USM Office Honors Employees
Adelphi, Md. (Jan. 16, 2015) - The University System of Maryland (USM) Office recently announced its 2015 Employee Service and Achievement Award winners, who were honored during a gathering of USM Office staff. Eighteen individuals were recognized for exceptional career service, and five individuals were recognized for extraordinary achievement during the past year. Additionally, three members of USM's Academic Affairs department were awarded Certificates of Appreciation.
Achievement Award winners were nominated, considered, and approved by members of senior leadership who report directly to USM Chancellor William E. "Brit" Kirwan. An individual from four major departments (Administration & Finance; Internal Audit; Advancement; and the Chancellor's Office) was selected. (Two honorees were selected from the Office of Finance because of that office's large size.)
At a reception held at the USM Elkins Building and organized by the Office of Human Resources, each service award winner received a certificate and a memento. Achievement award winners received a $250 check, funded by the Office of Advancement.
Below are remarks made by Chancellor Kirwan about each of
the Achievement Award winners and Certificate of Appreciation recipients.
Achievement Award Winners
Jacqui White, Office of Internal Audit
"Over the past six
years, Jacqui has been responsible for the Office of Internal Audit's
construction and capital improvement audit engagements, where her efforts have
directly led to improvements in USM institutions' management and oversight of
capital improvement projects. She has built an outstanding reputation with
leaders in construction and procurement departments throughout the USM and is
often asked to perform special audit and consulting engagements. In addition,
she takes the initiative to manage and perform other important duties-such as
tracking audit findings and the status of correction-that are used in Internal
Audit's regular reporting to the Board of Regents' Audit Committee."
Leigh
Ann Hess, Office of Administration and Finance
"Leigh Ann provides
administrative support for Bob Page, Don Spicer, Suresh Balakrishnan, Guy
Jones, Celeste Denson, and other staff. She is also responsible for organizing,
coordinating, and distributing materials for meetings of the Board of Regents
Committee on Economic Development and Technology Commercialization and the ICA
Workgroup. In addition, she has helped to structure and streamline the process
for tracking and reporting new company formation at the USM institutions. "
Tamara Petronka, Office of
Administration and Finance
"Tamara has served
as Executive Director of the Maryland Education Enterprise Consortium (MEEC)
since its reformulation in 2005 as a K-20 shared governance consortium hosted
by the USM Office. MEEC, as led by Tamara, is emblematic of how education can
collaborate to benefit all in unique and highly leveraged activities. For
example, MEEC saved its members over $7.5 million on one software contract last
year. Similarly, purchases from one hardware vendor saved MEEC members almost
$10 million last year as compared with the normal academic pricing. These are
the outcomes from only 2 of the dozens of contracts in the MEEC portfolio."
Diana
White, Office of Advancement
"Diana has been on
the Advancement staff since 2006 and has played an integral role in expanding
the services of that office. Diana has built a robust professional development
program for advancement staff across the System. Under her management, the
Office of Advancement has established a Council of Foundation Administrators,
which convenes quarterly to discuss challenges and best practices in customer
service. She was also key in establishing the USM Alumni Relations Council,
which is tackling issues around how to best engage alumni. And she oversees
ongoing webinars and seminars in subjects ranging from major gifts fundraising
to social media."
Paul
Stackpole, Office of the Chancellor
"Since
joining the system office in 2003, Paul has consistently produced high quality
work. From national keynote speeches to legislative testimony and brief
commencement remarks, Paul hits the targets with the right styles and the right
messages for the presenter, the audience, and the USM. I can say firsthand that
Paul's excellent work is a major factor in our successful efforts to advance
USM's strategic priorities on the local, regional, and national stages."
Certificate
of Appreciation Recipients
Lynn Harbinson, Office of Academic Affairs
"Lynn was the project manager for the $6 million grant from the US
Department of Education: Education Equals Mentoring, Coaching and Cohorts,
or E=MC2. She worked closely with the Baltimore City Schools to
ensure that elementary and middle school teachers were teamed with faculty from
Coppin, Towson and the University of Maryland, College Park to build new
professional development programs in mathematics. That project also led to the
development of Maryland Teacher Academies, which created the first early
college pathways for high school students interested in becoming teachers.
Lynn, thank you for your commitment to children and teachers in Maryland."
Erin Knepler, Office of Academic Affairs
"Erin was the Project Director of the Lumina Project, a $1million
grant from the Lumina Foundation to the State of Maryland to support completion
efforts. In that capacity, she was the driving force behind the "Stride to 55"
movement in Maryland, developing a series of workshops and panels on topics
around College Remediation, Course Redesign, and Academic Transformation. Erin
also led the USM's partnership with the Business Higher Education Forum's
cyber-security initiative, developing a network of faculty from Bowie, Towson,
UMBC and UMCP and local cyber-security industry partners that has become a
model program for the BHEF. Erin, thank you for your energy, creativity, and
commitment to higher education."
David
May, Office of Academic Affairs
"David was the Project Director of two major grants from the
National Science Foundation: Vertically Integrated Partnerships, a $7.8 million
partnership project between the USM and the Montgomery County Schools to
develop new curriculum and new professional development modules for science
programs at both the public schools, and the participating universities and
colleges; and the $12 million Minority Student Pipeline grant to help move
students through the Prince George's County Schools, to Prince George's
Community College and universities in the System, namely Towson, UMBC, and
UMCP. Students in these accelerated programs have been admitted to colleges in
Maryland, and are majoring in STEM areas. David, thank you for your years of
service, your collaborative approach, and your commitment to advancing STEM
education."
The following USM Office employees received Service Awards, having worked for the System for at least 10 years: Joseph Banner; Ben Passmore; Sapna Varghese; Virginia Whelley; Celeste Denson; Anthony Foster; Tamara Petronka; Don Spicer; Linda Bowman; Randy Possehl; Amy Decker; Tracey Jamison; Lorri McMann; Bob Page; Mei-Chin Yang; Leonard Raley; William Brown; and Nancy Shapiro.
Contact: Jennifer Rose
Phone: 301.445.2756
Email: JRose@usmd.edu