me to make sure our students are registered each semester. I know when I send a request to Diane, it will be handled in a timely and efficient manner. She is an asset to the VCU Community and in particular Records & Registration. Her overall value to the Division of Strategic Enrollment Management and Student Success is immeasurable.

Jerry Ware 12/05/2022 --  Nominated by Bob Burgess

I have a large surplus and move that I was hoping to get completed prior to Winter Break. Jerry met me for an initial walk-down this morning. After seeing the complexity of the job, he made a phone call and within a few minutes he had a contractor on-site to look at the job and get me put on their schedule. What would have taken me days to coordinate, Jerry was able make happen in under an hour. I respect his knowledge and the relationships he has built at VCU, and as always, appreciate his help!

Scott Stech 12/05/2022 --  Nominated by Jenna Lenhardt

Scott has been a tireless partner in supporting initiatives that support recruitment, even in challenging financial times. He brings his finance and human resources expertise to the table to solve operational issues. He is empathetic and a great listener when trying to work through a challenge. One of many examples is his willingness to think outside the box when we started hiring new FWS students (we hired over 38 this fall!), and pulled in his staff and helped create a process that worked for everyone- with the student's experience at the center of the discussion. In the past this process would take over two months to finalize, and with Scott's leadership and support, all students were hired within a week of when their paperwork was received, if not sooner. I appreciate his initiative, respect and support of colleagues. He is an incredible resource and SOE is lucky to have him.

Erica Boisseau Bratton 12/13/2022 --  Nominated by Danielle Cadua

Erica did a great job transporting the patient to MRI from Gumenick Suites. The patient let Erica know that she had muscle spasms and was sensitive to bumps during transport. Erica took extra caution when going through the halls and communicated to the patient that there may be bumps coming up during transport.

Eric Higgs-Page 12/13/2022 --  Nominated by Danielle Cadua

Eric did a great job transporting the patient to Gumenick Suites to MRI. The patient let Eric know that she had muscle spasms and was sensitive to bumps during transport. Eric took extra caution when going through the halls and communicated to the patient that there may be bumps coming up during transport.

Jacqueline Roark 12/14/2022 --  Nominated by Karen Sharrock

Respect and Responsiveness - Jacqueline took my call today on the Banner helpdesk. She was so polite, and patient with me. I was touched by her empathy, as I'm new to VCU and learning the Banner language. She took the time to explain to me several fields in Banner Production, and answered all of my questions. Her calmness, poise, and equanimity in the face of my many questions, caused me to feel special, that she had time to dedicate to my learning (even though I'm sure she had other callers in queue). I truly felt valued, as if I was her only priority at that point in time. This is admirable, and something I seek to emulate.

Maureen Olmsted 12/16/2022 --  Nominated by Debbie DiazGranados

I just had the most wonderful interaction with Maureen. I was dealing with issues related to clinicaltrials.gov with my previous job. I was extremely anxious and did not know where to even start dealing with the problem. Mareen answered my email last night immediately and we had a Zoom call today. She explained in detail the process, she will help me deal with my previous job and how to resolve the issues.  Thank you so much for having such a great employee. She was fantastic!!!!

James Dye 12/16/2022 --  Nominated by Robert Houghtaling

Working as the university-wide Talent@VCU administrator, James Dye provides ongoing excellent service to a variety of stakeholders. In the weeks leading up to the December 1st VCU staff bonus, he had to develop a way to ensure all staff eligible would receive their payment. This involved tracking down staff and managers without annual goals in the Talent system and resolving this barrier to maximize eligibility for VCU staff. His innovative work to always get things right helped not only HR, but in this case his work supported all VCU staff in receiving their well-deserved bonus prior to the holiday season.

Erica Brody, 11/04/2022 --  Nominated by Roy Brown

Erica is a great colleague who is always willing to pitch in when needed. I want to thank her for her willingness over the last couple of weeks to provide her feedback and volunteer her time to provide feedback and insight to the RED intern. Her thoughts helped to improve his instructional approach and, in turn, the webinar he was about to teach. I value Erica as a colleague and hope to be able to return the favor at some point.

Tyrone Jones, 11/10/2022 --  Nominated by Delroy Marston

Congratulation on your first 60 days, you have shown great progress and are willing to learn more in order to further your career while working at Rec Well.

Alexis Bussey, 11/10/2022 --  Nominated by Delroy Marston

Congratulation on your first 30 days as RecWell Housekeeper, your contribution play a critical part of the daily operations in providing positive attitude in all interactions with patrons.

Lacey Seaton, 10/03/2022 --  Nominated by Jenna Lenhardt

Lacey is overseeing five different programs, and she is coordinating between content experts and organizing a complex program, sharing updates, being proactive and thoughtful in her support of students. The different audiences in her five programs is incredibly complex, yet Lacey is positive, and is open to ideas and suggestions on how to support student success. I appreciate her partnership, willingness to partner, and responsiveness to questions even when she has a number of competing priorities. It is a joy to work with Lacey.

Corey Martin 10/13/2022 --  Nominated by Caroline Cobb

Whenever I ask for help or advice Corey is always available and willing to make time for me. He is such a incredible person and asset in our department. So grateful for him!

Amanda Kain 10/13/2022 --  Nominated by Felicia Harris

Amanda is strong asset to IDAS' Business Office Team. She has been instrumental in resolving many procurement issues that come up in our department. She takes the initiative following up on many situations before conflicts arise. In particular, Amanda followed up on a contract with two outstanding requisitions because of an upcoming deadline. Amanda has also been heavily instrumental in sorting out our department's VCU Health System invoices so that valid, correct invoices are paid. Amanda is a true self starter, strong communicator and leader. She is highly dependable and is comfortable stepping up and leading when I'm out of the office. She is extremely pleasant to work with and I'm confident her colleagues feel the same way. Keep up the great work, Amanda!! Thanks for all that you do!!!

Matthew Martin 10/13/2022 --  Nominated by Greg Eskridge

As part of the Banner Cloud Migration project, a 3rd-party integration vendor (AdAstra) set up a site for end user testing. Technical work was necessary on VCU's end to ensure that SSO worked properly with that new test site. I reached out to Matt Martin, who helped me to troubleshoot, helped to provide further information that was needed for the AdAstra representative, and ultimately got SSO working with the new AdAstra test site. He was quick to get this completed, which allowed end users to begin testing the site within 24 hours of my first contact with Matt.

Wes Seals 10/18/2022 --  Nominated by Desiree Dabney

I am sending a special thanks to Wes Seals for guiding me in my new position at VCU I am very thankful and grateful for the guidance through out this amazing process.

Leslie Bobb 10/21/2022 --  Nominated by Elizabeth Fortune

Our admin group recently took over an on-going project, Virginia Opioid Addiction ECHO, a virtual network of health care experts and providers tackling the opioid crisis across Virginia. This required our team, led by Leslie Bobb, to learn the processes and technologies involved in successfully managing the ECHO program while ensuring the continuity of operations. We held our first ECHO session of the new grant year today (10/21/2022), which was moderated by Ms. Bobb. By all accounts, she did an excellent job of getting up to speed on program needs, organizing the agenda and calendar for the rest of 2022, working with the key stakeholders in advance of the today's session - all of which resulted in a successful ECHO session.

Lillie Lattimore 10/21/2022 --  Nominated by Elizabeth Fortune

Our admin group recently took over an on-going project, Virginia Opioid Addiction ECHO, a virtual network of health care experts and providers tackling the opioid crisis across Virginia. This required our team, of which Lillie Lattimore played a key role, to learn the processes and technologies involved in successfully managing the ECHO program while ensuring the continuity of operations. We held our first ECHO session of the new grant year today (10/21/2022). Because of her behind the scenes work, particularly with communications and continuing education, our first ECHO session was a great success. I am grateful to have Ms. Lattimore as part of team!

Justina Winston 10/28/2022 --  Nominated by Delroy Marston

Justina went above and beyond in her onboarding with our two new housekeeping staff and that's why I want to recognize her continued effort in helping our staff.

Ayana Clayton-Brooks, 09/01/2022 --  Nominated by Felicia Harris

Since Ayana has been with IDAS, she has been a joy to work with. She stays on top of her workload and has developed her own system with keeping the petty cash balanced daily and replenished in a timely manner. She thoroughly assists the research teams in our department, ensuring retention of research study participants. Ayana has no problem asking questions and lets me know as soon as possible if anything is out of sync, resolving issues BEFORE they become bigger problems. She is a strong team player and is a true asset to the IDAS Business Office Team. I appreciate you, Ayana!

Joey Noble, 09/01/2022 --  Nominated by Dana Lapato

I do not want to imagine trying to work at VCU without Joey Noble as part of the team. He is a selfless team member who consistently goes above and beyond to ensure that everyone--faculty, staff, and students--receives exceptional technology support. He has worked tirelessly to connect new students with essential software and hardware as well as facilitating the return to in-person work. Yesterday morning alone, I saw him go from troubleshooting a software issue to providing training on using conference equipment to reconfiguring multiple laptops and cataloguing hardware needs and upcoming software updates.
Joey is not only responsive, but also proactive. Everyone at VIPBG has benefited from his willingness to take initiative. For example, I needed to connect my new laptop to the institute printers. When I went to the VIPBG IT wiki, I saw that Joey had revamped the help pages to contain the most recent information so that anyone needing to connect to the printers had the best experience possible.

Aimée Walters, 09/09/2022 --  Nominated by Edward Howard

Aimée's work on recent noncredit events has been indefatigable. With very short lead times, she worked tirelessly to create a very extensive multi-level conference website and related resources. Although she always goes the extra mile, these past few engagements were particularly demanding (in complexity, timing) and she rose to the challenge with positivity, leadership and exceptional detail. She worked very late on many evenings and weekends to get this done. I can speak for myself and VCU Online and Continuing and Professional Education to say, we appreciate you very much Aimée!

Travis Greene, 09/15/2022 --  Nominated by Houston Griffith

Travis helped me quickly solve an issue with an MECM task sequence I was having trouble with. His PowerShell script was easily adaptable to my situation and pretty much instantly solved my issues. This was while he was already dealing with a major MECM issue and helping the Endpoint Computing team troubleshoot task sequence issues that were impacting all of VCU. Truthfully, I owe him many more of these recognitions for the many times he has helped me personally with MECM related issues. He is truly an asset to VCU! Thank you Travis for all of your amazing work (and your immense PowerShell expertise)!

Matthew Chatham, 08/02/2022 --  Nominated by Curtis Diessellhorst

Officer Chatham, while working to handle a potential threat outside of the VCU Health ER, due to gun shot victim arriving, assisted me while I was trying to navigate parking after my partner having just been involved in a bad car accident and arrived by ambulance. I was in a bit of a panic. He assisted by getting some sort of "pass" to allow my car to remain parked where it was so I could get into the ER and see my partner, after I had moved it multiple times only to have the Passport app tell me the spot was not available. He was very busy, yet remained calm, his demeanor helped me stay calm, and his assistance allowed me to get to my family quickly. This really meant a very lot to me at that moment, and he should be recognized for his dedicated service. I too am a VCU employee, and he exemplifies the customer service and community support that we all should strive to provide and be. I'm very grateful that he is part of our team here at VCU.

Brandon Burneson, 08/10/2022 --  Nominated by Roy Brown

I wanted to take a moment to recognize and thank Brandon for his contribution to the Research and Education Department of the Health Sciences Library. Over the last several weeks, as he has been preparing to transition to leave VCU, he has taken the time to ensure that all his projects are in a good place. This extra effort is particularly true regarding the work he has been doing with the intern in our department. I know this has been an additional task that he has taken on, and I want to recognize the exceptional effort he has undertaken to ensure the intern's annual report project is successful. This effort on his part is just indicative of all the great work he has done while a member of VCU Libraries. So again, thank you, Brandon, for your responsiveness when asked, not just in the last couple of weeks, but any time I have called upon you. You will be missed when you leave, and thanks for everything.

Scott Stech, 08/19/2022 --  Nominated by Kathleen Rudasill

Scott Stech is unbelievably responsive to the many requests he gets from folks across the SOE, especially related to HR where he has been working without a full staff for months. Yet he maintains a positive, kind, and patient demeanor when juggling multiple demands. I am so grateful to have Scott on the SOE team! I want him to know how much he is valued.

Sanjur (Sandy) Brooks, 08/22/2022 --  Nominated by Lisa Ballance

Dr. Brooks (Sandy) has had many legacy issues to uncover and address since joining VCU in the midst of the pandemic last year. She has been fair, thoughtful, and working under highly unusual circumstances and during already stressful times. Nevertheless, is always eager to share background information to teach and guide. Sandy's professionalism and character shine through the business of the day!

Julie Norman, 08/23/2022 --  Nominated by Sandra Mazzoli

Julie's timely response for a late Fall 2022 admissions decision has greatly helped our new student. This student needs the coursework and ultimately the degree to maintain employment. Thank Julie for all you do!

Rani Sisavath, 08/26/2022 --  Nominated by Jen Elswick

Rani took over the management of the humanitiescenter.vcu.edu website this year and has done fabulously in this role. This is an especially difficult site to manage - probably the hardest in CHS - because of the way some of the elements are engineered. Frankly I have been shocked by how quickly Rani has figured out its complexities and gone off and running with its management. She has an especially well-developed analytical sense along with keen attention to detail and a good eye for layout and design. If she were so inclined and keeps building her skills in this domain, she could definitely make a wonderful web developer one day. Keep up the great work, Rani!

Kevin Kim, 08/30/2022 --  Nominated by Felicia Harris

I am recognizing Kevin Kim for being an awesome grant accountant. He is always responsive and extremely thorough. Any questions that I have regarding the grants in my department are quickly answered and if Kevin doesn't happen to know the answer, he has no issue finding out. My interactions with Kevin are always pleasant and he is always willing and ready to help. He is an excellent team player and is truly an asset in the G&C department. I'm taking this time to recognize his hard work. I appreciate you, Kevin!

Kathy Thomas, 07/08/2022 --  Nominated by Dana Rajczewski

Not just today, but every day - Kathy is such an incredible asset to the health system! She is incredibly responsive to scheduling requests of all types, and she manages calendars for people with complex schedules. Additionally, she is really helpful as a resource for so many different admin tasks; I suspect lots of people ask her advice when they have an admin problem to solve - I know I have! Thank you, Kathy, for being an awesome colleague!

Karen Lamb, 07/13/2022 --  Nominated by Camilo Medina

I'd like to recognize Karen for how helpful and responsive she is. On countless occasions I've reached out to her with a complex question and she's gotten me what I need, and then some, within the same day. I admire her willingness to help and commitment to helping VCU succeed. Thank you Karen!

Cecilia Scott, 07/26/2022 --  Nominated by Jen Elswick

The launch of a new website is a fraught time for a webmaster. Of the many things that can go wrong, though, it is such a relief to know that the biggest part - getting the development site transitioned to a live site with its many associated tasks - will always go right when Cecilia is steering the ship. Her attention to detail is impeccable and she conducts all the tasks flawlessly. Further, I always appreciate that she reaches out directly to me to let me know as it's happening and to provide direct contact and support during the transition. This is very reassuring and helpful to me and demonstrates her commitment to service excellence. VCU is fortunate to have such a caring, thorough, and attentive steward of its CMS. Thank you, Cecilia!

Erica Brody, 07/27/2022 --  Nominated by Roy Brown

Over the last several weeks, Erica has taken extra steps to help me to provide a meaningful experience for the intern in the research and education department. This effort was not something she had to do but wanted to do. It was a huge help as I have been out of the office and had other things going on that did not allow me to focus on the internship experience as I wanted. I just wanted to thank her for her responsiveness and willingness to assist in helping the intern learn what is needed to be an effective future medical librarian. I value Erica as a colleague and look forward to returning the favor when she needs my help.

Modestine Carter, 06/27/2022 --  Nominated by Andrea Groat

I needed help figuring out why a flight charge did not hit our index. Modestine investigated it, explained what happened and gave detailed instructions on how to fix the problem so it would not happen again. (Traveler set up his profile incorrectly.). I appreciate her fast help during this busy time.

Krista McDonald, 06/22/2022 --  Nominated by Felicia Harris

I'm recognizing Krista for her poised and professional attitude during a petty cash review meeting with an internal auditor today. She handled herself very well, explaining the department's procedures and answering all questions accurately. I truly appreciate her example of integrity which is displayed on a daily basis. Keep up the good work, Krista!    

Emma King, M.Ed., 06/17/2022 --  Nominated by Catherine Brown

I am the program coordinator for the Post-Bac Certificate in Clinical Research sponsored by the Office of Research and managed via the Wright Center CTR. The program launched in Fall 2020 and our first students completed May 2022. Being new to my role and managing a new program there has been much learned along the way. Use of DegreeWorks, the degree audit process, submitting waivers and exceptions and monitoring student progression toward program completion and graduation procedures are all new. I reached out several times via email to Degree Audit group but realized I needed for one on one support. Emma has provided exceptional customer service and expertise via email communication and a scheduled one on one meeting. She was friendly, supportive and extremely knowledgeable. She met with me for over an hour on Friday, June 17. Here follow-up was immediate and specific on outstanding items. We covered a great deal of information. She addressed all my questions and made important connections for me along the way. I now have an understanding of the role of the office and a specific contact if needed in the future. Emma was and continues to be immensely helpful as I work through prep and audit of our first students graduating. Exceptional customer service!

Ryan Pander, 06/28/2022 --  Nominated by Pamela Hendrix

Ryan was able to quickly rectify my huge reservation mistake. I enjoy working with such a true professional!

Amber Peranski, 05/04/2022 --  Nominated by Shana Ryman

Amanda reached out to me to ensure I am set up for BEST practices with records management as I continue to development our VCU Remote Workers Community of Practice. Furthermore, she organized a meeting for us, shared resources, and offered to present at a future meeting. I feel supported with a colleague like Amanda to do my best work within compliance and wanted to take a moment to recognize her

Mark Ryan, 05/04/2022 --  Dana Rajczewski

While this example is from today specifically, it is applicable to every day working with Dr. Ryan! He anticipates potential questions/issues that may arise when we set up complicated meetings, and he is extremely patient and helpful with the ever-present scheduling challenges. He makes it easier to find solutions to difficult problems, and he does that with grace, humor, and understanding. Believe me, it is appreciated by many people, and we are so glad to be his colleagues! 

Katie McColgan, 05/04/2022 --  Jenna Lenhardt

Katie has helped our central School of Education HR team as we have been down a team member. She has been responsive, kind, has followed-up, and has gone above and beyond to support the hiring and HR needs of our large Enrollment Management student team. She brings a process and human focused lens to the work, and communicates incredibly well. She is detailed and also understanding and helps explain complex processes or needs of hiring someone. Where a hire used to take 6-8 weeks, Katie has shortened that process to two weeks. Katie has been helping out for a while, and this is well beyond the call of duty. I have been thankful for her support and responsiveness and cannot thank her and the RRTC team, who allowed us to borrow some of Katie's time for so long. She should get a million gold stars and a huge kudos for all she has done for our School.

Madrenna Horn, 05/10/2022 --  Elizabeth Seward

I have had several interactions with Madrenna Horn and each time I walk away feeling grateful for her assistance. Her response time is awesome and she always gives clear instructions on how to proceed. I feel confident knowing that if I have questions or need assistance she is here to help. A lot of times we only contact supervisors when there is a problem but I really wanted to let you know that she is doing a great job. 

David Morefield, 05/12/2022 --  Jeny Beausoliel

I want to recognize David for a whole lot more than just initiative: yes to the other categories listed (initiative, integrity, respect) as well. David has helped me through troubleshooting the Zoom-with-Google slide coordination for graduation, with added music and video from our department head not able to attend the event. David is an unflappable treasure, helps calm me so I don't go screaming out of the building--this is just not my area of expertise, at all--and a true pleasure to work with. Working on graduation this year, without benefit of a graduate program coordinator in place, has been a real challenge. This is usually a three-plus person effort, and we have made due with two. David has certainly made an impact on our department, and I and we appreciate him

Dana Rajczewski, 05/13/2022 --  Jeny Beausoliel

I want to recognize Dana for a whole lot more than just initiative: yes to the other categories listed (integrity, respect, responsiveness) and also for myriad other ways that she goes above and beyond helpfulness as a colleague: she is creative, thoughtful, a wonderful problem-solver, always willing to help find workable solutions. She is an unflappable treasure and a true pleasure to work with. Working on graduation this year, without benefit of a graduate program coordinator in place, has been a real challenge. This is usually a three-plus person effort, and we have made due with two. Dana is nothing short of amazing, and I am here to sing her praises.

David Sparace, 05/24/2022 --  Julia Norman

I would like to formally and sincerely express my gratitude for the amazing work David accomplishes every day. He shows initiative, integrity, respect and responsiveness in every situation or issue that he working on.  David’s willingness to jump in and help us with our data analysis directly contributes to our successes and demonstrates his dedication to his position and the university. His actions directly impact the university by being an active member of our team helping us with our daily needs with our Slate application/implementation. I would like David to know that I value the amount of effort he puts into his work and that he is appreciated as a part of this team. Once again, David, thank you for your hard work. I look forward to seeing your future achievements and successes!. 

Lillie Lattimore, 05/24/2022 --  Lauren D. Harris

I would like to recognize Lillie Lattimore for her contributions to our upcoming research symposium. She has been a team player and very responsive in our weekly meetings, which has prevented avoidable project delays and mistakes. Had it not been for her, I wouldn't have gotten through the planning process. I appreciate her calm demeanor and the level of professionalism she has exuded to our presenters and moderators. I know our upcoming event will be a success, and its partially due to her.  

Lori Landes, 05/26/2022 --  Dana Rajczewski

Not just today, but every day - Dr. Landes is so helpful with making things easier for others, and this has become increasingly evident and appreciated when we are working through administrative transitions. She's clear and concise when giving guidance and assistance, and she often goes above and beyond to help take things off of others' plates (though her plate is quite full too). She's a great team member and a huge asset to everyone in our department and beyond - thank you, Dr. Landes!

Joe Derrico, 05/26/2022 --  Dana Rajczewski

Joe has been a great source of information and guidance as we are working through administrative transitions in our department! He is with us in an interim role (as he is headquartered in another department) but you would never know it based on the level of service he provides. He is very helpful and encouraging and it is very much appreciated by his colleagues. Thank you, Joe!

Scott Strayer, 05/27/2022 --  Dana Rajczewski

Dr. Strayer has been extremely helpful with taking some things off of my admin plate (when he has an extremely full plate himself!) as we go through a substantial administrative transition, and it has not gone unnoticed! He is very understanding of the need for a work-life balance, and he's helped me with that quite a bit (including when illness has knocked me out unexpectedly). I really appreciate his kindness, guidance, and willingness to think creatively about coverage as needed. Thank you, Dr. Strayer!

Dana Rajczewski, 04/11/2022 --  Nominated by Jeanine Giles Larson

Dana helped me find information that was crucial to completing a faculty member's grant proposal. I would not have been able to complete this task and Dana helped me tremendously by pointing me in the right direction. Thanks, Dana!

Harris Middleton, 04/11/2022 --  Nominated by Jeanine Giles Larson

Harris assisted with the references section of a proposal due this week. He was very gracious in offering his time out of his busy schedule. Harris, thanks for using your expertise in Endnote to help Dr. Bradner finalize her proposal. It takes a team to ensure faculty success and I am glad you are part of ours! 

Jennifer Tennison, 04/27/2022 --  Nominated by Jenna Lenhardt

Jennifer has been a wealth of knowledge, support, and thoughtful feedback as we continue to update and revise programs to meet the needs of a changing future student demographic. She is responsive, respectful, and is always willing to go the extra mile to support her colleagues. Jennifer excels at anything she is tasked with, and comes into each situation with a can-do and positive attitude that is refreshing. I am thankful to have her as my colleague.

Jennifer Cousinis, 03/22/2022 --  Nominated by Nora Alder

She is always efficient, willing, friendly and patient.

Sandra Mazzoli, 03/23/2022 --  Nominated by Jenna Lenhardt

I work with Sandra daily and she is always ready and willing to go above and beyond to help students. Her knowledge of VCU is expansive and her positive attitude is contagious. Sandra is a genuine and kind person who is responsive, supportive, and teamwork focused in everything she does. I feel lucky to work with her every day.

Caimdyn Stewart, 03/17/2022 --  Nominated by Jenna Lenhardt

Caimdyn is always thinking about ways to improve our processes in order to maximize our time with students. She is student focused and her students LOVE her. She is approachable and collaborative. Recently she saw a need to connect different resources to students going into their experiential education phase of their program. She reached out to me and my colleague Jasmine to create resources and a presentation because she knew we both had a passion for career development. Caimdyn sees the full person and colleague and openly shares her enthusiasm for teamwork and collaboration across our teams. I am inspired by her passion and how much she cares for our students. 

Joanna Bell, 03/28/2022 --  Nominated by  Lisa Abrams

Joanna is a highly dedicated colleague and has worked tirelessly to develop budgets, budgets layouts, and reporting systems to support faculty, staff and administrators in the School of Education. Her attention to detail and commitment to providing timely fiscal information and in formats that are easily accessible has helped to make the work of many of her colleagues much easier and more efficient. We are so fortunate to have Joanna as part of our SOE team and appreciate her and her contributions!

Carolina Wilson, 02/01/2022 --  Nominated by Sandra Mazzoli

Carolina is a highly valued member of the VCU Ramily and has always been able to help me find solutions to the unique situations presented by our students and advisors. Most recently, a student registered for the incorrect courses for Spring 2022. It was disclosed that the student had suffered an unexpected loss and unable to correct the registration error on their own. Carolina ensured that the Special Action request was processed in a very timely fashion thus alleviating the student's anxiousness and worry.

Stacey Wahl, 02/09/2022 --  Nominated by Roy Brown

Stacey is a valued member of the research and education team at the Health Science Library, and I have always enjoyed working with her. She has always been willing to help me out when asked. Over the last couple of weeks, she has helped me with two issues on short notice. Each time she did so without complaint. First, she helped me figure out the best way to address a problem with a citation tracking project and then made sure a VCU School of Nursing faculty member could have her questions addressed by meeting with her. Her assistance in both instances was a huge help. I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you and let her know that I value her as a colleague. Thank You!

Deidre Henley, 02/16/2022 --  Nominated by Dana Rajczewski

Deidre has been working to get a check to an external organization for months, and it's been a very long back-and- forth process to get it where it needed to go. She was persistent with the external group and worked with VCU Procurement to find a solution. She was very responsive to follow-up request from me and from the external org, and she followed through until we got a resolution today. I knew it would be solved since it was in her hands, and that reassurance is most appreciated. Thank you, Deidre!!

Andrew Kollmer, 02/23/2022 --  Nominated by Jeff Smith

Andy came to me with a question about something he was hearing from alternate sources about how well he (and his group) were helping me with my technology needs. I really appreciate the fact that he simply cut out the noise and just came to talk to me directly so we could be on the same page and not have any conflicting perspectives. I am so thankful to have such an ethical perspective as it makes things so much easier. 

Tabatha Dunlap, 01/13/2022 --  Nominated by Koshie France

Tabatha goes above and beyond to take the initiative to assist her colleagues when needed. She is beyond knowledgeable; willing and able to devote time to developing others, sharing expertise and skills without being asked. Tabatha values the opinions and initiatives of others while providing guidance and constructive feedback in a respectful manner. Ms. Dunlap is respected among colleagues of all levels and demonstrates a positive attitude. She is truly an asset to the team. 

Dana Rajczewski, 01/18/2022 --  Nominated by Lauren Jackson

Dana is the quickest, most responsive employee I have maybe ever met. She never hesitates to jump in for scheduling needs and countless interviews and meetings would be put on the back-burner if it weren't for her and how quickly she's able to coordinate. Thank you for all that you do, Dana! You're a rockstar.

Julie Norman, 01/18/2022 --  Nominated by Sandra Mazzoli

Julie is always helpful! Recently we've had several students in the School of Education with unique admissions/readmissions situations and Julie has always been able to provide guidance and solutions. She is a positive and professional member of the team and highly valued colleague. 

Christopher Gorbutt, 01/19/2022 --  Nominated by Isac Crouch

Chris and I work on the same team here in Technology Services. The main reason that is prompting me to recognize him is that he is ALWAYS willing to assist me (and others) when something is needed. An example of this is yesterday we received a last minute request from a customer and I was already on the road headed home. I called Chris and he assisted me with working on the issue and got the work done promptly and accurately. It is nice to work with someone with responsiveness like Chris Gorbutt.

Justin Woods, 01/20/2022 --  Nominated by Chuck Alexander

I'm currently working a staggered schedule while I finish out my paternity leave, so effective and efficient coordination with people that are on campus is extraordinarily important. Justin Woods stepped into that role with vim and vigor today. Coordinating a caregiver panel with multiple parties (and their knowledge, or lack thereof of the tech involved) for the entire SOM Class of 2024 in Studios 7 & 8 - including the ability to field questions with the faculty providers in the room - could not have gone smoother thanks to Justin's immense talents. There were no tech issues, no echoes, no audio problems... nothing. Justin nailed it and deserves to be recognized.

Felicia Harris, 01/21/2022 --  Nominated by James Bjork

Diligent admin work enabling successful repackaging and resubmission of grant application. Felicia took on a larger-scale grant application with only an effective 10-day lead time before School of Medicine would want to see the application. She worked late and diligently to get the application (to a novel federal agency unfamiliar to her) routed and prepared in time. 

Caimdyn Stewart, 01/21/2022 --  Nominated by Samantha Ray

Caimdyn always goes above and beyond to assist students and colleagues. She is a pleasure to work with. Thank you for all you do!

Rami Hatoum, 01/21/2022 --  Nominated by Pam Hendrix

My laptop unexpectedly stopped working. Rami was able to replace it the same day and I had minimal disruption. He's true professional and asset to our team.

Lauren Harris, 01/28/2022 --  Nominated by Antonio Abbate

I would like to recognize Lauren Harris, MS, MEd, for all the Initiative, Integrity, Respect and Responsiveness that she has shown during the past two years. I chose however Initiative as the primary reason because at time of need, Lauren has shown leadership and the ability to fill in multiple roles. Lauren also does that with kindness and respect. Thank you for being an inspiration during these times of darkness.

Earlene Charity, 01/31/2022 --  Nominated by Elizabeth Seward

Ms. Charity provided excellent customer service. When I contacted her for assistance and clarity on different contracts, she went above and beyond to provided accurate information. When I contacted her with follow-up questions she again delivered exceptional service. 

2019 Recognitions

Edward Lichtenstein, 12/23/19 -- Nominated by Jamillah Martin 

Joe (Edward) spent countless hours over the entire winter holiday break working on Blackboard system issues and handling support tickets.  

Rebecca Lester Scholtes, 12/20/19 -- Nominated by Carolina Cobb (Amey)  

Rebecca and the rest of the P3 team worked very hard to enroll and complete active participants in the last weeks of the winter semester. I was very impressed with her efforts and initiative in this respect.     

Megan Underwood, 12/20/19 -- Nominated by Carolina Cobb (Amey)            

Megan and rest of the P3 team worked extremely hard during the last weeks of the winter semester to enroll and complete active participants in our study. I was very impressed by her efforts and initiative in this respect.  

Leetah Stanley, 12/19/19 -- Nominated by Dana Rajczewski

Leetah is an absolute pleasure to work with! She has worked tirelessly on a reporting project to make information accessible and understandable to people who are not experts in the topic at hand, and I know that took a lot of ingenuity, creativity, frustration, and time on her part to get it just right. She listened to a lot of input regarding what was needed for the reports, and I'm sure at times it must have seemed like she was asked to figure out things that didn't have a solution. But you would never have known that in talking with her, as she was always receptive to suggestions and feedback. Now that the reports are ready to go, she has answered questions and offered guidance with patience, humor, and grace. She really makes things easy! Simply put, she is a wonderful colleague and a tremendous resource to SOM - thank you, Leetah!   

Leetah Stanley, 12/18/19 -- Nominated by Michelle Holder

I have had the pleasure of working with Leetah on rolling out departmental reports for the School of Medicine and VCU Health. This was a massive project, requiring an inestimable amount of forethought, relationship building, and countless hours of hard work. I can’t say enough good things about working with Leetah and the degree of excellence she brings to our stewardship efforts. I feel that Leetah has gone above and beyond to set us up for success, and I’m very lucky to work with her!  

Colin Drake, 12/13/19 -- Nominated by Bob Burgess

I am always happy when Colin is assigned a work request because he is quick to respond, communicates well and does quality work. Thanks for doing an excellent job Colin!        

Jessica Lyon, 12/6/19 -- Nominated by Shana Ryman

Jessica Lyon is quick to respond and jump in to help. Jessica has helped to format and offer assistance with 2 small projects and includes me in each step of the editing process. Additionally, she makes working together productive and efficient with her expertise and online communication She is a professional colleague with which to collaborate and create.  

Luis Coral, 11/25/19 -- Nominated by Nicholas Shipman

Luis responded successfully with initiative and grace to last-minute modifications of a request pursuant to a relatively new duty. I was impressed and grateful.  

Nickie Brandenburger, 11/26/19 -- Nominated by Flip Grey

Nickie is a team player! I am ever thankful for her initiative to jump in and help in anyway that she can. While we work on separate projects we also co-direct a team. She senses when the stress is on and has jumped in to assist wherever she can to help her colleagues and the team as a whole. It's the simple things that mean a great deal. Thanks, Nickie, for your initiative and energy! I'm grateful for your willingness to tackle the tough stuff collaboratively while offering words of wisdom that sets my mind at ease.    

Jackie Robinson-Brock, 11/21/19 -- Nominated by Flip Grey

Jackie is an outstanding mentor! I wish I could check all of the recognition boxes and more. She is always responsive, reliable, supportive, encouraging, thoughtful and available. I have no idea how you do it, Jackie, but I am grateful to have you as a colleague and mentor. Thank you for always being there with thoughtful insight and guidance!

Patrice Beard, 11/1/19 -- Nominated by Dana Yarbrough

Patrice has taken on responsibility for a complex data system that 20 staff enter information into weekly. This requires that she constantly train staff, 'clean' data entry, run monthly reports to identify gaps in data collection, and more recently, correspond with the database contractor to problem solve customization of the database so it works better for reporting to our multitude of funders. Recently, Patrice has gone above and beyond her responsibilities to discuss and/or create workable solutions for a number of staff challenges with the database.

Rob Downs, 11/1/19 -- Nominated by Leetah Stanley 

Rob and his team have been incredibly helpful in working with units to build the new acknowledgment reports in RADAR that were very much needed. They took the time to listen to every request, consider every possibility and made a system that works beautifully, filling the needs of both the units, in terms of functionality, and of Central, in terms of accurate record keeping etc. about the stewardship of gifts. Additionally, Rob dedicated even more time to us here at medicine to cooperate with our SOM IT group to give us what we needed to use a system developed to produce and archive our acknowledgement letters and to create our departmental gift reports so that our chairs can be engaged further in stewarding donors to their individual areas. This had long been the desire of Dean Buckley. The feedback from everyone over the initial report was beyond positive, and it simply would not have been possible without the cooperation of Rob and his team.    

Elizabeth Seward, 10/25/19 -- Nominated by Melanie Pilco

It was very hard for me to decide on which one I wanted to recognize. Elizabeth from the time I have met her she has showed Initiative on every aspect and curve ball thrown to our department. Her experience and wealth of knowledge always came handy when it was time to determine a new route to take when things were changing. Her initiative was displayed in so many ways weather it was for a brand new project or an ongoing project in which we may later on see possible issues. She showed integrity in everything she did, it was 110%. Her responsiveness was always exactly as that word is defined "the quality of reacting quickly and positively". Even when things got tough she was always finding ways around the problem the most efficient way. Now the reason I chose Respect is because that really is the best way to describe how she should be recognized. All the qualities she has displayed has really made her a person I enjoyed working with. It's a privilege, honor, and honestly so fun to work with someone with so much knowledge and such willingness to teach the way she has.

Sha-Kim Craft, 9/10/19 -- Nominated by Warran Dawson 

Sha-kim started with very little and built a graduate program tracking spreadsheet that is used school-wide. She consistently answers inquiries in a timely manner and has improved the overall graduate office by leaps and bounds. Thank you Sha-kim.

Josh Ambrose, 9/3/19 -- Nominated by Sue McGinnis

I put in an electrical ticket because our podium that controls all of our presentation equipment for presenters was getting no power. I initially thought it was an issue with electric coming from the wall. Josh came over and found that wasn't the issue. He stayed to help me troubleshoot the piece of equipment in the podium (the power conditioner) that needed to be reset. He very easily could have said that his job was over after finding the problem was inside of the podium, but it was his kindness and responsiveness that helped me resolve the issue quickly for our customers. He is a wonderful asset to the university!

Kelly Winn, 8/9/19 -- Nominated by Charol Shakeshaft

I needed information on our doctoral graduates, names of dissertations. We also asked for a list of capstone titles and EdD graduates since 2011. Kelly was very responsive in helping us to put this information together.

Keyetta Tate, 8/9/19 -- Nominated by Warran Dawson

Keyetta is always very proactive with her work and excels at responding to any question/problem/conflict we throw at her. She works for many different faculty members and somehow keeps it all straight. She should be commended for the outstanding work ethic and overall effectiveness and efficiency. She certainly makes my job easier. Thank you Keyetta.

Brenna Monk, 8/5/19 -- Nominated by Dana Rajczewski

Another member of our department and I have been working with Brenna to prepare for an event during the MCV Campus Reunion Weekend in April 2020. She is extremely responsive, very helpful and she offers guidance with patience and kindness. She has put our minds at ease on numerous occasions and simplified what at first seemed to be a somewhat overwhelming process. She is a pleasure to work with. We are grateful for her expertise and willingness to share it. Thank you, Brenna!

Paul Allmon, 7/19/19 -- Nominated by Matthew Wilkes

Our department was recently asked to teach the power tool portion of a quick start program VCU is involved with. We were given very short notice with not much time to prepare the shop or ourselves for an appropriate lesson. Pauls previous experience in work programs that utilize and train beginner level trades workers made him first to mind to assist me in giving the lessons. Paul was very quick to take on the task. He studied the module and took notes on his own time at home the evening before and had an overall lesson planned on the morning we were scheduled to give class. Pauls excitement and attitude about the task, that many would decline, was infectious and engaging. Paul applies these same principles in his everyday workload at VCU and he is a valuable asset to our department.

Jamie Holcomb, 7/17/19 -- Nominated by Danise Harmon

Jamie is always responsive and extremely timely to all of my requests. She is knowledgeable, helpful and takes the time to explain and route me to the correct information on the many VCU screens and portals. I truly appreciate when I call she often answers her telephone line and she also returns phone calls quickly. Jamie is an asset to the VCU Office of Procurement. It's my pleasure working with her.

Shane Conner, 6/28/19 -- Nominated by Shelley Jordan

I would like to recognize Shane for always lending his expertise to help me troubleshoot and resolve technical issues that are particularly puzzling. An issue occurred early in the day and went unresolved after attempts by multiple areas until I reached out to Shane for guidance. I was unsure if the issue was something that fell under his purview, but knew he could at least point me in the right direction. Shane waved his magic wand and all was fixed! Shane's responsiveness to my issue was greatly appreciated not only by myself, but by other staff who were impacted by the issue.

Harris Middleton, 6/21/19 -- Nominated by Dana Rajczewski

To say that Harris is a team player is an understatement! We have had a few staff members with unavoidably unpredictable schedules in the past few weeks, and Harris has put everyone's mind at ease by filling in whenever and wherever needed. It was so seamless that I'm not sure others even noticed that anything was different! He is efficient, hard-working, professional, and kind, and all of these things make a huge difference in our department and division on a daily basis. It does not go unnoticed every day, but it is especially evident during these sorts of weeks. Thank you, Harris!!

Sharon Kelly, 6/13/19 -- Nominated by Lauren Mortensen

Sharon has been amazingly helpful to me over the past few weeks as I have been navigating ordering various things for an upcoming student session. No matter how many times I stop by her office or email her, she is always quick to help and never makes me feel like I am bothering her - even though she has been extremely busy working towards the end of the fiscal year.

Morgan Huff, 6/12/19 -- Nominated by Corie Forest

I have submitted an increased number of web requests to update the VCU homepage to be in complete WCAG 2.0, AA compliance. Recently, time sensitive updates have been requested and Morgan continues to be responsive and diligent to achieve resolutions. We really appreciate his efforts.

Reginald Brown, 6/10/19 -- Nominated by Denise Harmon

I am recognizing Reggie Brown for his outstanding assistance and knowledge in keeping things going. Our School is going through transition again regarding fiscal processes and Reggie has and does take the initiative to help complete various tasks and assignments, ask questions when needed, and always available. He always makes sure that all bases are covered in terms of details and is a team player. We are extremely lucky to have him. Thank you Reggie for all that you do.

Orlante "Tanto" Duncan, 6/5/19 -- Nominated by Warran Dawson

Tonto is always welcoming and offers his assistance with anything I need. Tonto is always on the phone speaking to perspective students and he has an answer for everything. I can imagine being a student, wanting to get good information as I navigate my way through college life. I call the VCU School of Pharmacy and hear a bright and sunny “Hello” when Tonto answers the phone, then answers all my questions, and then tells me to “Have a nice day!” He goes above and beyond to make sure everyone has a nice day.

Melanie Pilco, 6/3/19 -- Nominated by Elizabeth Seward

I would like to recognize Melanie Pilco for her continued outstanding performance. Our department has been through a tough transition period and Melanie took a lot of initiative to find ways to help complete various tasks and assignments to help the department stay afloat. She is a creative thinker when it comes to problem solving. She always makes sure that all bases are covered in terms of details and she is a team player. I often look to her for opinions on how to complete certain tasks and the best way to approach situations. She has recently accepted a full time position within our department and we are extremely lucky to have her on board on a full time basis. Melanie truly represents what VCU is all about. She has a heart to help others and she is a true GEM!!! Thank you Melanie for all that you do. CSCC would not be the department it is without all of your contributions.

Jean Scott, 5/25/19 -- Nominated by Sue McGinnis

Jean went above and beyond getting a situation resolved for our post-doc so that she could check out a book at the library. Jean had to contact multiple folks in multiple departments and explain the situation in many ways, but she kept with it to achieve success. I'm not sure what we would have done without her! Jean displayed fantastic customer service and determination!

Rebecca Lester-Scholtes, 5/22/19 -- Nominated by Caroline Cobb

Rebecca did an incredible job getting our laboratory/office move organized and completed in an efficient manner. She responded to move requests/tasks quickly and completed them a high degree. She also put in additional effort/time to coordinate the delivery of sensitive data/equipment across several VCU locations! Couldn't have done it without her.

Bob Burgess, 5/20/19 -- Nominated by Caroline Cobb

Bob did an incredible job making sure our move from Thurston House to CSTP/VCU Health Sciences Research Building went perfectly. He was incredibly responsive to our needs/concerns and everything went super smoothly under his command. We are thankful for his presence at the Psychology Department.

Claudia Street, 5/20/19 -- Nominated by Reggie Brown

Ms. Street has repeatedly gone above and beyond in her responsiveness to getting big jobs completed in a timely manner. Her respect, courtesy and overall professionalism should be recognized as she has provided exemplary service to the VCU School of Education throughout the years. I'm certain other areas of the university that have been fortunate enough to work with Ms. Street have experienced her excellent brand of service.

Martha VanMeter, 5/17/19 -- Nominated by David Plunkett

Martha is always helpful when a request is sent her way. An expense hit an NIH grant and the expense needed to be moved to another Index. She researched the expense and keyed the journal voucher within 30 minutes. This timely response resolved the issue efficiently and quickly. Martha and Nancy Fogg are terrific to work with and are an asset to Virginia Commonwealth University!!

Shirley B.Farrar, 5/7/19 -- Nominated by Andrea Perkins

Since the onset of my start date at VCU, Shirley has taken the initiative to be a mentor. She has given me suggestions, advice and assistance. I value having such a terrific co-worker and am appreciative of what she does. It's purely because she elects to do so. I certainly hope Shirley receives the recognition she deserves!

Jacqueline Glover, 5/7/19 -- Nominated by Andrea Perkins

Each time I've reached out to Jackie, she's always been immediately responsive, helpful and wonderful! Today I spoke to her and once again her demeanor is refreshing and she perfectly assisted me with my concerns. I hope Jackie gets recognized for her outstanding services!

Jeanne Schroeder, 4/30/19 -- Nominated by Carrie Main

Jeanne played a critical role as a Graphic Designer and Website Manager in the development of an online training course for Child Development (zero to three). The Child Development training reaches professionals in our state, nationally, and internationally. Jeanne's continual dedication to innovation guarantees the excellence of our training products.

Rhonda Pearson, 4/25/19 -- Nominated by Jo Robins

Every day, Rhonda greets every person with a smile. She makes sure to make everyone feel acknowledged and welcomed. She is always kind and respectful. Several of us are nominating her together (Elizabeth Miles and Kyungeh An) because we are grateful to walk into our building and see her everyday and we value what a difference she makes for our school.

Amanda Hall, 4/25/19 -- Nominated by Jose Alcaine

I would like to acknowledge Dr. Amanda Hall for her tremendous drive, initiative, and support of the School of Education and related activities. Certainly her work and actions have wide raging impact at VCU, across many departments, and with the whole community, but she goes above and beyond in helping the many programs and initiatives at School of Education succeed. Most recently, she has been instrumental in welcoming a group of visiting foreign students to campus and the city. This is no easy feat given her other professional and personal demands. She is always willing to help and go the extra mile for programs, events, and activities. Throughout all this work she exhibits a positive, "can do" attitude that really makes a difference. For all her work and dedication to the School of Education and VCU, I would like to say thank you, thank you, thank you. Your efforts are commendable and much appreciated!

Shirley Helm, 4/25/19 -- Nominated by Lisa Ballance

Shirley Helm organized the details of the Inaugural Virginia Clinical Research Conference hosted by VCU on April 12, 2019 in addition to her other responsibilities. She had no prior 'event planning' experience but formulated a team, including the VCU Office of Continuing and Professional Education, which was lean, resourceful, and led to a highly successful event including attendees and speakers from across Virginia. Shirley had a vision and took the initiative to find the resources needed, early. She was realistic, optimistic, and clearly demonstrates a passion for VCU.

Jennifer Sisane, 4/25/19 -- Nominated by Lisa Ballance

Jennifer Sisane has been working with a planning team from across the research enterprise in order to pull off the Inaugural Virginia Clinical Research Conference right here in Richmond. We had presenters and attendees from across the state, many of whom took the time to remark that the Office of Continuing and Professional Education (and specifically Jennifer) hosted a very well-coordinated event. Even before the event, we knew that our conference was in great hands with Jennifer. She is calm, capable, and has an eye toward efficiency and resource conservation.

Jo Robins, 4/23/19 -- Nominated by Sue McGinnis

Jo is constantly looking for positive ways to influence faculty and staff in the School of Nursing. She is so kind, thoughtful, and considerate that I consider myself very fortunate to work with her.

Tamara Zurakowski, 4/17/19 -- Nominated by Jo Robins

Tamara exemplifies what it means to be a team player. She openly shares information and is responsive and facilitatory when information or guidance is requested. She consistently places high priority on helping others succeed.

Kody Wyatt, 4/15/19 -- Nominated by Shana Ryman

Mr. Wyatt provided excellent customer service and expert assistance when our office was experiencing computer issues recently. My colleagues and I were very impressed with Mr. Wyatt's amicable demeanor as well as his quick and efficient ability to multitask and repair all of our computer issues. His skillfulness and professionalism put us all at ease and left a wonderful impression. Thank you!

Jeanine Giles Larson, 4/4/19 -- Nominated by Harris Middleton

We owe Jeanine a big thank you from Family Medicine! I had received a last-minute travel change/update request near the end of the day yesterday from one of our research associates that needed immediate assistance to ensure that she would be able to complete a site visit that next morning. Jeanine was quick to respond and worked to provide a solution to help review and approve the travel needed to facilitate the site visit in time. Jeanine went above and beyond to help us and continues to be polite, professional and courteous to all members of the department and our colleagues whenever we are in need of assistance. Thank you, Jeanine!

Hope Walker, 3/20/19 -- Nominated by Andrea Perkins

Hope Walker was my colleague at Putney House and now has a new position at Massey Cancer Center. I wish I had known about the "Employee Recognition Form" earlier since I would have submitted it last year. Hope really possesses all characteristics within the recognition list and it is difficult selecting just one. Instantly when I started at Putney, Hope befriended me and wasn't just a coworker, but became my mentor on her own volition. We worked on separate floors for different supervisors, yet she always assisted me with any questions. In the midst of her busy schedule, plus working for two supervisors and dealing with her own deadlines, she was responsive to my phone calls, computer glitches, emails, general office questions, etc. She never hesitated to help and consistently replied to my inquiries in an expedited manner. On 3/18/19, I called Hope and she immediately responded by offering guidance on an office question that I knew she was familiar with; once again she continues to be an incredible mentor. I certainly Hope Walker receives the recognition that she deserves!

Carol Ann Irby, 3/20/19 -- Nominated by Andrea Perkins

Carol Ann was my supervisor and has received a promotion at VCU. She should be acknowledged for all of the recognition subcategories: initiative, integrity, respect, responsiveness. She has illustrated these traits on a daily basis! After Carol Ann started her new position, she attended a meeting on the MCV campus and decided to check on her replacement while she was nearby. She traveled to our building so they could 'catch up.' From my time working for Carol Ann Irby, I've seen that she exemplifies such extraordinary qualities in every aspect. I sincerely hope that she gets the recognition she deserves!

Kayla Watts, 3/20/19 -- Nominated by Andrea Perkins

Kayla has high moral standards, exemplifies nobility, and is sincere and genuine. Kayla demonstrates these qualities each day.

Dana Rajczewski, 2/11/19 -- Nominated by Dr. Anton Kuzel

Dana is one of the most professional and efficient individuals with whom I have had the pleasure of working. She always seems to find the answer and is the go to person when it comes to planning an event or finding a solution (from the smallest to the biggest challenge). She maintains an amicable demeanor and treats everyone with respect and kindness. Recently, she helped me find two spaces on campus for different events, in a pinch. She is an extraordinary VCU employee who contributes so much to our department, division, university and city!

Carolyn Lee, 1/31/19 -- Nominated by Dana Rajczewski

Carolyn has been a tremendous resource during the VCU Staff Performance Evaluation cycle! She is very knowledgeable about the process and if there is something that she has been unsure of, she has worked with SOM and/or University HR to get an answer in a timely fashion. I think she's relieved quite a bit of anxiety that comes with a new way of doing things (including a new software system) and we are so lucky to have her in our department!

Carrie Main, 1/23/19 -- Nominated by Jeanne Schroeder

Carrie is awesome at project management and keeping our team informed of progress as an eLearning Specialist. She's always looking for new ways to improve the quality of the products we develop and is fantastic to work with!

Marcus Mickle, 1/1/19 -- Nominated by Lisa Dougherty

This recognition is long overdue as Marcus has always been responsive, thorough, pleasant and professional. His recent work on the Student Services Center and Admissions non-degree online application project is the latest example of Marcus' exemplary work. His willingness to collaborate, attention to detail and generosity with his time were instrumental in getting this project up and running on time. He is a tremendous asset to this university.

2018 Recogitions

Jessica Presley, 11/19/18 -- Nominated by Caroline Cobb

For picking up on REDCap coding skills so quickly and getting all of those CPT measures entered, updated and working. Your dedication to this tedious and meticulous task is much appreciated!

Lauren Mortensen, 11/13/18 -- Nominated by Nora Alder

Always prepared and professional.

Dawn Scott, 11/12/18 -- Nominated by Molly Dellinger-Wray

Dawn is always responsive, respectful, has integrity and displays initiative. She makes things easy for us with grace and a sense of humor.

Karen Mullins, 11/12/18 -- Nominated by Nora Alder

Always quick and helpful.

Sharon Jones, 11/9/18 -- Nominated by Jackie Neidle

Sharon's devotion to getting the word out on how to use assistive technology led to the implementation of an AT Supports for Literacy Conference that was attended by over 100 educators and related service providers. Her knowledge and perseverance should be recognized and congratulated.

Kimberly Stevens, 11/3/18 -- Nominated by Molly Dellinger-Wray

I had quite a fiasco trying to order donuts for an early morning Saturday workshop with families. Kim went to Krispy Kreme in the wee hours of the dark, cold morning in the rain to pre-pay for the order. She really takes care of the details everyday, not just this one.

Lauren Mortensen, 10/31/18 -- Nominated by Colleen Thoma

Ms. Mortensen's role is helping faculty and department chairs navigate the course and program development process, particularly those approvals that need to go through to seek SCHEV approval. Recently, we have met with some challenges with searching for original approvals so that updates can be made. Lauren has been diligent in searching for records, seeking clarification, and following up with a number of people at higher levels. Most recently, she was recognized as being a "problem-solver" extraordinaire. That is certainly an apt compliment, and epitomizes how she approaches every challenge that comes along. She is a pleasure to have on our team in the Dean's office.

Sandra Mazzoli, 10/31/18 -- Nominated by Colleen Thoma

Ms. Mazzoli was able to identify an admission process for a newly-identified cohort of students who are seeking admission to a certificate program in Spring, 2019. Despite the short turn-around time, she was able to work with faculty from the department to identify a process that could work for all, minimizing possible frustration for applicants and faculty. Her interactions during that meeting represented the highest level of customer service, problem-solving and balancing that with university policies.

Barbara Driver, 10/30/18 -- Nominated by Colleen Thoma

Dr. Driver was successful in negotiating a contract with Henrico County Public Schools to develop a cohort of students in the department's certificate program in administration and supervision. This is not part of her typical work responsibilities and came as a result of both her commitment to addressing the needs of our surrounding school divisions and her ability to listen to their needs and identify a solution that works.

Laura Domalik, 10/29/18 -- Nominated by Jodi Larson

I am recognizing Laura Domalik due to her continued respect of all colleagues and students. She goes above and beyond to help others each day. Her respectful comments of appreciation and encouragement to all employees including adjunct professors is always appreciated. She is always open to discussing any needs or answering questions about any guidance needed. Laura is a joy to work with.

Roy Brown, 10/16/18 -- Nominated by Nicole Evangelista

I contacted Roy in a panic when I had a major paper due with minimal research available. I hoped to get an appointment with him that day to complete my research, but his schedule was booked with other students' research questions. When our schedules didn't link up, Roy offered to use his own personal time that night to address my research questions. He asked me to email him the details and he would see what he could do. When he didn't hear from me in the next hour, Roy followed up with me to make sure I sent the info to the correct email address. Not only did Roy go above what was necessary to help me, he went beyond by following up with me when it only created extra work for him that night. This kindness made my once-panicked state more at ease. Roy's passion for what he does is inspiring.

Sabrina Lumpkin, 10/16/18 -- Nominated by Jose Alcaine

I would like to recognize and thank Sabrina for her continued help and support of projects and grants at the School of Education. During what I know are busy and hectic deadlines, she is always very helpful and responsive and tries to make our submissions the best they can be despite time constraints and challenging customers! This was the case in a recent deadline and I just wanted to say thanks for her efforts. My colleagues and I appreciate it very much.

Mary Strawderman, 10/16/18 -- Nominated by Jose Alcaine

I would like to recognize and thank Mary for all the help and support she and her colleagues at OSP provide for the School of Education. We cannot do our projects and grants without the great help of folks like Mary. She is always very helpful and responsive even when we may prove to be challenging or are under a looming deadline. Such was the case in a recent submission for a new colleague here at VCU. Needless to say, my colleague and I were very thankful for Mary's help. Thank you, thank you!

Arnesha Avery, 10/02/18 -- Nominated by Dana Rajczewski

Arnesha has taken on several large tasks recently and has balanced the workload really well. She is a creative thinker when it comes to problem solving, and she always makes sure that all bases are covered in terms of details. She's a true team player, and she is someone I often look to for opinions on how to complete certain tasks. Thank you, Arnesha!!

Harris Middleton, 10/02/18 -- Nominated by Dana Rajczewski

Harris worked with a faculty member who is submitting a grant, and he figured out a solution that took a lot of deadline pressure off of the faculty member. He volunteered to help without a second thought, and he will likely serve as the department's resident expert about that particular topic. He was willing to do whatever it took to get the job done, and that freed up our faculty member to do other tasks under the deadline. Thank you, Harris!!

June Jones, 10/01/18 -- Nominated by Zakia Williams

I direct calls to June several times throughout the day. June is always receptive, poise, and professional. She never complains about the inundated calls. June simply says OK and puts forth her best effort to accommodate all callers. June's positive attitude makes the working environment a better place!

Ra'Meer Roberts, 09/14/18 -- Nominated by Greta Franklin

I am new to my position and started with vacant positions in my office. In addition, the Office Manager was going on leave for several weeks. Ra'Meer has been extremely helpful. He has assisted with several duties that the Office Manager is responsible for completing. He also has offered his assistance for any administrative processes. I truly appreciate his help and his positive attitude.

Rochelle Jordan, 09/07/18 -- Nominated by Jennifer Gay

I would like to recognize Shelley for her work helping the School of Dentistry transition to using DocuSign for Degree Candidacy. Shelley has been incredibly helpful, patient, and quick to respond to all our questions and issues. Thanks, Shelley!

Deborah Baines, 08/27/18 -- Nominated by Sara Kohout

I submitted a double IT systems request to Deborah to update multiple student records in Banner under a time crunch. As her supervisor was on vacation, I reached out to her directly and she took on the request herself and helped guide me through the process. She was quick to reach out with thoughtful questions and even found an error in the document I gave her. She pushed the project through in record time and was positive and easy to work with. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Deborah and am incredibly appreciative of her hard work on this project for me. She even completed it before Tuesday's deadline.

Shane Conner, 08/23/18 -- Nominated by Shelley Jordan

I wanted to take a minute to let you know what an outstanding employee you have in Shane Conner. He exemplifies professionalism and expertise whenever we communicate. I can call with the most convoluted question and he will take the time to explain or guide me through the necessary steps to solve the issue at hand (even if it is not necessarily his job to help me).

Daniell Pearles, 08/08/18 -- Nominated by Sue McGinnis

I had a request very last minute to pull data from a system that is no longer in existence at the university. The data request was quite immediate - with no time for delay. Danielle was responsive, kind and helpful. She was able to quickly pull the information and save the day! My interactions with her have always been positive. You are very fortunate to have her on your team.

Gregory Kimbrell, 07/08/19 -- Nominated by Jose Alcaine

I want to recognize and thank Gregory for helping me and my VCU colleagues host a recent statewide conference (100+ in attendance) in the beautiful Cabell Library space. Gregory and his staff are always excellent, helpful, responsive, and friendly. Events are always a challenge to organize and coordinate. However, with Gregory, Emily, and others at Cabell, the mantra is always, "no problem," "we got it," and "all set!" I am so thankful to have such a great library and library colleagues. Thank you Gregory for making any meeting so easy and fun! Thank you Cabell for being such a wonderful asset to VCU. I appreciate it very much.

Learning Systems Team, 08/01/18 -- Nominated by Amber Peranski

The Learning Systems team worked with me for months on building my training modules! They were readily available to meet with me, provided several tutorials and arranged virtual meetings to accommodate my busy schedule. They were extremely knowledgeable of the applications and willing to go the extra mile to explore new ideas and processes!

Curtis Sexton, 07/26/18 -- Nominated by Sue McGinnis

Curtis has been a great addition to the School of Nursing! He is always pleasant and helpful. He went out of his way to retrofit a laptop cart out of another piece of equipment for the IT team. We really appreciate his assistance and positive attitude! Thank you, Curtis!

Drew Barker, 07/24/18 -- Nominated by Mariusz Ostasz

I wanted to recognize Drew for constantly being a great leader.  He is checking with every single one of us on regular basis, making sure everything is going well, both on professional and personal levels. His interactions with us are not only limited to work related subjects. He can keep projects on track and speed things up when required, and in the same keep positive relationships with his employees. This is a very important quality in being good leader. Personally I would not mind to go "extra mile" for him, because I know he would do the same for me. He is respected and valuable coworker, and I wanted this to be known.

Jay Bolling, 07/20/18 -- Nominated by Kendra Jenkins

Jay is always a welcoming and creative force of energy in our department. He goes the extra mile in responding to his duties and strives for new ways to problem solve on the job. His compassion is a huge motivating force to his team, and coworkers daily. Jay is a kind and knowledgeable asset and supervisor for our department!

Claudia Street, 07/18/18 -- Nominated by Rachel Worthington

Claudia has gone above and beyond to provide a high level of customer service and professionalism for Academic Support. Our unit has gone through numerous space changes over the past few weeks. The quality of Claudia's work, along with her timeliness and strong communication, has helped our unit tremendously throughout the many changes. Please send my gratitude to Claudia, as her work has had a major and positive impact on Academic Support.

Bryan Rowland, 07/06/18 -- Nominated by Tarniki Boyd

During the time of transition in my department, Bryan took the initiative to lend his expertise with the billing system. Bryan was a GREAT HELP for me and my department at this time. Bryan willingly sat with me and others as I learned the program that is used to send out our monthly bills, not once did he show a sign of me irritating him or bothering him. I would like to just say thank you, for your generosity, dedication and your knowledge in a time of need.

David Gray, 06/29/18 -- Nominated by Steven George

There was a service request to fix our hot water problem. We have tried to resolve this issue several times. David came to me to get background information on the issue. He then informed me of his action plan after I formulated the history of the issue. David left to work on the issue and came back to me after 30 minutes with a very detailed explanation of the issue and how he resolved the issue. He also sent a detailed email as well. We now have hot water to properly sanitize. His professionalism, communication, and resolution of the issue is deserving of recognition!

Demmie Pennix, 05/22/18 -- Nominated by Sue McGinnis

Demmie is a fantastic employee. She smiles and she is so polite. You can always count on Demmie for assistance with just about anything. I am currently on several search committees and I really appreciate her responsiveness and kindness. She is wonderful.

Rachel Worthington, 05/10/18 -- Nominated by Maya Simpkins

I would like to recognize Rachel Worthington for her exceptional service, responsiveness, and ability to take initiative. She has helped trained at least half of the SEM and Student Success fiscal staff and brought to fruition a quarterly fiscal staff meeting which has proved to be very helpful and engaging. She always takes on new responsibilities and tasks with a smile and does so efficiently and effectively. On a daily basis she supports two divisions administratively, fiscally, and even some HR operations. In part, because of her work, students are able to enter the university and receive services and programming geared towards retaining students. She deserves a raise!

Danise Harmon, 04/26/18 -- Nominated by Jose G. Alcaine

I would like to recognize Ms. Danise Harmon for her responsiveness and willingness to help in any situation. In a sustained period of transition at our School, she is ALWAYS willing to help in a positive and timely manner. In fact, during this transition period, she has been doing quite a number of tasks in addition to her current position. Throughout all of this, and despite being pulled in many different directions, she is always responsive, kind, and respectful. For all of this, I would like to recognize Ms. Harmon to let her know that her responsiveness, positivity, and work is much appreciated. Thank you.

Tanya Smith, 04/23/18 -- Nominated by Angelica Bega

I am in a new position and have had to follow up on a number of issues retroactively. Tanya has been instrumental in helping me plow through! She is kind, attentive, responsive, and detail-oriented. I cannot thank her enough for her hard work!

Blanca D. Marquez, 04/19/2018 -- Nominated by Harris Middleton

Blanca has been exceptionally helpful, and has gone above and beyond to assist our team here at the department of family medicine with our petty cash accounts. Any time we have questions or need assistance, Blanca is quick to respond, and will go out of her way to make sure we have everything we need, all while making sure we are also in accordance with all policies and procedures outlined by VCU. We really appreciate her hard work, positive attitude, and knowledgeable expertise - thank you so much, Blanca!

Ann-marie Taranto, 3/9/2018 -- Nominated by Paula Rafferty

Ann-marie is on top of everything and owns her job in such a magnificent way that she makes the lives of those of us that work with her better. I have had numerous problems using RealTime and she has always been there to help me fix those problems. She is very responsive to all requests for help and manages to handle complicated issues quickly, efficiently, confidentially. Her assistance with a pending FMLA leave has enabled me to continue working with confidence knowing that everything is in place and will be handled correctly. She has very capably helped us with the HR Redesign and efficiently answered questions so that we can make the best decisions for ourselves.  I also know that confidential issues are kept just that, confidential. Ann-marie exemplifies a great HR Administrator and employee.  We are so very fortunate to have her to work with and I greatly appreciate her since moving to the School of Medicine.

Samantha Ray, 03/08/2018 -- Nominated by Ashley Brown

The last few months Sam has been a great help in the office. She exemplifies the best customer service and is always professional and courteous. Her initiative to get any task done is something I am very appreciative of and I am glad to be able to work with her.

Marcus Mickle, 03/07/2018 -- Nominated by Deborah Baines

I want to send kudos to Marcus Mickle for taking the initiative to create a Banner 9 Admin Page task from scratch. His hard work and determination not only saved VCU financial resources, but he also acquired knowledge and skills that will be valuable to the Admin Systems team and our supported departments as we move forward with Banner 9. Our team can now provide even further customization to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the systems we support. Way to Make It Amazing, Marcus!

Kayla E. Watts, 2/27/18 -- Nominated by Dr. Debra Barksdale

Kayla developed a RedCap Training for all of OAP, OSS and the Associate Dean.

Amy Nugent, 02/22/2018 -- Nominated by Andrew Levin

Though I could only list one date of interaction with Mrs. Nugent, she has consistently be an incredible help to me in my work with ChromeRiver and Christopherson. Mrs. Nugent is incredibly knowledgeable, responsive, and friendly in everything she does and is an indispensable asset to VCU as a whole. That only she and Mr. Messenger process reimbursements for the entirety of the university is astounding and speaks even greater volumes to her diligence and work ethic. Competent and professional as well as amicable, Mrs. Nugent is undeniably deserving of recognition for her fantastic service to VCU.

Jacqueline Glover, 02/13/2018 - Nominated by Rosena Simpson

Recognizing Jacqueline for initiative. 

Frank Pitchford, 2/2/18 -- Nominated by Brianne Morrison

Frank Pitchford has been consistently available and helpful long before Wilder School's Undergraduate Advising Office's move, but especially so after our move over winter break. He has worked long hours setting up our networking system, resolved issues quickly and has done so with a positive attitude and with great care. He has gone above and beyond to make our office move as easy as possible. He deserves recognition for a job well done and for doing it with such a cheerful disposition.

Demmie Pennix, 1/10/2018 -- Nominated by Beth Rodgers

I think responsiveness is the biggest umbrella to recognize Ms. Pennix for the incredible work she does at the School of Nursing. Ms. Pennix is the key person for travel, hiring, and adjunct contracts, and I interact with her a great deal in all these areas. In particular, we have initiated a new adjunct hiring process that has required a lot more work by her and for her to provide guidance to the rest of us to make sure we follow the procedures appropriately. She processes dozens of such contracts each semester. She is always, without fail, courteous, focused, detail oriented, helpful, follows-through well, never loses her patience even if I ask something I know I have asked her before or if I need a reminder, supports the faculty as they navigate new processes, ensures adjuncts have their contracts and they are done well and on time. She provides support for a lot of different people in different roles, and always treats everyone with the same degree of care and respect. She is one of those people without whom we could not function and I am incredibly grateful for the courteous and proficient way in which she approaches her work.

2017 Recogitions

Elise Kepus, 12/20/17 -- Nominated by Fonda Neal

Elise is always, always extremely responsive to requests for information whether by email or by phone. This is extremely appreciated especially since a lot of requests that I send to her are time sensitive. On October 26, 2017, I submitted a request to her for GPA information on Ph.D students that was needed by our Associate Dean very quickly. Elise indicated that the university does not record separate GPAs for Ph.D and MS level students; however, she took the initiative to find out if there was a different way the information could be obtained, and there was. Thank you Elise for your continued efforts to ensure we accomplish our mission here at VCU!

Kristin Smith, 12/20/17 -- Nominated by Fonda Neal

Kristin is always very responsive to requests for information. On October 26, 2017, I submitted an urgent request to Records and Registration for GPA information because I was unable to obtain the GPA data myself as the university does not record separate GPA for MS from Ph.D programs. Kristin was able to obtain the information from Degreeworks for me. I really appreciate her efforts to provide this information which was of a time sensitive nature. Thanks Kristin for always being extremely responsive!

Amy Nugent, 12/7/17 -- Nominated by Harris Middleton

Since I began working here in Family Medicine, Amy has continued to be professional, courteous, responsive, and extremely helpful with even the most difficult and complicated travel and reimbursement requests. One reimbursement in particular this week has required a great deal of research and communication with the entire procurement team, and Amy took ownership and was able to produce a solution quickly and efficiently while staying in constant communication with me along each step of the way. Amy is a pleasure to work with, and goes above and beyond to make sure we are reimbursing our guests at VCU quickly and efficiently, while adhering to all travel guidelines, policies, and procedures. We all really appreciate her hard work!

Latoya Blizzard, 11/8/17 -- Nominated by Debra Barksdale

LaToya is always pleasant, professionals, helpful and so nice to work with.

Latina Pitts, 11/8/17 -- Nominated by Debra Barksdale

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion and Building Inclusive Communities training and facilitation.

Christina Kyrus, 11/8/17 -- Nominated by Debra Barksdale

It is a pleasure to work with Christina on the Educational Grant Process. She is highly motivated, competent and energetic.

Jose Alcaine, 10/27/17 -- Nominated by Joan Rhodes

Jose Alcaine continually invites members of the School of Education community to interact with one another and share expertise. He is always willing to assist faculty immediately with support in locating and writing grants. I appreciate his quick responses to requests and his wonderful personality!

Julie Gorlewski, 10/26/17 -- Nominated by Joan A. Roads

Dr. Gorlewski consistently informs our department members (as a group) and faculty members (individually) of upcoming changes to our instructional schedule. She presents clear alternatives for meeting budget demands and supports faculty efforts as we "think outside the box" to generate revenue. Her initiatives are creative and insightful. She treats all members of our department with respect and kindness. Dr. Gorlewski has been a very positive addition to our department and VCU.

Scott Blackwell, 10/23/17 -- Nominated by Mariusz Ostasz

I've worked with Scott this summer/fall on the project to move our servers to Virtual Machines. Even though he just stepped into this position recently, he was very responsive, easy to work with, and patiently answered all questions I had. He is professional, and knowledgeable. He's help was extremely invaluable.

Benjamin Wyatt, 10/19/17 -- Nominated by Florence Johnson

I owe a HUGE 'thank you' to Ben Wyatt, one of VCU's Technology Services technicians. Ben stepped me through what felt like a technical maze! He was patient, clear, knowledgeable, patient, thorough, patient, proactive, responsive, and did I say mention patient? Sometimes IT professionals can appear to speak an unknown language, resolving an issue so quickly that the customer is left grateful but totally baffled - causing them to repeat requests for help that may not actually be necessary. Ben's level of service and his explanation, even as he resolved my issue, was absolutely amazing. His customer service skills and technical expertise make for one awesome professional, and I truly want him to know that his service is greatly appreciated.

Janet Ball, 10/19/17 -- Nominated by Florence Johnson

I called IT Services for help this morning, and Janet Ball was amazing! Polite, knowledgeable and patient, she assisted me with customer service that deserves an A+ and, recognition of a job exceptionally well done. She's a living example of what makes VCU a "Great Place." Thank you Janet.

Chriss Watts, 10/11/17 -- Nominated by Sue McGinnis

Chris stayed after hours at the School of Nursing to check to make sure that the automatic doors would open when the button was pressed. He knew that there was a young lady that would be coming to the school for a class who had a service dog. He wanted to make sure that she would have no trouble entering the building even though it was after his shift. I really appreciate this going above and beyond for customer service.

Melissa Burton, 10/5/17 -- Nominated by Jamie Smalley

Melissa was asked to help me with a symposium that had 150 attendees as I am about to go out on maternity leave and could use an extra pair of hands. To say she helped me is a huge understatement. She went above and beyond to make sure the symposium was successful and had a huge smile on her face the entire time! Not only did she help during the symposium but she stopped by the next day to see if I needed anything to wrap up the event and I actually did. She returned something for me that required a lot of walking which being 9 months pregnant is a bigger task then usual. I am beyond grateful to have a co-worker like Melissa. She is truly an asset to VCU! 

Ervin Taylor, 10/5/17 -- Nominated by Courtney Waker

This morning, I received a phone call from Captain Taylor who was responding to the chemical issue at Cary St. gym. He noticed a young lady who was evacuated from the gym standing in the street in a towel, visibly upset. He took the initiative to ask this young lady if he could help. This young lady had a meeting scheduled with a faculty member in the School of Education at 11 am and was upset because she had no clothes or her phone to contact the faculty member. Captain Taylor took time to speak with her and gather information from her such as, she just moved to Richmond and is moving into a new apartment today, along with the meeting she had scheduled. He showed an incredible amount of empathy and it was so rewarding to receive a call from Captain Taylor who was trying to do his best to help someone else. I believe this goes beyond his call of duty and I want him to know how this small act of kindness speaks volumes to his character and compassion for others. We are fortunate to have Captain Taylor employed with VCU Police!

Jonathan Blake, 09/07/17 -- Nominated by Brian Bush

Summertime upgrades to the centrally supported classrooms in our building added new video and audio hardware that required some tweaking to streamline use by our instructors. Jonathan made the necessary adjustments and performed troubleshooting, all while patiently answering my questions. He identified an issue with my lavalier wireless microphone and swapped the defective part to save me a trip to the helpdesk. While on site, he also identified that the rear of the classroom was inadequately covered by speakers, took the initiative to work with his manager to obtain additional ones, and installed them within a week and a half. There were numerous times Jonathan could easily have taken a shortcut and provided "good enough" service, but he chose to go above and beyond. His work and that of his manager and colleagues has placed us on excellent footing for the beginning of our fall seminar series.

Kevin Finity, 08/24/17 -- Nominated by Deborah Baines

While working on a project update for the Student Success Collaborative (SSC) Campus application, Kevin went above and beyond to reorganize for reuse a major, repetitive portion of code. This change will make project maintenance much more efficient for developers, increase code consistency and decrease the run time of the combined processes. Kevin thoroughly tested all changes to the program and the automated process and displayed excellent teamwork while quickly resolving post-production issues. Way to go, Kevin!

Corey Boone, 08/23/17 -- Nominated by Florence M Johnson

Corey Boone, Assistant Director for the Office of Events and Special Programs in the Division of University Relations, is also a fellow for the Division for Inclusive Excellence. I’m recognizing him not only for his integrity, but also for the respect, initiative and the responsiveness he demonstrates in every interaction I’ve encountered with him. Corey’s work is consistently infused with friendliness and the willingness to assist others, regardless of how busy he may be. He offers a helping hand as quickly to develop name tags as he does to serve on a task force or spearhead a new initiative. Corey exhibits a work ethic we can all do well to emulate and in doing so, truly enhances our university’s mission. For his professionalism, his smile, and his genuine dedication to making VCU a great place, I thank him. Corey, you are awesome!

Amy Nugent, 08/17/17 -- Nominated by Ginny Schmitz

What DOESN'T Amy know? Regardless of the complexity of the travel question, Amy has the answer. Unless she's answering someone else's question, Amy answers her phone, so I get an immediate response, even though I know Amy stays very, very busy. This is so helpful, as often I'm in the middle of filing a travel reimbursement and need an answer right away. Her sense of urgency and her availability, make me look efficient! I wish to acknowledge Amy for Integrity--she is scrupulous in her handling of the university's money--and Respect--she has never been rude to me and responds to my inquiries with patience and courtesy. The university is lucky to have her.

Stacy West, 08/15/17 -- Nominated by Dr. Maike Philipsen

Stacy West has been incredibly responsive to my needs as a researcher and change agent. She went out of her way to help me navigate a complicated IRB process; she even came to my office on the other campus to discuss and help me fill out the correct forms in the correct way. My team is able to move in a timely fashion on a grant proposal because of Ms. West.

Marcus Mickle, 08/15/17 -- Nominated by Deborah Baines

I want to recognize Marcus for an awesome job providing daily leadership for our team and temporary leadership for TS Administrative Systems. It seemed there was a new emergency involving a different system every day, and he not only resolved the issues as they arose, but he also took the time to answer my questions and provide the help I needed to complete assignments. Since joining Administrative Systems, Marcus has been pivotal in helping me to learn and grow and always includes me when a situation presents a learning opportunity. What a great way to lead! Thank you, Marcus.

Tasha Jackson, 08/08/17 -- Nominated by Cynthia H. Radvany

I would like to recognize Tasha for excellent observation skill in her current position as husbandry staff. She approached me concerned with water consumption of one set of animals compared to the rest of the animals in the room. The strain of animal was different and upon investigation she was correct in the differences in water consumption between the strains. Her main concern was for the animals and that they were getting enough water. I feel recognition is due for her above average husbandry skill in this incidence.

Candace Stafford, 07/25/17 -- Nominated by Mary Moore

Received the following email from a client: I wanted to tell you that Candace always goes above and beyond in her role as data manager for Healthy Start...but this year, she really wins the prize for Most Valuable Player. Just wanted you to know how much I appreciate her!

Gregory Kimbrell, 07/20/17 -- Nominated by Florence M Johnson

Gregory Kimbrell is truly one of the most wonderful members of the VCU community that I have the pleasure to work with. I periodically contact him regarding use of Cabell Library facilities. Regardless of how much or little notice is offered when I approach him, he is consistently professional, informative, friendly, courteous, patient and, kind. Gregory’s attention to detail and ability to dissect the various nuances of an event shows through every time, and he is wonderfully proactive in offering suggestions and solutions that enhance our events and add to an overall smoother planning process. Gregory is one of the folks who make VCU a Great Place, and I’m honored to be able to recognize him.

Sania Marcoccia, 07/07/17 -- Nominated by Florence M Johnson

Though I listed today's date, I've appreciated Sania Marcoccia for years, including for her tenure as president of the VCU Staff Senate. Her integrity as a leader, initiative in tackling everything from overall staff concerns to organized help for community members in need, responsiveness to those who approach her on a daily basis, and the respect she consistently offers to others, are just some of the reasons I admire Sania.

For me, Sania provides a living example of getting involved; of actively supporting our university community beyond the daily requirements of stated positions, and asking the hard questions without losing one’s professionalism. She’s pleasant, hard-working, gracious and, the last one to toot her own horn - so I’m tooting it for her. Sania, I know I’m not the only one who feels this way, and on behalf of your many fans, we appreciate you!

Janet Sweeney, 07/06/17 -- Nominated by Stephen Davenport

I needed assistance with an HR function and Janet took the time to walk me step by step through the process. It was very much appreciated.

Debra D. Robinson, 07/05/17 -- Nominated by Susan W. Hall

I had a situation where I was having to go back and research an invoice that I thought had been paid a year ago. But when I went into Banner, it was indicating that the payment had not been processed which was odd. I called the Accounts Payable Department and selected the Vendor Payment Analyst indicated. But, to my surprise, it sent me to the wrong person. Rather than getting to the person I should have gone to, I was sent to Debra's phone. She no longer covers this particular vendor. But, rather than telling me to call the other analyst, she took it upon herself to help me with my problem. With her help, we figured out what was wrong and I was able to contact the vendor and complete my transaction. Debra truly went out of her way to help me. And, I greatly appreciate it.

Tammy Currie, 06/30/17 -- Nominated by Stephen Davenport

I needed Tammy's assistance with renewing a contract, she took the time to do background research and assist me with the process. 

Fenol Bellange, 06/23/17 -- Nominated by Isac Crouch

Fenol always goes the extra mile, but today he went above and beyond that by spending the entire afternoon assisting me with tracing out network connections. He has his own projects, but always offers to help with a smile. I am extremely lucky to have a co-worker like Fenol.

Shannon Cain, 06/21/17--Nominated by Jennifer Grey

We arrange photographs for incoming residents annually and Shannon is consistently quick to respond, extremely organized, and very pleasant to work with. I really appreciate the high level of service offered, as well as the friendly voice on the other end of our email interactions. Thanks, Shannon!

Tiesha Brown, 06/20/17 -- Nominated by George Kelly

Tiesha went the extra mile, contacted us, and notified us of a much more efficient way of processing I-9 re-verifications. This came at just the right time when we were about to process approximately 200 student worker transfers and new hires. She is always extremely helpful when interacting with me and my staff. Great customer service!

Raina Fields, 06/12/17 -- Nominated by Florence M. Johnson

Raina is our division's communications director. She has only been with us for two months but has already made a huge impact in raising our visibility via social media and news articles, and with various other communications. I truly appreciate her diligence and connection to our team in such a short time, and I know that my colleagues in Inclusive Excellence join me in giving her a HUGE HIGH 5! Thank you Raina.

Channing Holloway, 05/24/17 -- Nominated by Sheila Baker

I want to thank Channing for promptly responding to getting my son (Keon Nesmith) back into the HR system so that he can continue working as a part-time worker with Physical Plant.

Sharon A. Banks, 05/23/17 -- Nominated by Carol N. Brooks

Sharon was responsible for designing and initiating the new lunch room that our department sorely needed. She planned the design and worked with the craftsmen that painted, hung the cabinets and delivered the appliances. She did an excellent job and helped create a room that is well organized and easy to enjoy. We greatly appreciate her hard work and the wonderful outcome. Thank you, Sharon!

Mariusz Otsasz, 05/03/17 -- Nominated by John Bogan

Mariusz did a fantastic job spearheading the project to integrate Google Calendar functionality into the Crestron RoomView system and get our RoomView panels operational at 111 N. 4th. He went out of his way to stop by and walk us through use, administration, and troubleshooting of the panels and was very friendly, knowledgeable, and courteous throughout the experience. He represents his team very well!

De'Audrea Rich, 04/27/17 - Nominated by Florence M. Johnson

De'Audrea, or "Sha," is a model of initiative. Actually, she embodies all four recognition aspects: initiative, integrity, respect and responsiveness. This is even more impressive as she works part-time and could easily handle her job without the very real dedication she offers every single day. Sha is also a student here at VCU, and I greatly admire that she handles her classes and the responsibilities she undertakes in the workplace, seamlessly. I've never heard her complain or back away from an assignment, no matter how busy she may already be. Her manner is consistently pleasant, her customer service skills exemplary, and her work is always top-notch. She really does reflect the name of our division perfectly: Inclusive Excellence. Sha, you are greatly appreciated.

LeAndra Graves, 04/25/17 - Nominated by Florence M. Johnson

Responsiveness is just one of many reasons I'm offering this recognition 'shout-out' to Le'Andra Graves. Whether I come to her for specific or vague scheduling requests, she is quick to offer guidance and viable solutions for dates, locations, event needs, layout suggestions - you name it! Even when requests are impossible to fulfill, she offers detailed explanations as to why, and doable alternatives. Her professionalism is so on-target, one might be tempted to overlook the very real customer service that infuses her interactions. Her ability, expertise and willingness to go the extra mile are very much appreciated, and I greatly admire her ability to handle it all with grace, especially in such a high volume arena. Le'Andra: Congrats to you for being so very awesome!

Lauren Leavy, 04/12/17 - Nominated by Diane Stout-Brown

Lauren Leavy is an outstanding employee. She has provided the highest level of competence when carrying out any duties assigned to her. I am extremely grateful to her for all of her support with Reunion Weekend activities.

Lieutenant Leonard Dilligard, 04/12/17 - Nominated by Diane Stout-Brown

April 7-9 was Alumni Reunion Weekend. Lieutenant Leonard Dilligard went above and beyond the call of duty by helping out our disabled guests who were attending an alumni reception in the Office of the Provost. We are very appreciative of his support and willingness to ensure a first-class experience for alumni returning to campus. Thank you.

Demmie Pennix, 04/10/17 - Nominated by Teri Smith

I want to thank Demmie Pennix for all of the great work that she does. She is proactive, efficient, thorough and an utter pleasure to work with. If she says she is going to do it, she does it, no need to follow up or confirm....she gets the job done. She has helped to make the adjunct faculty assignment process so much easier for me as the course scheduler. My time spent working with Demmie is always always full of smiles, her positive attitude and smile are infectious. What a great asset you are to the School of Nursing; I am proud to be your coworker!

Lorraine Anderson, 04/10/17 - Nominated by Teri Smith

I want to thank Lorraine Anderson for always communicating so well with me in regards to the clinical placements and complex scheduling issues that are related to her courses. She is thorough and proactive, not to mention she makes working with her enjoyable as she has such a great personality and sense of humor. Thank you for being so wonderful to work with!

Lee Watts, 04/03/17 – Nominated by Konjit Chitty

Lee is often the person "behind the scenes" on some of the most critical, confidential, and time sensitive university initiatives. Most recently his work contributed greatly to the success of a faculty bonus process. We had a very quick timeframe for the implementation of a faculty bonus process. Lee produced the list of eligible faculty (based on the criteria provided) in a very short period of time at the beginning of the process, generated exception reports to check on any discrepancies towards the end of the process to ensure data integrity, and ensured that the bonuses awarded were processed in Banner in time for a March 31, 2017 payout. Lee should especially be recognized for his technical expertise, his attention to detail, and ensuring the timely production of the bonuses. Please know your efforts are greatly appreciated by many people. Thank you Lee for all that you do for VCU!

Angie Wetzel, 03/29/17 – Nominated by Charol Shakeshaft

Angie has done a terrific job of helping us craft an exit survey for our Ed.D. students. She was responsive, helpful, and thorough. I was impressed with how quickly she works and how much she was able to help me think "bigger."

Pam Moorehead, 03/29/17 – Nominated by Charol Shakeshaft

I've had a number of problems with my computer and printer over the past several months. I have also had difficulty getting the speakers to work in the doctoral hearing room. Pam is always on it. Right away. She and her staff are responsive, helpful, respectful, and they get things fixed.

Samantha Tansey, 03/29/17 – Nominated by Charol Shakeshaft

I needed some help with my FACR budget. Samantha was responsive and helpful. This is not the first time. Samantha has been a great help with a number of things. She's always responsive, 

Bruna Bussacarini Martins, 02/01/17– Nominated by Eduardo P. G. Vidal

Bruna has been an example of professionalism since the moment she started working at the Division for Inclusive Excellence a few months ago. Her demeanor helps the Division for Inclusive Excellence to spread our mission of diversity, inclusiveness and excellence. On behalf of my colleagues in the Division for Inclusive Excellence, I would like to thank Bruna for her services by nominating her to this recognition award. Thank you very much, Bruna.

Greg Kimbrell, 01/27/17– Nominated by Deborah Speece, Jose Alcaine, Danise Harmon

Greg Kimbrell was invaluable in the success of the School of Education 2017 Annual Research Colloquium that was held in Cabell Library lecture hall and board room. He assisted in securing the space, designing the layout of the space, ensuring audio visual needs, suggesting catering needs, and facilitating set-up and take-down of both rooms. Beyond the details of these tasks, Greg was unfailingly professional, courteous, and a joy to work with. His presence was welcoming and reassuring. We look forward to working with Greg for future events.

Elizabeth Seward, 01/19/17– Nominated by Yavonda Johnon

I am a new hire in a position formerly held by Elizabeth. Although Elizabeth left the department for another employment opportunity with the university, she is still revered and left a lasting impression on faculty and staff alike. For this reason I requested her assistance with helping me to become more acclimated to my new position as well as internal processes used while in the department. Without hesitation she obliged and took time out of her busy schedule to do just that. Her sharing of knowledge and expertise has enabled me to quickly jump into the daily milieu of the department and perform with confidence. The fact that she shared her broad knowledge about the duties and responsibilities of a PA and those specifically applicable to my role, as well as shared her resources and tools (some of which she created herself) shows that not only is she an asset to her new department, but is a true example of magnanimity in the university.

Demmie Pennix, 01/24/2017– Nominated by Sue McGinnis

Demmie always goes above and beyond. She most recently assisted with the hiring of a new employee at the VCU School of Nursing. She is professional, thorough, detailed, and always follows through. I really appreciate having someone like Demmie on my team at the school!

Derek Poe, 01/23/17– Nominated by Ronna Reiff

Derek provides the most comprehensive customer service on a daily basis - not just periodically. He will often go above and beyond what is required of his position in order to assist a student, fellow workers, parents, etc. It is not uncommon for him to contact other departments on behalf of the student or to go the extra mile by further researching the root of a problem in order to prevent its recurrence. I applaud Derek for his warm and caring approach to every situation.

Allison Wetterhahn, 01/03/17– Nominated by George Kelly

Allison exhibits all 3 areas of the trust triangle - Care, Competence, and Consistency. Whenever I consult her I can always trust in and rely on the information she gives me. Thanks for always going the extra mile!