Arts and Sciences Staff Awarded for Excellence

Photo and Story by Travis Sheaffer

During its fall semester breakfast for staff members in the College of Arts and Sciences, the newly created Arts and Sciences Staff Council awarded its first annual staff awards. With Dean Craig's approval, the Staff Council created four awards that provided the opportunity for individual employees to be recognized for their demonstration of outstanding commitment to BGSU.  The awards included: the Best of Arts and Sciences Award, the Mentorship Award, the Problem Solver/Innovative Thinker Award, and the Rising Star Award.  The Best of Arts and Sciences and the Rising Star Award would be awarded to one Administrative and one Classified Staff member, while the Mentorship and Problem Solver Awards were a single award.

The Best of Arts and Sciences Award

This award was given to the Administrative and Classified staff member who provided excellent customer service to the BGSU community, improved the quality of programs and/or services on the BGSU campus, implemented a new idea or program to benefit the BGSU community, and demonstrated exemplary commitment to the core values of BGSU.

Kelly Stewart, Biological Sciences, and Rebekah Patterson, School of Cultural & Critical Studies, were both awarded the Best of Arts and Sciences Award for their exemplary work to the BGSU community.

In her nomination letters from Dr. Juan Bouzat and Dr. George Bullerjahn, Kelly is an excellent problem solver and is very well connected on campus.  With Kelly having been involved in different areas of campus, she takes the extra time to teach other employees about policies and procedures - even if it is outside of her authority.  Dr. Bullerjahn went on to say "Kelly springs into action and gets the right people connected to solve problems. She serves the needs of the students and faculty in real time.”

Rebekah Patterson was nominated by the Director of the School of Cultural & Critical Studies, Dr. Susana Peña.  Rebekah serves as the primary contact for all graduate students in the School of Cultural & Critical Studies.  In this position, she has improved communication with graduate students and has developed a Canvas site to assist students with the submission of key documents.  Dr. Peña stated in her nomination letter that "Ms. Patterson demonstrates an exemplary commitment to BGSU core values. She is committed to student success including their intellectual and personal growth.”

Mentorship Award

The Mentorship Award recognizes one staff member who meets most of the following criteria.  These criteria include exhibiting an exemplary effort in training other employees and students, demonstrates exemplary communication that is polite, helpful, and productive, and demonstrates exemplary commitment to the core values of BGSU.

Amber Snyder, Mathematics and Statistics Department, was awarded the Mentorship Award and was nominated by Anna Kelling, Graduate Secretary in Mathematics and Statistics.

Anna Kelling writes that Amber acts as a leader and solicits ideas from the team to make things better.  She encourages other staff members to attend trainings, volunteer for events and get involved on campus and she conducts herself with integrity and excellence and is a great example of a 360 leader.

Problem Solver/Innovative Thinker Award

The Problem Solver/Innovative Thinker Award is awarded to the one staff member who meets most of the following criteria.  The criteria include:

• An employee who is creative and fosters new ways of doing things in a department.
• Aligns work teams with regard to problem solving and finding new and better ways to meet college needs.
• Provides inspiration, ideation and implementation within the department.

Daniel Mangan, Theatre and Film Department, was awarded the Problem Solver/Innovative Thinker Award and was nominated by Dr. Lesa Lockford, Chair of Theatre and Film.  In her nomination letter for Daniel, Dr. Lockford wrote that even with a challenging production budget, Daniel manages to build beautiful sets that meet industry standards.  He is aware of the budget and is always looking for ways to save the University money.  He will use student workers to recycle old sets build sets from scratch.  Dr. Lockford,  also wrote that “his good nature and sense of humor is an inspiration to students and faculty, and is the creative heartbeat at the center of our Theatre and Film programs.”

Rising Star Award

The last award given was the Rising Star Award.  This award will recognize one administrative and one classified staff member who is nominated for meeting certain criteria and is only for individuals who are within their first three years of employment at BGSU.  The criteria includes that the staff member exhibit exemplary effort in training other employees and students.  They will also provide an exemplary level of competence in carrying out day-to-day job performance, including refining job skills.  The winner will have also demonstrated exemplary commitment to the core values of BGSU.

Both Nicki Reimer, Department of History, and Darrell Hunter, Advisor in the College Office, were awarded the Rising Star Award.

Nicki was nominated by Dr. Amilcar Challu, Chair of the History Department, while Darrell was nominated by fellow Academic Advisor DeVona Smith.

In her nomination letter for Darrell, DeVona writes that Darrell is an integral member of the A & S advising team.  His philosophy is that no test score can define what student is capable of doing and knowing.  Darrell is currently seeking his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology.  In his role as an Academic Advisor, he developed our prevention initiative called “Success in Six” which helps students in the first weeks of the semester with stress, time management, resources, connectedness and other transitional issues.  Darrell is also affiliated with the Independent Falcon Network which serves homeless students at BGSU. He has a passion for working with at risk students.  Devona Smith also wrote that “His willingness to support students, create initiatives and coordinate services across campus (with humor and humility) is the epitome of Excellence in Advising.”

Dr. Amilcar Challu, Chair of the History Department, wrote that Nicki demonstrates exemplary commitment to the core values of BGSU by helping to advance affordability initiatives on campus and by supporting students and faculty.  Nicki excels in supervising and training students and she learned her job very quickly and has done an excellent job managing budget and following the directives of our accounting office.  Dr. Challi also made a point that Nicki takes extra time and effort to help students in the program solve problems with campus processes.

If you see any of these staff members on campus, please join us in congratulating each on them on their excellent dedication to faculty, staff, and students at Bowling Green State University.  They should serve as an inspiration and example for us all.