They Rock!

The You Rock! program (with hat tip to Morgridge College of Education) encourages faculty and staff to recognize each other for small and large accomplishments.
Featured You Rock! Award Recipients
Emma Lawless
Staff | Associate Director of Graduate Enrollment CRM & Systems
Emma is a pleasure to work with. She never bats an eye at the requests we have and always offers the most comprehensive solution to our challenges. She is amazing with SLATE and always goes above and beyond – anticipating what we may need next.
This is a great example of
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Nominated May 27, 2020 by Tali Koziol Thomason, Director of Marketing, Communication, and Events/RSECS
Cherie Stribling
Staff | Strategic Sourcing Manager
Cherie rocks because of her can do spirit and her willingness to adapt and work with others. She is someone that I has an infectious positivity, which is so needed right now. She is a true team player and I am grateful to have her on our team!
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Nominated May 20, 2020 by Stephanie Greenberg, Procurement Contract Administrator
Paula Cole
Faculty | Associate Teaching Professor/Economics
“Paula has been playing a major leadership role in curriculum changes that we are going through lately with extreme care toward the issue as well as people involved. Despite some times serious resentment and resistance in the middle of COVID-19 crisis, I admire her creativity and solution seeking skills.
I must make it clear that those characteristics are not observed only for one event and recently. since the day we met, I always observe her caring, creative, inclusive, solution seeking and leadership characteristic toward her community including students, colleagues, and friends. She truly rocks!”
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Nominated May 14, 2020 by Anonymous
View all 2020 Awardees
October 2020
I am especially impressed by her organization, timeliness in response to faculty concerns, and her facilitation of difficult conversations between faculty and central administration.
Rock on, Sarah!
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Rock on, Chris!
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I also appreciate how she and her team always muster up a smile when I enter the facility. Even though I’m sure they have some pretty rough days. They always make working out the positive experience it should be for everyone. Rock on!
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Your clear communication, timely and thoughtful help on my IT issues today was so helpful. You work with a speed that is fast and yet you are thorough. I liked that you showed me what you were doing, explained why, had patience when I could not recreate the issue, and answered multiple questions in one call to make the best use of my time.
DU is so fortunate to have you!
Ann
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Your thoughtful, generous, roll-up-your sleeves-and-get-er-done approach to taking over management of the Chambers Center has been outstanding. I am so grateful that you are there, that you care about the building and the community, and that you are willing to wade through the changes and high budgets as you do your job. Cleaning the refrigerator was above and beyond, in particular, but it was consistent with the dedication you show every day. Glad to have you on the DU and especially the CWC team. (I guess with Zamboni in your background, you are used to cleaning cold things!)
Ann
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Lindsay goes above and beyond to take care of her team personally and professionally! She’ll drop anything to answer a call, a text, an email from one of her teammates at any time of the day. AND she’s just a great human being to be around! Thank you Lindsay for rocking and rolling with us! Well done!
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Eleanor Rocks! And I am so glad to have had the opportunity to work with and learn from her. Rock on!
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Thank you, Jenn. I really appreciate getting to learn and work with and from you. Rock on!
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The CRHSE report was amazing and illustrates all of the great work that you are doing. Thank you for your leadership and your passion for rural communities.
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All the best – Aaron
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Ariel translated everything from English to Spanish for multiple pages and multiple versions. His turn around time was outstanding knowing that this was a critical high profile project. I would like to let Ariel know that I appreciate his help and that he Rocks!!!
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You are always available to answer a question, solve a problem, and have our students’ best interests at heart. Thank you for all you do for our programs and department.
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September 2020
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She is creative, rolls up her sleeves and gets the work done, and role models to the team a strong work ethic and problem solving. She has created organization in the new office suite and works to connect students to answers. She is appreciated!
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All summer long, he worked tirelessly to help prepare departments across campus for the return of students in the fall and to help protect the health of everyone. I have seen him in meetings more than once on his scheduled days off, working diligently to establish a plan for DU to welcome back our students in the fall that prioritizes student experience while also safeguarding their health.
Dr. Odell has relentlessly followed the course of the virus and the myriad ways information and what we know about this antigen has changed. Daily, he reviews all available information and provides clear, concise direction regarding any new developments or adjustments that must be made to our current plan. He has worked to establish relationships with other partners in the community to provide the best possible testing options and care for affected students.
He has done all of this while still seeing our students in clinic and via teleheath appointments acting as their Primary Care Physician. He has also still showed up everyday as the Medical Director at the HCC, which requires him to provide leadership and guidance to every staff member. He has had inspired solutions for overcoming obstacles and when needed, invited suggestions from others on the team for innovative ideas and solutions to keep the campus reopening on track.
Dr. Odell is a compassionate, generous leader and medical provider. He has truly been a source of strength and his tenacity in the face of this difficult time is inspiring. I have had the luxury of working with him for six years now and can confidently say there is no one I trust more to lead during a crisis. He is calm, measured, knowledgable and resourceful and the University of Denver is a better place for having him.
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Nicky is a 20-year DU employee and her commitment to her employer remains as strong as ever.
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Mary Shonk deserves recognition for the work she has put in training NSM assistants in various aspects of the job. She offered 4 trainings over the summer, on Portfolio use, using Teams, a Zoom practice session, and one on international students in graduate programs. She did this on her own initiative. She has also made herself available to answer questions as they arise. She has been a great support to our team.
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Other – DU Citizenship – going above and beyond
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You rock! You have provided me a great deal of support this past year as I have taken on this Chair job. You are quick with a kind work, offer of help, and just doing things without being asked.
Besides being a support directly to me, you also do an amazing number of things behind the scenes to make sure that others in the department succeed with their teaching and general survival as a faculty member. You have provided tremendous support to our department adjuncts and also contributed to the Gateway course and the MBA@Denver. In addition, you have recently taken on the job of Program Director for the Business Analytics major!
It’s a wonderful feeling to know you have someone you work with that you can call on when you need help, or just to talk through when things are tough, and even when you just have something to celebrate.
Thanks Scott!! I appreciate you!
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Thank you Carol!
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I was surprised after that when Helen reached out (she was not one of the hosts of the meeting) and said she’d noticed I was asking questions in the Q&A, so she wanted to make sure I had correct info. She then laid out everything about all necessary steps clearly and concisely in a single e-mail, even including which steps are scheduled to be implemented but aren’t actually working yet. Up to now, this is the only truly clear information I’ve received about our return, and I would have been completely lost without her help.
Thanks so much Helen!
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Hi Jen,
Thanks for all you do to try and keep the comradery going in this online environment. The Home Office Chair to Fitness Warrior is a wonderful way to connect!
Tammy
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Beth Robischon is a committed and valued colleague who exemplifies integrity, commitment, and engagement. Her work ethic is exemplary and I know she goes above and beyond; not only in hours of work but in the strength and quality of that work.
Beth’s leadership, calm demeanor, and commitment to collaboration are all just some of the many reasons SHE ROCKS!
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Kelly has been managing the SOS emergency funds for student support. With effects of COVID 19, the need has been greater. Kelly has worked hard to support students and connect them with valuable resources.
Kelly has also recruited and trained other staff to do the intake so response time can be quicker for students.
In addition, Kelly has taken a leadership role within WORC and is working with white colleagues to dismantle systemic oppression and continue education on whiteness and white supremacy.
Kelly is a caring and deeply committed colleague and the campus is better for her work and spirit.
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Congratulations on Graduating! It’s time to celebrate all the hard work you have accomplished and we are proud to be your colleagues!
On behalf of the University Libraries, Professional Development and Engagement Committee:
Meg Eastwood
Sarah Perske
Hyo Jung Kim
Zeffie Starling
Kate Crowe
Erin Elzi
Mark Kintgen
Merisa Bissinger
Rebecca Wright
Congratulations on Graduating! It’s time to celebrate all the hard work you have accomplished and we are proud to be your colleagues!
On behalf of the University Libraries, Professional Development and Engagement Committee:
Meg Eastwood
Sarah Perske
Hyo Jung Kim
Zeffie Starling
Kate Crowe
Erin Elzi
Mark Kintgen
Merisa Bissinger
Rebecca Wright
Congratulations on Graduating! It’s time to celebrate all the hard work you have accomplished and we are proud to be your colleagues!
On behalf of the University Libraries, Professional Development and Engagement Committee:
Meg Eastwood
Sarah Perske
Hyo Jung Kim
Zeffie Starling
Kate Crowe
Erin Elzi
Mark Kintgen
Merisa Bissinger
Rebecca Wright
Congratulations on Graduating! It’s time to celebrate all the hard work you have accomplished and we are proud to be your colleagues!
On behalf of the University Libraries, Professional Development and Engagement Committee:
Meg Eastwood
Sarah Perske
Hyo Jung Kim
Zeffie Starling
Kate Crowe
Erin Elzi
Mark Kintgen
Merisa Bissinger
Rebecca Wright
Congratulations on Graduating! It’s time to celebrate all the hard work you have accomplished and we are proud to be your colleagues!
On behalf of the University Libraries, Professional Development and Engagement Committee:
Meg Eastwood
Sarah Perske
Hyo Jung Kim
Zeffie Starling
Kate Crowe
Erin Elzi
Mark Kintgen
Merisa Bissinger
Rebecca Wright
Congratulations on Graduating! It’s time to celebrate all the hard work you have accomplished and we are proud to be your colleagues!
On behalf of the University Libraries, Professional Development and Engagement Committee:
Meg Eastwood
Sarah Perske
Hyo Jung Kim
Zeffie Starling
Kate Crowe
Erin Elzi
Mark Kintgen
Merisa Bissinger
Rebecca Wright
Congratulations on Graduating! It’s time to celebrate all the hard work you have accomplished and we are proud to be your colleagues!
On behalf of the University Libraries, Professional Development and Engagement Committee:
Meg Eastwood
Sarah Perske
Hyo Jung Kim
Zeffie Starling
Kate Crowe
Erin Elzi
Mark Kintgen
Merisa Bissinger
Rebecca Wright
Congratulations on Graduating! It’s time to celebrate all the hard work you have accomplished and we are proud to be your colleagues!
On behalf of the University Libraries, Professional Development and Engagement Committee:
Meg Eastwood
Sarah Perske
Hyo Jung Kim
Zeffie Starling
Kate Crowe
Erin Elzi
Mark Kintgen
Merisa Bissinger
Rebecca Wright
Congratulations on Graduating! It’s time to celebrate all the hard work you have accomplished and we are proud to be your colleagues!
On behalf of the University Libraries, Professional Development and Engagement Committee:
Meg Eastwood
Sarah Perske
Hyo Jung Kim
Zeffie Starling
Kate Crowe
Erin Elzi
Mark Kintgen
Merisa Bissinger
Rebecca Wright
Congratulations on Graduating! It’s time to celebrate all the hard work you have accomplished and we are proud to be your colleagues!
On behalf of the University Libraries, Professional Development and Engagement Committee:
Meg Eastwood
Sarah Perske
Hyo Jung Kim
Zeffie Starling
Kate Crowe
Erin Elzi
Mark Kintgen
Merisa Bissinger
Rebecca Wright
Congratulations on Graduating! It’s time to celebrate all the hard work you have accomplished and we are proud to be your colleagues!
On behalf of the University Libraries, Professional Development and Engagement Committee:
Meg Eastwood
Sarah Perske
Hyo Jung Kim
Zeffie Starling
Kate Crowe
Erin Elzi
Mark Kintgen
Merisa Bissinger
Rebecca Wright
Congratulations on Graduating! It’s time to celebrate all the hard work you have accomplished and we are proud to be your colleagues!
On behalf of the University Libraries, Professional Development and Engagement Committee:
Meg Eastwood
Sarah Perske
Hyo Jung Kim
Zeffie Starling
Kate Crowe
Erin Elzi
Mark Kintgen
Merisa Bissinger
Rebecca Wright
Congratulations on Graduating! It’s time to celebrate all the hard work you have accomplished and we are proud to be your colleagues!
On behalf of the University Libraries, Professional Development and Engagement Committee:
Meg Eastwood
Sarah Perske
Hyo Jung Kim
Zeffie Starling
Kate Crowe
Erin Elzi
Mark Kintgen
Merisa Bissinger
Rebecca Wright
Congratulations on Graduating! It’s time to celebrate all the hard work you have accomplished and we are proud to be your colleagues!
On behalf of the University Libraries, Professional Development and Engagement Committee:
Meg Eastwood
Sarah Perske
Hyo Jung Kim
Zeffie Starling
Kate Crowe
Erin Elzi
Mark Kintgen
Merisa Bissinger
Rebecca Wright
Congratulations on Graduating! It’s time to celebrate all the hard work you have accomplished and we are proud to be your colleagues!
On behalf of the University Libraries, Professional Development and Engagement Committee:
Meg Eastwood
Sarah Perske
Hyo Jung Kim
Zeffie Starling
Kate Crowe
Erin Elzi
Mark Kintgen
Merisa Bissinger
Rebecca Wright
Congratulations on Graduating! It’s time to celebrate all the hard work you have accomplished and we are proud to be your colleagues!
On behalf of the University Libraries, Professional Development and Engagement Committee:
Meg Eastwood
Sarah Perske
Hyo Jung Kim
Zeffie Starling
Kate Crowe
Erin Elzi
Mark Kintgen
Merisa Bissinger
Rebecca Wright
Congratulations on Graduating! It’s time to celebrate all the hard work you have accomplished and we are proud to be your colleagues!
On behalf of the University Libraries, Professional Development and Engagement Committee:
Meg Eastwood
Sarah Perske
Hyo Jung Kim
Zeffie Starling
Kate Crowe
Erin Elzi
Mark Kintgen
Merisa Bissinger
Rebecca Wright
Congratulations on Graduating! It’s time to celebrate all the hard work you have accomplished and we are proud to be your colleagues!
On behalf of the University Libraries, Professional Development and Engagement Committee:
Meg Eastwood
Sarah Perske
Hyo Jung Kim
Zeffie Starling
Kate Crowe
Erin Elzi
Mark Kintgen
Merisa Bissinger
Rebecca Wright
Congratulations on Graduating! It’s time to celebrate all the hard work you have accomplished and we are proud to be your colleagues!
On behalf of the University Libraries, Professional Development and Engagement Committee:
Meg Eastwood
Sarah Perske
Hyo Jung Kim
Zeffie Starling
Kate Crowe
Erin Elzi
Mark Kintgen
Merisa Bissinger
Rebecca Wright
Congratulations on Graduating! It’s time to celebrate all the hard work you have accomplished and we are proud to be your colleagues!
On behalf of the University Libraries, Professional Development and Engagement Committee:
Meg Eastwood
Sarah Perske
Hyo Jung Kim
Zeffie Starling
Kate Crowe
Erin Elzi
Mark Kintgen
Merisa Bissinger
Rebecca Wright
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You are cognizant of reaching out to your doctoral students and creating a space where they can interact and support one another, much appreciated.
Thank you for your continued support you give to our Native students as well!
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Emily has been a key part of our OIE team in a year of big transitions and change. Transitioning from a graduate student worker in our office to a part time Interim Advisor to help the OIE navigate staffing changes this year, Emily took on new challenges and responsibilities with enthusiasm, and have been a seamless addition to our team.
She has revamped our work in Sustainability, our social media approach, veteran benefit research, and created detailed notes and onboarding to help future advisors, and has brought new ideas and leadership. She is a young professional with a promising future and we are lucky to have her.
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Dr. Iturbe-LaGrave has been an invaluable resource to the DU community. I appreciate her dedication to the DU community and ensuring that DU faculty have access to pedagogical professional development that centers inclusivity, diversity, and equity.
She is a great mentor and takes time to care for those she interacts with.
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Alli Jarvinen runs the show for social media at DU. She is one person doing a job that’s best suited to be handled by at least three individuals. This results in 20-hour days when a crisis arises, and that often (unfortunately) goes unrecognized.
Despite the fatigue that obviously sets in during those long hours, Alli doesn’t let quality control fall by the wayside. She’s always looking for ways to ensure that DU’s social media footprint best represents DU’s inclusive values as dictated in…
…DU IMPACT 2025.
…Community+Values.
…the University’s Mission/Vision/Values statement.
…the work of organizations like CCESL, Morgridge College of Education, the Graduate School of Professional Psychology, and a myriad of other University units.
Alli also seeks out process improvements along the way. Continuous improvement and learning is the name of the game for Alli, and that’s certainly why she’s a leader and solution seeker in MarComm and DU as a whole.
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Dear Mark,
Thank you for outstanding service in helping us track down and upload videos for a Real Estate & Built Environment class.
Your willingness to do some digging and take this on was so helpful to us. We know we can rely on you as you have been a great help to us anytime we call.
With much appreciation for you, your kindness and your collaborative approach to work.
Sincerely
Ceci Smith at the Burns School, Daniels College of Business, DU
Stephanie has been absolutely amazing in her role as OIE Interim Director. She’s been a model of leadership and a stalwart supporter of her staff. Her transparency in the face of uncertainty — through multiple leadership transitions and COVID-19-related changes — has given us a sense of comfort in situations where we’ve lacked control.
Despite the tremendous pressure she’s been under over the past year, Stephanie has always taken time to make us feel both supported and seen. She cares for us as individuals and as a team, as evidenced in the creative ways our tight-knit office has stayed close while working remotely.
Finally and most obviously, she’s kept our office doing its best during her tenure. She’s pushed us to maintain an extremely high level of student support despite being short-staffed.
I couldn’t have asked for a better boss during this past year. Really, a “You Rock the Most!” award would be more fitting.
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Other – Unselfish, caring, kind, sense of humor, and always willing to assist, no matter how small, large or tedious the task.
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Appreciate your commendable job over the weekend to fix the fiber issues between the buildings.
You are a responsible team member.
Thank you and Keep up the good work!
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May 2020
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Hi Brandon,
I just wanted to say thank you for your hard work. I feel like you often have a thankless job and I know it is frustrating sharing the same info over and over, but I appreciate your kindness…and your awesome beard.
Sheffield
Lisa Darling….
I just wanted to say THANK YOU so much for all the time you have given me over the years. There are so many times I would have been lost without you. You really know your stuff and you take the time to help me out, which is no small gift because I know how busy you are. You are great at your job and I hope you are really proud of all you do everyday.
Sheffield
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Hey Tommy,
I just wanted to say Thank You for all the help and team work over the years. I really appreciate it. I feel like you are always solving problems and take the extra time to do the leg work to make my job easier. Also…lets not forgot the deodorant incident 😉
Sheffield
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Leslie,
You have an amazing ability to see the big picture and to track the details. You lead meetings with focus and are always prepared. Your leadership sets an example for everyone else. You are dedicated, focused, and realistic. You consider who needs to be included and are ethical every step of the way. You seek solutions and create realistic timelines for how to accomplish tremendous strategic goals. You fiercely represent others, and care about the needs of students, faculty and staff every step of the way. YOU ROCK!
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Kara has lead free guided meditations over the past couple months. These meditations benefit many people inside, and outside of the DU community. This opportunity creates exceptional community through Kara’s teaching of mindfulness, and meditation practice.
THANK YOU KARA!
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Ces Grant, you rock!!
It has been my absolute pleasure to work with Ces for well over 10 years. She continues to be kind, thoughtful and knowledgeable in any work issue that needs clarification. She is the epitome of helpfulness and her customer service skills are exemplary. I feel so comfortable reaching out to Ces with any issue because she is always so receptive despite how busy she is with her DU workload. I have had several colleagues mimic the same sentiments. I hope Ces realizes how much she is valued and appreciated by so many!
Keep on Rockin On!
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Kannan – my fellow RPCV! I think you’re doing a most excellent job keeping up with all the grad app processing this time of year as well as completing pretty big last-minute projects like the online/on-campus data we were needing! I remember it’s always challenging once people start depositing and dealing with all of the oncoming app changes, defers, PROVs (oh how fun!), etc. I think you’re doing a great job keeping up with it all and bringing special situations to our attention so that us on the systems-side are able to troubleshoot and look for new solutions.
I hope you have an awesome weekend and get to relax and enjoy some good weather 🙂
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Ellen – I just wanted to thank you for all that you’ve been doing recently with regards to our graduate apps population and helping coordinate/kick off the Admissions Requirements gathering process. This time of year can be overwhelming and you have done a great job of coordinating all of these important tasks with a low(er than normal) number of staff. Plus we’re all working remotely, so that adds an additional layer of complexity.
I hope you have a nice/relaxing weekend and I’ll know that you fully rock (or just that we’re better staffed???) when I stop seeing your e-mails being sent out at 8pm haha 🙂
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Emma – you’ve done an incredible job recently with regards to all sorts of last-minute changes and helping think through some great solutions/options for overcoming any technical barriers that might exist. You listen when I’m feeling a bit flustered with different requests and always can offer up some helpful tips (both technical and not) that allow me to mentally approach the problem in a new way or you propose a complete solution yourself that I hadn’t even considered.
I appreciate all of your work taking lead on the Crimson app and the 2U/OPM outline most recently. You are the queen of Slate’s Configurable Joins and I hope to get to a point where I’ve even got 50% of your knowledge in that arena! Keep up the good work and have a nice/relaxing weekend 🙂
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Other – proactive and considerate
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Professor Evangeline “Gina” Reynolds has been an outstanding, innovative and attentive teacher and researcher since arriving at Korbel and DU in 2018. OTL just recognized her extraordinary ability to make otherwise intimidating material accessible to our students. In addition, she has received external funding for her work on flipbooks and used those resources to in part to employ our students–both advancing our community’s ability to convey the material and enhancing our students’ experience at DU. She is an incredible asset to our department.
From OTL:
“Reading and writing code can be challenging for newcomers. Dr. Evangeline Reynolds and collaborators have created a novel communication and teaching tool — “code-movies” or “flipbooks” — to help students gain insight into coding for data analysis. This tool presents code step-by-step and side-by-side with intermediate outputs so that code is easier to digest. Preparing to move classes online, Dr. Reynolds, Korbel School of International Studies, created “The R Flipbook Textbook”, a collection of dynamic examples about data manipulation, visualization and analysis for her students. She is currently teaching Data Science in International Relations and Data Visualization. “
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When the onset of COVID-19 shut down campus and much of the world, many of us (myself included) resulted to the classic fight, flight or freeze response that accompanies any crisis. The weight of the unfolding uncertainty was too much to bare and left many of us immobilized.
In times of crisis, however, true leadership often emerges. Perceptive leaders arise to the challenge and offer their skills to help us better navigate and make sense of the fundamentally altered landscape. Rebecca Berg, Director of Alumni Engagement for the Graduate School of Professional Psychology mobilized her crisis communication background to quickly act and help our alumni engagement team rapidly reorient to the new reality brought on by the coronavirus.
Ernest Shackleton referred to the work of leaders during a time of crisis as “dispensing mental medicine.” Through her confidence and quick reaction, Rebecca has led our team in developing a proactive response to the crisis that has resulted in a series of webinars and offerings that have added tremendous value to our community in enumerable ways. Furthermore, her confidence and calm clarity provide our team with direction amidst ever-increasing uncertainty.
I’m grateful to Rebecca for her leadership and am proud to count her among the cohort of inspiring leaders who are reimagining our work for the new world.
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Paula has been playing a major leadership role in curriculum changes that we are going through lately with extreme care toward the issue as well as people involved. Despite some times serious resentment and resistance in the middle of COVID-19 crisis, I admire her creativity and solution seeking skills.
I must make it clear that those characteristics are not observed only for one event and recently. since the day we met, I always observe her caring, creative, inclusive, solution seeking and leadership characteristic toward her community including students, colleagues, and friends. She truly rocks!
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This quarantine quarter, Annette has been a joyful, helpful voice over the phone for all who are seeking answers from the registrar. She is never rushed, she listens thoroughly and if she doesn’t know the answer, she makes sure we have a name and phone of the person that should be able to help.Â
She is a kind, caring connection for students and staff a like! Thank you Annette!
Solution Seeking
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One of the key characteristics that separates the University of Denver from other employers is the intimate and caring society that emerges when we work together to serve members of our community. It is in this effort that we find a common purpose and unite around our shared value to do good in communities large and small.
In my nearly 20 years as a student and staff member in this community, I’ve been greatly impacted by individuals who bravely embrace this ethos and who lead courageously with emotion and passion. One such individual who regularly models the way is Carly Einstein. Her tireless dedication to the community of staff and alumni at GSSW and the university at large is inspiring and worthy of recognition for the “You Rock!” award.
In any situation, Carly brings clarity and levity to the moment, helping us to reconnect with the crucible spirit behind our work and to see past metrics, strategic plans and other business imperatives. At her core, Carly is a caring and empathic person who embodies the spirit of generosity that our community is known the world over for. Individuals like Carly help to crystalize the believe that leadership is not about status, titles or the use of power, but rather an act of caring and vulnerability. Simply put, Carly is the emotional first responder we all need these days. Her daring spirit helps us to stay sane, healthy and connected and I’m grateful for her courage and bravery, especially in times such as these.
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In the midst of the pandemic, we are re-designing our introductory curriculum (two 1000-level courses) as a department. This was overdue anyway, but between the “demographic cliff” and now COVID-19 we feel it is imperative to keep our program relevant and fresh for the sake of our and DU’s success.
While this is a department-level collaboration and everyone is participating, without any doubt it would not be moving along successfully without Paula’s willingness to engage her colleagues, do a lot of organizational work behind the scenes, facilitate the discussion and process at meetings, setting up and editing shared documents, and many other tasks. Several of us are playing a key role in driving the effort, but no one deserves more credit for keeping the process going and on-track than Paula.
When we roll out a redesigned set of introductory ECON courses in the fall (one of which will be topic-based to discuss the world’s current challenges from the perspective of economics), it will be in no small part because Paula went above and beyond.
Paula’s drive for us to succeed, and expertise when it comes to course design and teaching economics, speak to her dedication to the success of our students in learning about the world and setting them up to be engaged members of the communities they belong to.
Thank you, Paula!
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In recent decades, the university has become known for its ethos of doing right by its people. We are led by a community of leaders who believe strongly in putting our constituents first, sometimes to the detriment of our own organizational or personal goals.
One such campus leader who is worthy of recognition for her embodiment of this ethos and personification of the spirit behind the “You Rock” award is Nina Sharma, Interim Executive Director for Project X-ITE. Since Nina arrived on campus, she has demonstrated inclusive leadership that has elevated the university’s approach to producing the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders. She regularly collaborates across divisions, which is no easy feat on this campus. She is adept at bringing others into the fold and selfless in her leadership style, putting students first no matter what.
This leadership style has been display in full force since campus closed due to COVID-19. She has been quick to mobilize campus partners and pivot Project X-ITEs programming to meet the unique needs of learners in this new context. While many are drowning in their own reality of adapting to the new normal, Nina is quick to make herself available to others, physically sharing time on her calendar and emotionally sharing her heart and being a sounding board for colleagues and constituents who need to process and make sense of our new collective reality as it unfolds day by day.
Nina inspires me to be a better leader and to bring more of who I can be to this community. I’m grateful for her leadership and know the university will join me in saying “You Rock!”
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I cannot imagine the demands on Scotty right now. He’s still carrying his teaching load and made himself available for several last-minute Executive Education offerings to be available to CEOs and executives trying to make crisis decisions during COVID.
He’s an invaluable resource and such an asset to Daniels and DU. He definitely ROCKS!
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Jordan,
Thank you for helping CPD’s course of 300+ enrollments on short notice! This new course required extra time and effort to ensure that account information was correct, duplicates were merged, accounts pushed into the systems, and that students had a seamless experience.
You stayed positive, determined, and persistent throughout the launch. Willing to share your knowledge base and tips, showed technical competency and provided excellent communication skills.
Thanks again for your help in making this launch a total success, You Rock!
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Other – National Leadership
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Alex has done over-the-top work with our program by transferring well over 1000 2U asynochrous class videos into Kaltura so our faculty have easy access to them to use on campus in Canvas. There is NO way we could have made this available to our faculty without Alex!
Thank you Alex for all of your help in this and so many other ways!
YOU ROCK!!
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Jeff really is an ambassador for the central Marketing Division.
He is the easiest person to work with and always show empathy and care when troubleshooting issues. He is quick, friendly, and has a great sense of humor.
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Thinking outside the box, strategic, solution oriented, campus engagement, inclusive, and just plain delightful to work with are just a few of the reasons Amanda Carroll rocks. Her enthusiasm for attending, volunteering, and supporting campus events, faculty lectures, and guest speakers on campus is contagious. She rallies her colleagues for participation, she exemplifies DU Spirit! During meetings and brainstorming sessions, she always provides a unique and inclusive perspective. Amanda is “hands on” and very supportive of her colleagues, always offering to help out when she notices someone feeling stressed or overwhelmed. She goes beyond offering additional help in the work environment, it extends into her colleagues life outside of work. I have seen her take care of a co-workers dog while they were dealing with a family emergency, offer to help someone move, pick-up or take someone to the airport, and the list goes on and on!
We are fortunate to have Amanda at DU and she adds value to the lives of those that work closely with her.
Amanda Carroll, you rock inside and outside of DU!
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Carol is an exceptional counselor in the LEP. She cares deeply for her students and goes above and beyond to find solutions to some very difficult circumstances.
She is positive, upbeat and a shining star in her students’ lives.
I can’t say enough about her enthusiasm, caring and problem solving!
I think Carol is an excellent candidate for this award!!
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Brianna,
You are one of the kindest people that I know, and it comes through in everything that you do. Your ability to support and listen to others is unparalleled, and your suggestions and advice are always thoughtful and insightful. On a day to day basis, you find ways to breathe life, creativity, and compassion into the LLCs. The connections that you grow and nurture on campus and in the community are meaningful and truly move our department forward. I can’t express how incredible of a leader you are–you are encouraging, motivational, and always follow up and check in. I could go on and on, but just know that you are appreciated beyond what words can express. THANK YOU for being you. You are integral to the success of these programs and the culture of our office.
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Other – Service
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Erica goes above and beyond to facilitate conversations that support transparency and connection. Now more than ever, good
communication is what keeps us grounded and makes us effective as we navigate constantly shifting realities. Erica is always available to help us assess these emerging contexts and encourages us to keep diverse perspectives in focus.
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Thank you for your leadership over the last few months. These are difficult times and your positive attitude and commitment to our department has been amazing.
Remember, life is not about the set backs, its about the comebacks.
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Thanks for all your hard work, long hours and endless budget scenarios.
Thanks for helping us stay competitive.
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Thanks for your tremendous leadership and for the communication, training and transparency.
Thanks for providing hope and encouragement that we’ll all soon be back to doing the things we love.
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Thanks for your engagement, creativity, patience and innovation during this time.
I’m so thankful and blessed to have two tremendous assistant coaches.
Thanks for your engagement, creativity, patience and innovation during this time.
I’m so thankful and blessed to have two tremendous assistant coaches.
Other – Scholarship
Thanks for all your support the last few weeks in helping us recruit this fall’s class. The video, webinar, and coaches’ calls have all made a difference and are greatly appreciated.
You Rock!!
I wanted to send you a second “You Rock” because I was so impressed with the webpage you created for CARES. Wow!!! So impressive, and you even included an FAQ section. You thought of everything!! Very well organized, efficient, well-written, and super impressive – especially considering you developed that in just a couple days.
Many thanks!
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Mike,
The effort you put forth to continue teaching your course while battling illness is beyond commendable – it is laudable! Your full commitment to your students is what makes you an exceptional instructor and colleague.
You Rock!!
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Other – Commitment to students
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Parsa has taken numerous media calls on short notice to share his expertise in hospitality management. He makes himself available on short notice to many outlets and has fostered good relationships with those media contacts. These requests are on top of his other coursework and research, so it’s greatly appreciated. He’s representing Daniels and DU so well in the Denver metro and across the nation.Â
Thank you, Parsa!
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Mac has taken numerous media calls on short notice to share his expertise on the economy. The DU media team is turning to him and so am I and he’s been available on short notice to do numerous interviews. These requests are on top of his other coursework and research, so it’s greatly appreciated. He’s representing Daniels and DU so well in the community.
Thank you, Mac!
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Jack has taken numerous media calls on short notice to share his expertise on the economy. The DU media team is turning to him and so am I and he’s been available on short notice to do numerous interviews. These requests are on top of his other coursework and research, so it’s greatly appreciated. He’s representing Daniels and DU so well in the community.
Thank you, Jack!
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Christy has gone above and beyond over the past 2 months in leading enrollment initiatives to help us meet our enrollment goals. Christy has helped moderate daily virtual events, worked late, adjusted her personal schedule, and even drove all over town looking for supplies at home depot and other places to help us support students in a virtual space. Firsthand, I’ve witnessed her growth in flexibility, adjusting mid-flight, stepping outside of her comfort zone, and sacrificing for DU and the team. All this, without one complaint!
Christy, you are truly a dynamic person and I appreciate the joy and passion your bring to this important work. YOU ROCK!
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Todd leads the UG Enrollment Division with thoughtful and inspirational leadership. A lot has changed over the past 2 months, but Todd’s positive attitude remains. Despite many obstacles, UG Enrollment is defying the odds because of Todd’s guidance, recommendations, support and continued adjustments on both the fin aid and admission side of the house – he is a nationally recognized thought-leader, caring co-worker, resourceful and strategic enrollment manager, a loyal friend. He remains flexible yet resilient as our plans have to change mid-flight.
Todd, in the words of your favorite song, I’m so grateful that you Don’t Stop Believing! Thanks for being a rockstar for our Division. YOU ROCK!
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Darren,
YOU ROCK!!
Thank you so much for the constant stream of business insight and technical guidance. As we moved to a work from home model, our methods of transferring knowledge and supporting one another within our team has greatly changed. I want to recognize that you have made this transition incredibly painless with your support and knowledge. The recent system projects I have implemented in the past few weeks to help benefit the University and Shared Services were realized due to your input and guidance. I sincerely appreciate you having my back, and I am very happy to have a manager that enables me to learn so much.
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Other – Dedication
While I am sure when Garret became President of the Staff Advisory Council, he knew it would mean extra workload, However, he could never have anticipated the current situation.Â
When SAC members were concerned about the future of DU and their jobs, he arranged for Interim Provost Corrine Lengsfeld to speak to SAC members via Zoom. He has been available to answer all questions and calm our nerves. He was also instrumental in pushing forward the new leave sharing policy. We are lucky to have him as President during these troubled times.
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I would like to give a big shout out to Ann, our department coordinator specializing in student engagement/events/alumni & company relations. Ann, You Rock!
During this unprecedented pandemic period, Ann has put in great efforts and is very creative in building a virtual community among the department, students, faculty, alumni, and industry experts. During the short transition to everything online and wfh, Ann came up with the idea and has pulled the collective strings to roll out a virtual platform so that students can connect to faculty, alumni and industry expert to get assistance and advice, and for all to connect with each other. We have weekly virtual engagement activities / events, including “DU Stay Connected Webinar” panels, “Career pathway” panels. Each week, alumni and industry experts join as panelists to share their expertise and advice. Faculty join as moderator to facilitate the conversation and provide their insights. Here are a few recent webinar events: “Thinking independently in this market”, “Small Business Decision-Making during the Current Health and Financial Crisis”,   “Equity Analysis Panel”, “Corporate finance panel”. Â
I also would like to give a big shout out to all faculty in Reiman School of Finance and our student Finance club for all the hard work and collective efforts! Thank you!
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She is always immediately available to answer student questions and to listen to their their personal and clinical experiences working with clients and progressing through the program.
She created training materials and an entire manual, with others, that students and supervisors were able to use for telehealth in just a couple of weeks.
She is student-centered and continuously provides leadership for the entire department.
April 2020
Awardee | They rock because: | This is a great example of: | Nominated by |
Cate Nichols, Admission | Cate has been instrumental in helping our team transition to a remote working environment. In the early days of the campus closure, Cate was still working in the office to print/mail letters; process mail; scan transcripts; etc. In recent weeks, she has been a strong leader for her team, and has helped coordinate their rotating schedules to come to the office to execute essential duties. Her team has also done a very good job continuing credit evaluations by scanning transcripts and with limited monitors and technology from home. Stellar efforts and results! | Todd Rinehart, VC Enrollment | |
Sarah Watamura, Professor, DC/Psych | Sarah has been a welcomed inspiration of energy, thoughtfulness, and realness that has influenced so many across campus. I am a better person and faculty by knowing her and being involved in various committees with her! | Caring Community Creativity Inclusivity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Jesse Owen, Professor/Counseling Psych Dept |
Jessica Hogan, Manager of Educational Technology | Jessica has been instrumental in two on-line efforts I have worked on during the past four weeks. First, she helped organize and coordinate a Zoom webinar that included 15 Americans and an additional 30 people scattered across Europe. The four-hour session that included three guest speakers and questions from the combined student group went without a hitch. Second, she helped me organize and implement a two weekend course, which included 15 DU students plus guest speakers from Dallas, Denver, Houston, Berlin, Germany, Tel Avis, Israel, and Warsaw, Poland. Zoom is a great teaching tool, but there are lots of aspects to using it that need careful coordination and timely response. Jessica provided all of that and more. And the students in both courses enjoyed learning from experts as close as Denver and as far away as Warsaw! | Solution Seeking | Don Smith, Associate Professor of the Practice, Sturm Collge of Law |
Julie Hanna Smith, Director, Clinical Operations | Thank you Julie for the countless hours you have spent ensuring that our clinic transitions to a tele-health format, and for your continued care of students and clients. Your incredibly quick creation of the tele-health manual, powerpoint, and availability for students’ questions and concerns has surpassed anyone’s expectations – it truly displays that you care about our GSPP community! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you do for us. | Caring Community Creativity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Lavita Nadkarni, GSPP |
Lindsay Brunhofer and John O’Malley, | Lindsay and John hosted a mid-quarter check in for MCE faculty on how we are navigating the online space. The session was well organized, facilitated, and attentive to our particular needs. Wonderful modeling of what an online community could look like while also providing concrete answers to our instructional questions. P.S. the form only allows for one email address; John’s email is john.omalley@du.edu | Community Creativity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Paul Michalec, clinical professor |
Hannah Higgins, Admission | Hannah’s dedication through this crisis has been admirable. She comes into the office once or twice each week to process mail, deposit checks, scan transcripts, print and mail admission packets/offers, etc. We simply couldn’t execute our key deliverables without Hannah. Further, Hannah manages and responds to the email messages coming into our general account, and during this period, our emails have increased significantly. Further, the questions Hannah has been responding to are not the typical admission questions – she has had to respond to questions about online education; DU’s plans for fall quarter; DU’s rationale for not lowering tuition for online education; Gap year requests; and many other questions related to Covid-19. She has had to develop an entirely new set of responses! | Todd Rinehart, VC Enrollment | |
Alex Robinson, Financial Aid | Alex has contributed in many ways during these challenging times. When room and board charges needed to be refunded, Alex was here to manually remove the awards. When we needed people to host financial aid webinars for admitted families, Alex stepped up to give the PowerPoint presentations via Zoom.. He has also helped the admission counselors manage hundreds of merit and need-based appeals, and has been a great source of information for prospective families. His efforts are much appreciated! | Todd Rinehart, VC Enrollment | |
Stefanie Carroll, Building & Operations Manager/Colorado Women’s College | Stef elegantly and quietly provides our building tenants, event guests, staff and various external stakeholders with incredible experiences. She ensures we are represented with a close eye on warmth and connection. Watching her navigate our tenants to ensure each new how COVID might impact their operations and ensuring our strong partnership with them has been a marvel. Also, Stef does a huge amount of work to ensure our HerDU conference is as marrow-sucking as it in fact has become. She is calming for her mates. She is funny, and talented, and super organized, and never diminishing. Not to mention, she was super sick for half of last year and barely missed a trick. I appreciate her every day. We are better for her. | Caring Community Creativity Inclusivity Leadership Solution Seeking Other |
Tracy Curtis, Executive Director/Advancement |
Christine Hood, OTL | Christine,
You have not only helped me navigate ALL the nuances of Canvas, Zoom and Kaltura at a time of EXTREME triage, your energy, humor and camaraderie has been a gift. No one is happy about the pandemic, but I’m grateful it caused our paths to cross. Sharing your perspective as a high functioning PhD candidate, as OTL staff extraordinaire, and as just a lovely human being has made this online experience so much less awful. I appreciate you, and all you do! YOU. ROCK. So does your wee dog! |
Caring Community Solution Seeking |
Sarah Gjertson, Associate Professor, School of Art & Art History |
Christy Statema, Admission | Christy has performed her regular recruiting/counseling duties in the remote world, but has really stepped-up to help us host virtual visit programs. She is one of our main hosts, facilitating webinars with key departments on campus and the academic colleges to bring campus to our admitted families in virtual ways! A true pro! | Todd Rinehart, VC Enrollment | |
Allana Forte, Admission | Allana has done a tremendous job leading the admission team in their transition to a remote working environment, quickly forming a task force at the onset of closing campus/canceling visit programs to develop our plan to host prospects in a virtual format, communicate and engage with prospective students in new and different ways, and deliver our key programs/procedures. She has been a patient, calm, and inspiring leader for our team, keeping morale and performance at a high level. Simply amazing! | Todd Rinehart, VC Enrollment | |
Dean JB Holston, Dean, Ritchie School of Engineering and Computer Science | Dean JB Holston has made significant change to the Ritchie School culture and forward momentum. He has shown more devotion to helping students, personally, than any dean I know of. His leadership brought about project X-cite and resulted in RSECS becoming a member of the Keen network. This focus on entrepreneurship/mindset has benefitted many students.. JB has strongly supported diversity, equity, and inclusion – the first dean I have worked with to do so in a tangible way. He led the creation of our school’s strategic plan, which while not perfect, has helped us to achieve some clarity, focus, and strategy! His push to create new programs has benefited many students as well as the financial bottom line. JB is leaving the Ritchie School in a much better place than it was when he arrived. I feel fortunate to have been able to work with him! | Caring Community Inclusivity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Scott Leutenegger, Professor, Computer Science |
John Gudvangen, Financial Aid | John has demonstrated outstanding leadership in managing a number of challenges/projects outside his main scope of work – room/board refunds; CARES policies/distributions; transitioning his team to a remote work environment; increased financial aid appeals; increased revisions in financial aid packages; and all while down two staff members. John’s intelligence, patience, and leadership have paved the way for his team to perform under incredibly difficult circumstances. | Todd Rinehart, VC Enrollment | |
Jennifer Quinn, Financial Managment; SCOL | Jenny – You have been such a great addition to the SCOL admissions and student services teams. While you are always very responsive, particularly helpful, and a joy to interact with, you have particularly been amazing since the COVID crisis started. I really appreciate how attentive you’ve been to our students in helping them find more funding to manage the crisis. You have also been instrumental in helping the Student Bar Association execute its ideas and financial commitments for the benefit of the law students. Without you, it simply could not have been done, and it would not have been done with such a helpful and joyful person in your position.
As someone who works with students closely, I simply admire how reliable you have been and impacted the students so strongly. Thank you! Chris |
Caring Community Creativity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Chris Newmwan, Associate Director, Student Affairs; Sturm College of Law |
Julie H Smith, Director of Clinical Operations/GSPP | Julie H. Smith is an exceptional colleague that demonstrates warmth and compassion with creativity and solutions, that makes her an exceptional leader in the GSPP community. In a matter of days, she jumped right into what needed to be done. She provided a "lets do this" attitude that demonstrated creativity. Her hardwork and thoughfulness around training students and meeting the needs of our community is outstanding. She was key in moving our clinic to 100% telehealth. This allowed for continued support in student training and our ability to continue to support the mental health needs of the community.
Julie’s outstanding work during COVID-19 is no exception. I have known Julie for more than three years and work closely with her as the Director of the Trauma & Disaster Recovery clinic in her role as the Director of business operations. I am inspired by her ability to managing multiple training clinics and over 200 student therapist and provides support to 5 clinical directors. Julie has a sharp mind and is able to develop a strong vision for the clinic and has developed solutions to how we can all work effectively together by outlining and executing the steps needed for us to be successful in our work. She is incredibly perceptive in her ability to read people and solutions, and is often sought out to consult related to the operations of our clinics. I admire her ability to engage in a large amount of complex tasks with such ease and grace, which contributes to being accessible and responsive to the needs of the clinic and to the community at large. On a personal note, Julie is an incredible colleague. She demonstrates strong working relationships with the student therapists, the staff, and faculty. Her ability to connect quickly with others has been incredibly valuable in marketing our clinics and developing connections with the community that has directly resulted in an increase in referrals. |
Caring Creativity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Rohini Gupta, Clinical Assistant Professor |
Annette Nelson, Administrative Assistant, Regional Advancement | Annette has been an amazing and exceptional colleague to work with. Her contribution to the Advancement Team, specifically the Regional Team, has gone above and beyond in supporting our off-campus partners and directors. Her dedication and collaboration has strengthen partnerships across campus in her naturally genuine personality. In addition, Annette has shown and taken on a variety of roles throughout the two years I’ve known her, where she gives no less than 110%. Annette is the kind of person that makes you want to keep motivated in what you’re doing and will support you with no hesitation. I’m beyond grateful for this amazing lady! She’s an all around Rock Star! You go girl! 🙂 | Caring Community Inclusivity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Anonymous |
Kerry Floyd, University College | Kerry is a DU staff member that sings in the Lamont Chorale. When we had to transition to online teaching, she took it upon herself to hold my hand, and the hands of my GTAs, through the process of creating an online format for our choirs and guided us through. She even worked with outside organizations to help us use some of their tools and connect them through canvas. She was an absolute life saver, and we are so pleased that she is supporting the choral program not just as a lovely soprano, but as a helpful online mentor. So glad to have her as part of our choral community at DU! | Community Solution Seeking |
Catherine Sailer, Director of Choral Studies, Lamont School of Music |
Nashwa Bolling, Financial Aid | Nashwa has been a literal rock through the entire Covid-19 process! She has been instrumental in helping develop and implement policies for room/board refunds, federal funding through CARES, adjustments in financial aid awards, and simply carrying out her daily duties in a remote world. She is a major contributor to our success! | Todd Rinehart, VC Enrollment | |
Gwenda Hansen, Fitness Programs Manager | Gwenda has hit the ground running creating virtual fitness programming that has continued to engage students, staff, faculty and the Denver community. Her 10-day fitness challenges has had hundreds of participants and have promoted connection and community during a time that can be very isolating. Her passion and energy are genuine and contagious! | Caring Community Creativity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Anonymous |
Karen Riley, Dean, MCE | Karen–we are so fortunate to have you as the leader in MCE in these trying times! YOU ROCK! | Caring Community Leadership Solution Seeking |
Rashida Banerjee, Chair & Professor |
Asia Wesley, Student Engagement Coordinator GSSW | Not only has she gone above and beyond to be there for the GSSW students, she has been able to successfully do her job while home in addition to assisting her mother in sewing hundred’s of masks for the community, help take care of her brother and, participate in DU communities and seminars regarding diversity all the while getting her masters degree! Asia is a power house of ambition, extremely hard working and constantly perusing what is right. | Caring Community Inclusivity Leadership Solution Seeking |
eleanor burks, PNW Market Fellow – advancement |
Rachel Balows, Admission | Rachel leads our communication and marketing efforts, and had to revise/develop an entire new virtual visit webpage, as well as multiple new communications to promote/support our many virtual programs. She has kept prospective students engaged and informed in this new virtual world. Incredible contributions! | Todd Rinehart, VC Enrollment | |
Aleesha McDowell, Faculty Support Manager and Program Coordinator for the Center on American Politics | Aleesha has continued to inspire creative and innovative approaches to completing Faculty Support’s working during these challenging times. Aleesha has also continued to share her optimism and concern for employees throughout the law school. | Caring Community Leadership Solution Seeking |
Vince Gonzales, Academic Programs Assistant |
Lisa Westendorf, Financial Aid | Lisa has done an outstanding job in revising financial aid communications to address the Covid-19 challenges, including communications for emergency funding programs like CARES. She has kept the website updated, and written/delivered new email messages to keep students informed of next steps/new funding opportunities. | Todd Rinehart, VC Enrollment | |
Matthew Eschenbaum, DevOps/Sys Admin | Matt has been spinning up DU websites for launch over the past three years and he has tirelessly migrated all of du.edu over the course of two days to a new hosting and security platform while launching new sites simultaneously. Matt is a team player and learned new hosting code after being an expert in our old hosting environment. Matt also launched a content syndication system this winter to automate content delivery and updates on the web. Prior to that, he was working nights and weekends to manually ensure du.edu had up to date content and safeguard du.edu from crashing. Matt certainly rocks! | Community Solution Seeking |
Jessica Kibble, Director of Operations/MarComm |
Emily Hemming, Executive Education Program Manager | You successfully preserved client relationships and moved all custom programs for March through June either online or pushed out till next fiscal year. You had to re-do ALL the work you had already done. You worked tirelessly without complaint to innovate and work with faculty to re-build and re-imagine countless programs. You were calm, professional, and made sure our clients and faculty were supported and received excellent customer service. You ROCK! | Caring Creativity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Tamie Walker, Director of Finance and Operations |
Shanna Pomager, Admission | Re-designed and transformed the admission visit experience from an in-person/campus-based to a virtual platform. Shanna has worked tirelessly to offer daily info sessions and webinars, including presentations/panels from every undergraduate college, and many key departments on campus who serve students (residential life, career center, Honors, etc.). She has put DU in a position to meet our enrollment goals in the most challenging environment we’ve ever faced! | Todd Rinehart, VC Enrollment | |
Karen Woodrum, Financial Aid | Has been going above and beyond to get financial aid adjustments posted on students’ accounts, and helping big-time behind the scenes to coordinate financial aid revisions and new federal funding policies. | Todd Rinehart, VC Enrollment | |
Brianna Johnson, Program Manager/Living and Learning Communities | Brianna,
You helped our LLC department make a quick switch to online teaching, assisting LLC faculty directors and program coordinators to continue our high-touch program even with technically distant means (ZOOM!). One of the most amazing things you did was to help Dr. Don Sullivan, faculty director of our Env. Sust. LLC and your students, have the most engaging learning experience "on their way to class" a few weeks ago. Your web-based scavenger hunt, which took me a good 30 minutes of learning and bushwhacking the net, was the most creative, informative and creative online teaching experience I’ve had in a long time. I was so impressed and so excited to know our students have your creative mind and tenacity to create such a fun and engaging way to learn about the topics that would be covered in the class that day. Nice work!!! |
Creativity Leadership |
Linda Olson, Exec. Dir/Learning Communities and Civid Engagement |
Erica Wright, Community Relations Program/PLP | You just completed our PLP application process for bringing in our newest class of leadership students for Fall 2020 with great finesse! It was your first time and there was no one in our office who had done the background tech work around making this work well either. You overcame great electronic/technical challenges at this time of COVID-19 and you helped us great what I believe is a well-rounded cohort for next year. Thank you for your persistence and great attitude through all of this! | Leadership | Linda Olson, Director/Pioneer Leadership Program |
Janet Burkhardt, Student Financial Services | Janet,
You rock! Thank you for helping me identify why my DMBA students were suddenly being reported in a single cohort code, and especially for correct the problem student by student for all FY20 terms. I truly appreciate the time and effort you put into this not to mention the speed at which you did it. Thank you! Leanne Bokinskie |
Solution Seeking | Leanne M Bokinskie, Daniels College of Business |
Meaghan Burns, Master teacher | Meaghan “rocks” on so many levels…
She has impeccable organization and delegation skills and is generous with her time, knowledge and support. Under her her patient leadership, we have learned new technology, provided meaningful and authentic connections with our students & families. We’ve remained a confident team of teachers through this whole ordeal due to her humor, honesty and candid reflections. |
Caring Community Leadership Solution Seeking |
Holly Kugeler, Associate Teacher |
Amy Biro, Kindergarten Teacher at the Ricks Center | You are such an amazing inspiration on all levels! You are engaged with families, teachers, admin, and (of course, most of all) students! Teaching kindergarten via distance learning is truly a novel task, and you have embraced it with open arms and a positive outlook. A mere "thank you’ will never be enough to convey the gratitude for all that you do.
You ROCK! |
Caring Community Creativity Inclusivity Leadership Solution Seeking Other – Everything you do is a great example of a growth mindset! |
Anonymous |
Karen Riley, Dean/MCE | Karen, you rock! Because even with your busy schedule with all things Dean-related, you found time to be a guest speaker in my class. You are an awesome teacher and my students learned a lot from you.
Thank you! |
Caring Community Inclusivity Leadership |
Jeanine Coleman, Clinical Associate Professor/MCE |
Kathleen Guerra, Teaching Assistant Professor of Spanish/Languages & Literatures | Kathleen is our second-year language coordinator and she deserves this award in recognition of her leadership and hard work. She designed our online courses this quarter and helped us solve many issues with Zoom and Canvas. Thank you, Kathleen! Well done! You rock! | Community Creativity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Zulema Lopez, Teaching Professor of Spanish/Languages & Literatures |
Karen Riley, Dean/MCE | Karen, you rock! Because even with your busy schedule with all things Dean-related, you found time to be a guest speaker in my class. You are an awesome teacher and my students learned a lot from you.
Thank you! |
Caring Community Inclusivity Leadership |
Jeanine Coleman, Clinical Associate Professor/MCE |
Jesse Owen, Professor/Counseling Psychology | Jesse is exceptionally generous in his mentorship of junior and mid-level faculty and in his advocacy within our department and college for faculty and staff. He has offered support to myself and countless others related to research, grant funding, teaching, and advising. He has held countless service positions within the College, officially and unofficially. Further, he is exceptionally humble, approachable, considerate, and kind for a world-renowned scholar, with over 140+ publications and several millions of dollars in grant funding. In short, Jesse is a critical member of our DU community, and we are fortunate to have him as a colleague and leader at DU. | Caring Community Leadership |
Anonymous |
Brad Machan, Business Analyst II/ IT | Brad you always do high quality, amazing work, for the Shared Services division! However, as of late you have done extremely beneficial things for the University as we navigate unknown territory during a national disaster by creating a way to code "emergency" pay in Pioneertime. This has allowed employees who aren’t working hours a way to still receive pay per University rules. You are creating and putting into place very complicated and intricate systems in Pioneertime that will enable employees to donate and also be a recipient of vacation hours for the new leave share program pilot. All things that benefit the University and employees as a whole! You have done all of this in very efficient and timely manner and I want you to know that you seriously R-O-C-K! I can’t tell you how much we appreciate you in Shared Services and I am certain you are appreciated by the University as a whole in your efforts to make these initiatives easier on us all! | Community Inclusivity Solution Seeking |
Shaunda Norman, Director, HR Services in Shared Services |
Michelle Hanson, Associate Registrar/Registrar | This person has been such a supportive boss not just during the covid crisis, but way before that as well. Michelle’s colleagues can feel confident coming to her with new ideas and problem solving and Michelle has always had open ears. She is a very active member in the DU community serving on a few committees including SAC, and the Office of the Registrar Engagement Committee. Michelle is also a huge team player, stepping up during times when the Registrar was especially short handed, helping with tasks that are not normally in her daily duties. Michelle is always there for her employees and tries to keep everyone on the team feeling included in the tight knit family in the Registrar. Michelle, you rock!!! | Community Inclusivity Leadership |
Anonymous |
Brittany Evans, Web Specialist/Athletics & Recreation | Brittany,
You have worked so hard over the past several weeks launching the Virtual Recreation web page, not to mention working on the new site and many other projects! Your diligence and thoughtfulness for your co-workers AND the community we are working so hard to inspire has not gone unnoticed! It is an honor to be working with you! Just wanted to share my appreciation! ~Gwenda |
Caring Solution Seeking |
Gwenda Hansen, Fitness Programs Manager/Athletics & Recreation |
Matt Pickler, Office of Graduate Education | Matt…you’re just the best. I am always grateful to be on your team, but particularly since going remote, and I just want to say thank you for helping me think through things, thank you for checking my work, thank you for having grace and compassion for me when I mess something up and you have to help me fix it (or fix it yourself sometimes), and thank you for the million other things you do to make OGE’s tech and systems run smoothly. If I could attach my Drake meme here, I would, but I can’t, so I’ll just say it: You da you da best. | Caring Creativity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Emma Lawless, Office of Graduate Education |
David Boocock, Mgr, Digital Content Strategy | David Boocock rocks because he carries the weight of the digital world on his shoulders. When things go south, he’s on the job. He is a problem-solver without compare. He possesses a great many different areas of expertise and brings them all to bear on his work at DU. He is a Captain Picard in a world all too full of Kirks. | Creativity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Anthony Lux, Content Experience Manager, Marcomm |
Ashley Haliko, Executive Director of Development | Strategic Superstar! | Rebecca Berg, Director, Alumni Engagement | |
Scott Hallam, Golf Superintendent/Division of Athletics and Recreation | During this response time, Scott has been a bedrock. He has worked long days, managed a skeleton crew, and kept the DU Golf Club in good shape for the high volume of play that we have had. He is caring for his fellow team members, offers support and guidance, and has turned a challenge into an opportunity. Thank you. | Caring Leadership Solution Seeking |
Stuart Halsall, Deputy AD, COO/Athletics and Recreation |
Julianne Toce, Assistant Director of Student Engagement | You have made the graduate assistantship application and hiring so much more streamlined and painless this year. While transitioning to a new job, your continued commitment has been incredibly appreciated and much-needed.
Really enjoy working with you!! |
Community Creativity Solution Seeking |
Rachel Riley, Assistant Director of Admissions |
Jeanie Tischler, School of Art and Art History | Jeanie has been the heart and soul of the School of art and art history ever since I was a student. Now as her colleague I’ve come to realize just how indispensable a resource she is for faculty, students, and fellow staff. Her caring and warm demeanor, willingness to problem solve and share information, and dependability have been crucial for getting our department through the fallout of COVID-19. She has been a constant for everyone. Jeanie rocks! | Caring Community Creativity Inclusivity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Lauren Hartog, Administrative Assistant/Vicki Myhren Gallery |
Dakota Burton, Graduate Assistant, Fraternity & Sorority Life/Office of Student Engagement | Dakota is always willing to help and go the extra mile where needed. She works ahead on projects and is always prepared to take on a challenge. Dakota provides valuable feedback and insights on issues as she sees them and is not afraid to speak her mind. Dakota is a great example of being an inclusive leader, I believe she truly cares about the well-being and success of others. Dakota has proven her knowledge, skills, and abilities throughout the last two years in her position with little direction at times. Dakota, you rock! And I really hope you know that! | Caring Community Inclusivity Leadership |
Joseph Espinoza, Associate Director for Fraternity & Sorority Life/Office of Student Engagement |
Carol Harp, Business Officer/CLIE | Carol has been a rock within Campus Life and Inclusive Excellence for many years. She has so much institutional knowledge and takes the time to share that with others who may be new to their role or to a specific project. She is kind with the people she works with, always offers a helping hand, and doesn’t expect anything in return. She represents the best of the University of Denver and I haven’t found anyone who doesn’t have a nice thing to say about her. She has been with the University for over 25 years and is serious about the work she does. Ever since I started working at DU I have noticed how helpful she is and how everyone always stops to say hello to her – even people who haven’t worked at DU for years! They come by just to see her, and that really says something about her as a person and about her connection to the DU community. Carol rocks! | Community | Anonymous, |
Kate Ross, Denver Campus MSW Director | Kate is just a joy to work with. She offers great insight and care for how best to support our students and how to welcome all our prospectives students. She is creative and always student-focused. Thank you! | Caring Community Creativity Leadership |
Leslie Hasche, GSSW, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs |
Stephanie George, MSW@Denver Program Director, GSSW | Stephanie has shared so many great innovations and ideas for how to create community for students, faculty, and staff in an online world. She does all this while still extending extra support to our MSW@Denver students as they cope with the impacts of COVID-19. | Caring Community Leadership |
Leslie Hasche, GSSW |
Aneesha Bharwani, Assistant Dean of Field Education, GSSW | Aneesha is remarkable! Her quick and clear innovations to our field education for remote learning during COVID-19 and for alternative field plans has been student-centered and creative. She is such a leader in field education for social work on a local and national level! | Caring Creativity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Leslie Hasche, GSSW |
Andryn Arithson, Director of Business Operations. Newman Center for the Performing Arts | Andryn is an incredible leader, and is exceptionally good at making sure her team remains positive and focused. Andryn is courageous, no-nonsense and level-headed, and she is an inspiration to us all. Her leadership skills were put to the test these past 6 weeks, what without an Executive Director to help guide her, but she never skipped a beat – all while 8 months pregnant! I can’t image the stress she endured, and I’m glad she is home now and can take some time to settle in with her new family. | Caring Leadership |
Anonymous |
Francisco Chacon, Adjunct Faculty | Francisco rocks because he was able to develop an amazing and thoughtful online course practically overnight all while feeling ill! His first class was so thoughtful and caring. Gave personal insight on himself, put the students at ease over online learning, provided them with outreach opportunities DU has available and threw in some fun too! Francisco has consistently received top evaluation ratings from the students showing it isn’t just me who notices what a caring, creative and sincere instructor he is. DU is lucky to have such a wonderful instructor. Francisco rocks! | Caring Creativity Inclusivity Solution Seeking |
Lora Hacker, Assistant Director |
Candace Rusk, Enrollment/Student Services | Candace rocks because she has an exceptional ability to connect with our students. Her caring, sincere and supportive nature has allowed her to develop close and lasting relationships with all of the students she advises. During this difficult time, Candace has shown that she has what it takes! When told all undergraduate advising was moving to online ZOOM meetings, Candace said "I can do this and I will do this!"
She dropped her comfortable paper and pencil system, grabbed her computer and she did it! Within a week was up to speed on all online advising systems as well as ZOOM and is once again thriving at connecting with our students. She has embraced her virtual advising meetings as well as her new online systems. She never faltered and was able to quickly pivot to meet the needs of her students, for that I am so proud of her. Candace rocks!! |
Caring Inclusivity Solution Seeking |
Lora Hacker, Assistant Director |
Ingrid Tague, CAHSS Deans Office | Dear Ingrid,
Thank YOU for being the person I want on every committee that does anything ever. While this may not what you want….I deeply appreciate the thought and commitment and contribution you bring to every project I ever work on with you. I don’t know how your are a solo associate dean in such a big unit AND you manage to bring your A game to all you do. But you DO! And I appreciate you and love working with you. So this is an award to say YOU FUCKING ROCK! |
Caring Community Leadership Solution Seeking Other – Bad Assery and Kick Assery |
Kate Willink, Office of the Provost |
Lora Hacker, Assistant Director Ops, Burns School of Real Estate and Construction Management | Lora rocks because she is a role model for creating a caring and supportive community. I feel comfortable contacting Lora anytime I have a concern or need assistance. She always has an open door or is able to schedule a Zoom meeting to have a discussion or help me with resources to carryout my job effectively. Lora is very compassionate and an excellent listener. In the department, Lora is invaluable to the efforts of all faculty and operations that work to enhance an environment for student learning. She does not like to be in the spotlight, but her work "behinds the scenes" is so very important, and she does an excellent job. | Caring Community Solution Seeking |
Francisco Chacon, Adjunct Faculty, Burns School of Real Estate and Construction Management |
Laurie Ivey, GSPP | You may be new to the team, but you have seriously stepped up in so many thoughtful and impactful ways! I am so grateful to be collaborating with you on field placement activities that include complicated COVID oversight and adjustments and your willingness to take the lead on the strategic planning group is seriviously deserving of a YOU ROCK! AWARD! | Community Solution Seeking |
Gwen Mitchell, Assistant Professor |
Michael Gonzales, Support Specialist | Digital Media Services | Information Technology | I would like to shine the spotlight on my colleague, Michael Gonzales. Michael’s work ethic at DU merits recognition for exemplary service. He’s been extremely helpful with my computer needs both on campus and working remotely and those of the faculty I work with. He deserves to be recognized. ¬â€
Michael demonstrates: Problem Solving. He demonstrates creative and innovative resolution to problems or challenges in the department and/or at the university. He contributes significantly to the I.T. needs of myself and the department and is always supportive. Thank you for this opportunity to honor and recognize my colleague for a job well done. |
Community Solution Seeking |
Erika Watt, Administrative Assistant | Department of Languages and Literatures |
Greg Storch, Assistant to the Chair | Department of Languages and Literatures | I would like to shine the spotlight on my colleague. Greg’s performance at DU merits recognition for exemplary service. He stepped into his new role with vigor, enthusiasm, and creativity and deserves to be recognized. Greg demonstrates
1) Leadership. He shows initiative and sets the pace in a team environment. 2) Problem Solving. He demonstrates creative and innovative resolution to problems or challenges in the department and/or at the university. 3) Teamwork. He contributes significantly to team approaches and is always encouraging and supportive. Thank you for this opportunity to honor my colleague for a job well done. |
Community Leadership Solution Seeking |
Erika Watt, Administrative Assistant | Department of Languages and Literatures |
Todd Wells, Teaching Assistant Professor/Chemistry and BIochemistry | Todd is putting enormous and very creative effort into developing on-line labs for the students in Chemistry of the Elements. He is creating videos of the experiments that students cannot do because they are not in the labs. His work was mentioned with gratitude on the DU parents facebook page. | Caring Creativity Solution Seeking |
Sandra Eaton, Chair/Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry |
Dan Fischer, IT | Dan Fischer is AMAZING! He has been working steadily on the very complex Zoom problem I had for some time, reaching out to Gohar and others to get alignment with multiple systems. Along the way his patience with me in explaining the details of the issue and teaching me more about zoom was over the top! We’ve met on screen and tested several things and each time I learned more about Zoom through his patient explanations. Now, the problem is finally CORRECTLY fixed and my zoom account now works the way it should have always worked. THANK YOU DAN!! YOU ROCK! Carol | Caring Creativity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Carol Johnson, Assistant Dean/Faculty Director MBA@Denver |
Barbe Ratcliffe, Executive Director/OLLI | Almost overnight, Barbe transformed what was to be an extensive, OLLI spring schedule with classes across the Metro area, to an online program offering over 80 class options to seniors. She and her team had to pivot from their original plan on all fronts and the initial registration proves it was the right decision. Congratulations to Barbe and the entire OLLI team for their quick action an hard work and for making these classes available so that lifelong learners can stay connected during this difficult time. | Caring Community Inclusivity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Lynn Wells, Director/Enrichment Program |
Joe Angleson, Associate Professor, Biology | This has been a really trying past few weeks for all of us and a trying time during which nobody would have ever volunteered to be Department Chair. I can’t even imagine how much work it is right now and how many unexpected things all of the Chairs have to deal with. I am nominating Joe for this award because during all of this chaos, he has really supported the Biology faculty during our normal day-to-day crises and the new crises related to COVID. As an example, I submitted a NSF grant last week and when I submitted my PRA form I expected it to take a few days for him to get to it given that I’m sure he’s overwhelmed – he did it within an hour, which amazed me. He also successfully negotiated our 2 new faculty positions during all of this, which is really amazing and sends us update emails about important issues we need to know about. He has also repeatedly reinforced to faculty that we need to care for our students and be kind and understanding, which i think is an important message for all to hear right now. | Caring Community Leadership Solution Seeking |
Shannon Murp-hy, Associate Professor, Biology |
Rachel Lim, Student Advisor, Lamont School of Music | In my role as Lamont’s Associate Director for Academic Affairs, I supervise Rachel Lim, Lamont’s Student Advisor. I want Rachel to know that she rocks for all the hard work she does to help advise every student at Lamont, especially during this very difficult quarter. Rachel shows great leadership in how she has designed a system that allows her to keep expert track of everyone’s progress towards completing their programs, covering infinite levels of detail across five undergraduate majors, seven master’s programs, and numerous certificate and artist diploma programs. And when students reach out for extra help or are in crisis, she makes sure that everyone has the information they need to make the best choices for their situation, and helps students advocate for themselves when they run into red tape. Rachel goes so far beyond expectations it’s impossible to put into words! | Leadership | Jack Sheinbaum, Associate Professor, Lamont School of Music |
Brittani McClendon, Sr Mgr, Markting & Comm, Office of Graduate Education | Brittani has taken incredible ownership and creative initiative to help move the DU Research and Scholarship Showcase online. We had to make this pivot on short notice, and it required that we jettison about 6 months of planning, and redo the whole thing on about a month and a half’s notice. There’s no way we would be as close as we are to pulling this off without Brittani’s leadership and knowledge of the media environment as well as the DU environment. Brittani rocks! | Creativity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Kate Tennis, Assistant Teaching Professor, Korbel School of International Studies |
Amanda Thompson, Administrative Assistant | Amanda is the glue that keeps us together, despite our working remotely. She sets up team Zoom lunches, sends messages of support and encouragement and generally sees that we all feel supported. Personally, she keeps me on task for important, but perhaps not quite so urgent, items that need to be taken care of. For that I am most grateful! Amanda, YOU ROCK!! | Caring Community Creativity Inclusivity Solution Seeking |
Carol Johnson, Assistant Dean, Faculty Director, MBA@Denver |
Kenny Metcalfe, Assistant Director, Enrollment Services and Academic Advising | Kenny is the perfect steadying force for our students, He is available at nearly any time to speak with students via Zoom or phone to answer their questions with accuracy and care in this time of great uncertainty. He does so with professionalism, accuracy, and timeliness. Our students know that if Kenny has given them direction they can count on it. Kenny, YOU ROCK!! | Caring Community Creativity Inclusivity |
Carol Johnson, Assistant Dean, Faculty Director, MBA@Denver |
Nicole Wilhite, Assistant Director, MBA@Denver | Nicole pivoted immediately after DU closed the University, realizing this meant that over 100 of our students would not be able to attend our scheduled March (and then June) immersions. She notified all of the students, explained how she would take care of each individual’s particular circumstance, got any payment refunded and scheduled all the replacement immersions for future dates. She completed this in less than a week! She takes customer service and the student’s experience with our program to heart! Our students LOVE Nicole. Nicole, YOU ROCK!! | Caring Community Leadership |
Carol Johnson, Assistant Dean, Faculty Director, MBA@Denver |
Federica Bologna, Assistant Director, Analysis & Operations | At this particular, somewhat difficult time, business still continues. Federica provides the accurate data we use to make important decisions. Recently, she did an analysis that helped to reconcile a discrepancy in enrollment that was tedious and time-consuming but needed. I can always count on her to do an accurate and thorough job in solving problems. Thanks Federica, YOU ROCK!! | Solution Seeking | Carol Johnson, Assistant Dean, Faculty Director MBA@Denver |
Rachel Walsh, Associate Professor of Italian/Languages & Literatures | Rachel has been working tirelessly to find creative solutions for a myriad of issues in ways that are equitable and inclusive, all while keeping a sense of humor and a warmth that I deeply appreciated in these extraordinary times. I know that her students delight in her as a teacher and advisor, and I also know that her colleagues including myself are profoundly indebted to the leadership she is showing as she takes on the departmental chairship. You Rock, Rachel! | Caring Community Creativity Inclusivity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Orna Shaughnessy, Assistant Professor of Japanese/Languages & Literatures |
Ramona Beltran, Social Work | Ramona has been so incredibly welcoming and held space for Native women on campus to build community. She is one of the most inclusive people I have met at DU, and I am super happy she is here. | Caring Community Inclusivity Leadership |
Anonymous |
Sophia Cisneros, Physics | Sophia has been so incredibly dedicated and passionate to creating space in STEM for students of color to feel comfortable, and to encourage Native students to be a part of STEM departments and classes. If they are intimidated, or having problems outside of class, she helps support in whatever way needed. She rocks! | Caring Community Creativity Inclusivity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Anonymous |
Chris Nelson, Education | Chris has fought tirelessly for the Native community at DU–she is the faculty sponsor for the Native Student Association, and she does an awesome job helping guide Native students at DU. | Anonymous | |
Angela Parker, History | Angela has helped create more space for Native studies as well as helped the administration understand how important it is to support Native students at DU. She creates community for the Native community by being inclusive and always being open to talking, visiting and making Native students, faculty, and staff feel comfortable. | Caring Community Inclusivity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Anonymous |
Michele Hanna, Social Work | Michele has been the Faculty of Color chair this year (and for a really long time–I just got here so not sure when she started!), and has done an amazing job of bringing new faculty into the fold. She has brought us together for check-ins as the COVID-19 crisis has been going on, and is always supportive and thoughtful. Thank you Michele! | Community Inclusivity Leadership |
Kelly Fayard, Anthropoloy |
Marilyn Hughes, Manager, Financial Aid | Marilyn goes out of her way to encourage needy students to apply for financial aid. She takes an active interest in their studies, their activities, and their families. She keeps in touch with them as they navigate their lives at DU. High-need students often feel lost when they first come to DU. Marilyn helps them feel at home here. She helps them see a path to graduation, and she helps them overcome obstacles – regardless of whether the obstacle is a bad grade, a too demanding job, or lack of money. Students turn to Marilyn for emotional and financial support and she never lets them down. | Caring | Sharon Lassar, Professor and Director, School of Accountancy |
Kathleen E. (KED) Davisson, Teaching professor | KED developed and delivered a new 2-credit hour course on Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Students are fearful of the future of work because they hear how RPA and AI will displace workers. In this course students learn how to automate business processes and, most importantly, they learn how to think through each step in a business process, diagram the process, and streamline the process. They learn how RPA enhances the jobs they will hold because they will spend more time thinking critically and problem solving while leaving mundane and routine tasks to the computers. This course builds programming and analytical skills along with confidence and optimism. | Creativity | Sharon Lassar, Professor & Director School of Accountancy |
William Cloud, GSSW | William spent his entire spring break preparing his two courses for online teaching. He was creative, open to learning through formal OTL trainings and meetings with GSSW faculty and staff. I am so grateful for how much he gave to continuing the meaning fully learning for our students. | Caring Creativity Solution Seeking |
Leslie Hasche, GSSW |
Akio Correll, Senior Instructional Designer | I get almost daily emails from appointed and adjunct faculty that Akio has helped with the transition to emergency remote/online teaching. With that, these emails all end with some kudos to Akio, such as "Akio is Amazing". | Creativity Leadership |
Leslie Hasche, GSSW |
Debbie Gaylinn, Director of Graduate Student Affairs/Korbel | Debbie is absolutely central to the life of the Korbel School–she is the glue that holds everything together! She exemplifies professionalism, creative problem solving, and compassion. These attributes always mark the way she works. But during all of the upheavals around the Covid-19 crisis she has gone way above and beyond the call of duty. She supports all of us 24/7 and has enabled the school’s faculty and students to thrive during these difficult times. | Caring Community Creativity Inclusivity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Ilene Grabel, Distinguished University Professor/Korbel School |
Daniel Doerr, Director of Enrollment/Korbel School | Daniel has worked tirelessly on behalf of the Korbel School during an exceedingly difficult time. He is truly dedicated to the mission of the school. He is tireless, creative, and is an incredible problem solver. He performs all of his work with incredible grace, humility, and positivity, and he has developed new outreach strategies to support the school by reaching out to communities that have not been engaged with Korbel previously. | Caring Community Creativity Inclusivity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Ilene Grabel, Distinguished University Professor/Korbel School |
Rachel Epstein, Associate Dean of Faculty and Research/Korbel | Rachel always performs all aspects of her job with maximal professionalism and care for others. But during all of the chaos of the coronavirus she has been extraordinarily supportive of all members of the Korbel community and has worked tirelessly to nurture faculty and students while recognizing and enabling our work in every way possible. | Caring Community Creativity Inclusivity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Ilene Grabel, Distinguished University Professor/Korbel School |
Courtney Niebrzydowski, International Travel Risk Analyst | Courtney’s job as the international travel risk analyst for DU is already one of the most challenging on campus, but COVID has only made it harder by requiring her and her team to make some really difficult decisions. She’s been part of so many conversations with our unit and those across campus and always manages to remain thoughtful, calm, and creative. She is tasked with thinking about the safety component of international travel, but has still been able to remain compassionate to the loss the students and faculty are feeling in postponing or cancelling international experiences. Courtney, you rock, and we’re all so grateful for you! | Caring Leadership Solution Seeking |
Megan Reilly, Leadership & Global Program Manager, Daniels College of Business |
Laura Santerre-Lemmon, Director, Developmental Neuropsychology Clinic/Psychology | Laura Santerre-Lemmon, PhD is leading the charge on moving our Developmental Neuropsychology Clinic to tele-assessment in the midst of this pandemic. Child neuropsychology is one of the most challenging fields to consider moving online. I’m so proud of Laura and our clinic who have been finding creative solutions to meet the needs of families while protecting the integrity of our field as a whole. Laura has converted our clinic to telehealth procedures and trained PhD students in a new skillset in record time. She has been recognized as a local leader in this space as our colleagues at other institutions realize how fast DU has adapted and seek her consultation on best practices. I see many ways that her leadership on teleassessment will continue to expand the offerings of our clinic to meet the needs of underserved communities, particularly students in rural communities in Colorado. As we know, this pandemic is magnifying inequities in educational opportunity. In the face of this enormous challenge, I am proud that our clinic is continuing to provide evidence-based guidance to families about how to best support their children’s learning and mental health needs. Thanks to Laura for her incredible effort! – Lauren McGrath & Michelle Rozenman | Creativity Inclusivity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Lauren McGrath, Assistant Professor/Psychology |
Grace Warner, PC/UAP | Grace, thank you for being willing to take this project on with me! I hope you are able to use your creative side 🙂
I also appreciate that you were willing to learn something new with IR, stepping out of your comfort zone isn’t always easy. |
Creativity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Casey Kite, EA/Provost |
Rachel Petitgout, Program Manager/Center for Professional Development | Rachel stepped up during a tough time. Although she was planning to take on additional tasks when our Associate Director went on maternity leave, we did not expect to be working remotely during that time. Rachel looks for new ways to serve our non-credit students and led the effort to enroll more than 300 students in a virtual course we built and launched in less than a month. Rachel’s can-do attitude and enthusiasm are catchy, and she is proving to be a solid asset to CPD! | Creativity Solution Seeking Other – Stepping up! |
Renae Jacob, Executive Director/Center for Professional Development |
Laura Santerre-Lemmon, DCN Director, CAHSS Dept. of Psychology | Where to begin…. Laura has always been a very generous colleague and mentor. In recent weeks, however, she has gone WAY above and beyond to get our assessment process ready for conversion to telehealth. The number of hours she has spent and amount of effort she has expended to ensure our trainees and supervisors are ready for high quality tele-assessment is just staggering. Our clinic’s ability to conduct assessments during COVID-19 would be entirely stymied without Laura’s incredible leadership. Through it all, she has remained positive, collaborative, and kind – which are signature traits of hers regardless of the curveballs thrown her way. | Community Creativity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Jill Holm-Denoma, Clinical Professor, CAHSS Dept. of Psychology |
Will Simmons, Enrollment Manager/University College | Will has just gone "live" with advising in the past week and is doing a great job! He has been training so hard the past couple of months and it is finally paying off. As his coworker and someone who started the same day, it is so encouraging and rewarding seeing him succeed. Seeing where he started and where he is at, he has shown that hard work gets you where you want to be! Great job Will! | Leadership | Katelyn C Phillips, Enrollment Manager/University College |
Joe Angleson, Chair/Biology | It is difficult to be a leader during these uncertain and challenging times. Joe has successfully completed two greatly needed hires this quarter and has been attentive to faculty without spamming us with unneeded correspondence. His efforts as chair are appreciated. | Community Leadership Solution Seeking |
Anonymous, |
Allison O’Grady, Learning Design Experience Team, UCOL | Allison motivates excellence: she is always on tap to help, her competence is undeniable, her cheerfulness is forever infectious, her modesty is real and as a sparkling, caring human being, she is the sort of person DU thrives on.
My connection? She selflessly enabled this (very) old professor to gain competence to teach on-line in a week. She uniquely knew what her "student" needed. |
Caring Community Creativity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Jeff Bowen, Associate Teaching Professor, Management |
Lynett Henderson, Clinical Associate Professor/GSPP | Lynett is an incredible colleague who has a gift for bringing people together. She excels at finding and nurturing common ground between people who would benefit from knowing one another and working together. For instance, she’s currently helping the Dept. of Psychology, GSSW, GSPP and MCE coordinate resources! She also is SUCH a hard worker who cares immensely about putting in the time to make the DU brand shine around campus and in the broader community. On an interpersonal level, I appreciate her apt metaphors and timely humor. How lucky we are to have Lynett at DU! | Community Creativity Inclusivity Leadership |
Jill Holm-Denoma, Clinical Professor |
Ingrid Tague, Associate Dean of CAHSS | Ingrid has done an amazing job of adapting quickly to the chaos of this pandemic. She has organized effective support systems for online teaching, for student support, and for faculty support throughout CAHSS during this time. She has been responsive and transparent in helping to guide department chairs through a quickly-changing set of circumstances, and is always there to help faculty, staff, and students find solutions in a time of near-panic. I know she is working overtime and I want to recognize her efforts! | Caring Community Inclusivity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Hava Gordon, Associate Professor of Sociology |
Jared Del Rosso, Associate Professor of sociology | Not only has Jared been proactive in sharing online teaching tips with his colleagues during this stressful pandemic, but he has gone the extra mile to lead a group of students in a thoughtful independent study about teaching and learning during a pandemic, in addition to carrying his regular load of teaching. JARED ROCKS! | Caring Community Creativity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Hava, Associate Professor of Sociology |
Jill Holm-Denoma, Ph.D., Clinical Professor / Psychology | Dr. Holm-Denoma is the Director of the Department of Psychology’s Center for Child and Family Psychology (CCFP). She was meant to be on sabbatical out of the country from Winter-Spring 2020. As soon as we learned that campus was restricting operations due to COVID-19, Dr. Holm-Denoma jumped into action in order to ensure that administratively, clinically, and legally/ethically, our doctoral students had processes and supports in order to continue seeing their CCFP clients remotely. Dr. Holm-Denoma had to create new processes quickly, efficiently, and without precedent from other programs to make this happen. It is noteworthy that while many clinical psychology Ph.D. programs stopped services for their clients on a moment’s notice and with little support for their clients, the CCFP clients did not experience a disruption in their care, which was critical given the increased stress our clients were under. Moreover, our doctoral students felt supported and learned new skills during a difficult time. None of this would have been possible without Dr. Holm-Denoma’s tremendous leadership (some of which occurred while she was out of the country!). | Caring Community Creativity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Michelle Rozenman & Lauren McGrath, Assistant Professor (Rozenman) & Associate Professor (McGrath) / Psychology |
Hava Gordon, Associate Professor of Sociology and Chair, Department of Sociology & Criminology | Hava is being recognized for being an awesome chair and guiding us through this pandemic with great patience, support, and understanding. This is no surprise, however, as it is the same approach she has taken in her three years as department chair. I want to say, "Thank you, Hava, for your tireless efforts. You ROCK and have only 69 days to go before you are finished with your term. Hang in there! | Caring Community Inclusivity Leadership |
Lisa Martinez, Professor of Sociology |
Apryl Alexander, SQL/GSPP | I should send Apryl dozens of individual You Rock! awards for all the greatness she shares with her colleagues, students, and the community. Please take this one to equal hundreds. I’m continually astounded by all you do and the values you stand for. Thanks for advocating for so many, particularly in the hardest of times. | Caring Community Inclusivity Leadership |
Tracy Vozar, Clinical Assistant Professor/GSPP |
Amanda Fudala, Executive Director | Amanda sits on many committees including the Covid-19 response committee. She recently stepped in as an interim Executive Director of the Newman Center while continuing her already demanding role as Executive Director of Conference & Event Services.
I don’t know how Amanda does all that she is responsible for while keeping a calm demeanor and leading her team with empathy and energy. She recognizes that the new work environment effects us all differently at different times, has compassion for our family obligations, while supporting and encouraging our projects, goals, and growth. She is an amazing example of leading from the heart AND the head. We are lucky to have her! |
Leadership | Anonymous, |
Amanda Fudala, Conference & Event Services | Thank you for being an amazing leader for our team during these strange and crazy times. We all appreciate your guidance and ability to help us all remain calm, cool, and collected while we make our way through the COVID-19 disturbances affecting CES.
You are the best! |
Leadership | Anonymous |
Sam Valliere, Assistant to the Chair/Management | Sam has been doing unbelievable work to make sure the department keeps running during the pandemic. She cares about everybody – students, faculty, staff and community – and has helped us a all stay positive and productive! You rock, Sam! | Caring Community Inclusivity Solution Seeking |
Anonymous |
Chiara Piovani, Associate Professor/Economics | Professor Piovani has long been extraordinarily successful in the classroom as is clear from her teaching evaluations (both in an absolute sense and also strikingly in comparison with those of other faculty in the Economics department). She has also maintained an active and internationally recognized research profile despite a heavy teaching and advising burden (and little in the way of financial support for research in terms of support for hiring research assistants, attending conferences, and the lack of a research culture in the economics department). She also brings great credit to DU through her work as a regular consultant to the United Nations (on gender related research). I have had the opportunity to hear first hand from students about Prof. Piovani’s dedication and support (since I teach courses at Korbel that many students from the economics department also take). | Caring Creativity Inclusivity Leadership |
Ilene Grabel, Distinguished University Professor/Josef Korbel school of Int’l Studies |
Leslie Hasche, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs & Associate Professor/GSSW | Leslie has shown outstanding leadership during the COVID-19 transition to having all courses online. Given the number of courses that GSSW offers across (4) different MSW programs, and the number of adjunct instructors (not to mention clinical faculty and tenure track faculty), it is amazing to see a colleague handle the quickly changing landscape with such grace. She not only managed the transition within GSSW, but was also a constant voice of reason and thoughtfulness across DU and nationally across social work education. | Caring Community Leadership Solution Seeking |
Anonymous, |
Kirsten Norwood, Assitant to the Dean, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics | Kirsten has served so many folks here in CNSM, first in Biological Sciences and now for the College. She humbly takes on any and all challenges from trying to keep clean restrooms in the buildings, to organizing the Spring picnic and Holiday Awards Celebration. She bridges communications between departments and the Registrar to make sure our class schedules are set up correctly all the while dealing with demanding faculty around where the "have" to teach. She is the glue for NSM and deserves to know that her daily actions are recognized and extermely appreciated. Thank you for all you do! | Caring Community Creativity Inclusivity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Nancy Sasaki, Teaching Professor |
Amy Phillips, Professor of Teaching | Amy is an incredible professor who pushes her students to work hard and inspires them to be great. She is also an amazing colleague, sharing her knowledge and expertise, and mentoring others (like me) even if it is not really part of her job. Last Friday she had 2 student advisees present their amazing portfolios. We had 3 students presenting and all 3 spoke highly of Amy’s impact on their learning experiences at DU. She truly forms great bonds with her students all while maintaining high standards. She is able to maintain this even in these difficult times over an internet connection. Not only is she a great colleague and professor, but on top of all of this, she is highly involved providing service to our DU community. She is the embodiment of our Daniels Values. I look up to her and work hard every day, looking up to her as an inspiration of what I can achieve with my students. | Caring Community Inclusivity Leadership |
Gisella Bassani, Teaching Assistant Professor |
Paige.Baltzan, Teaching Assistant Professor | Paige is a professor who inspires her students. Even while on leave she takes on projects with students like the Daniels Distinction. Last Friday her student advisee presented a wonderful portfolio all under Paige’s guidance. These are difficult times, but the presentation was strong, upbeat, and showing our true Daniels Values. It was clear from the presentations that day (we had 3 students presenting in our department) that she had clearly made a strong impact on all 3 of the students throughout their Daniels academic career. She is also a great mentor to newcomers like me and inspires me every day to become a better professor. | Caring Community Leadership |
Gisella Bassani, Teaching Assistant Professor |
Sara Chatfield, Assistant professor, Political Science | Sara has been tremendously helpful to her colleagues going into this Spring 2020 online-only environment. Having participated in many teaching development workshops, and learned to deploy many excellent strategies of student engagement in those trainings, Sara has helped the rest of us "up" our game in online-only classes. She has been willing to have her awesome Canvas course shared with all Department faculty, including adjuncts and VTAPs. She has shared her Qualtrics survey for mid-quarter student feedback too. And she’s been doing all of this collegial support with a two year old at home, and no child care! | Caring Community Creativity Inclusivity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Lisa Conant, Chair and Professor, Political Science |
Julie Morris, Biology, | Julie always takes time to help me figure out big and small class issues, canvas issues, or just listens when I need to vent. I am SO grateful to have her as a colleague! | Caring Community Creativity Inclusivity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Debbie Gale Mitchell, Assistant Teaching Professor, Chemistry |
Julie Morris, Biology, | Julie always takes time to help me figure out big and small class issues, canvas issues, or just listens when I need to vent. I am SO grateful to have her as a colleague! | Caring Community Creativity Inclusivity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Debbie Gale Mitchell, Assistant Teaching Professor, Chemistry |
Alex Martinez, OTL | Alex did a great job helping faculty get ready for online teaching this quarter. | Scott Toney, Teaching Associate Professor/ Business Information and Analytics | |
Andrea Stanton, Associate Professor, Religious Studies | We have a group of faculty on campus who are also mothers called the academic mamas. Andrea has become our unofficial leader and without her, the group probably would have died through neglect. All of us are so busy, especially now, and keeping a group together like this is challenging. However, Andrea is wonderful about keeping the group together, scheduling meetings for us to get together (e.g. lunches), and helping us to advocate for other mothers on campus. She is a true leader. | Caring Community Inclusivity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Shannon Murphy, Associate Professor, Biology |
Anna Sher, Professor, Biology | Anna is an amazing mentor to all of the women in Biology. We do not have an official mentoring program and after several women failed to get tenure in Biology, Anna took it upon herself to start mentoring regularly. At first there were very few of us (me), but now we have a strong group of women in the department and all of whom are succeeding (3 of our assistant professors have won huge research awards in the past few years). Anna makes us feel like we’re a valued member of the group and she’s our biggest cheerleader. | Caring Community Inclusivity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Shannon Murphy, Associate Professor, Biology |
Tracy Vozar, Director, Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health Specialty | For creating the ‘Daily Dance Party"! What an innovative, timely, energetic and important way to give back to kids, families, and the community. Your reach is broad. Thanks for being one of GSPP’s gifts. | Community Creativity Solution Seeking |
Laurie Ivey, Psy.D Field Placement Director |
Linda Ziembko, Systems Analyst/GSPP | Linda has been incredibly helpful keeping us accredited and moving us online for teaching and competencies exams. She is also refreshingly modest and happy to work behind the scenes and let others take credit. Linda is an unsung heroine at the GSPP! | Caring Community Creativity Inclusivity Leadership Solution Seeking |
Jenny Cornish, Professor/GSPP |
Sam Valliere, Assistant to the Chair/Management | Sam makes the Management Department run smoothly. She is calm and caring, even when facing the myriad of small crises that come up frequently. She is personally helpful to me when I have a problem and don’t know where to turn. I don’t know what we’d do without her. | Caring Community Solution Seeking |
Bud Bilanich, Asst Teaching Professor/Management |
Aimee Hamilton, Department Chair/Management | In the absence of a Management Department Chair, Aimee has stepped up and taken the reins. She has done an incredible job leading the department this year, and through the current Covid 19 crisis. She has created an even stronger sense of community in our department. | Community Leadership |
Bud Bilanich, Asst Teaching Professor/Management |
Kate Willink, Vice Provost of Faculty Affairs | For walking the walk. I’m continuously impressed by your commitment to your work and ability to push through the often restrictive nature of higher ed. to not just tap the community to generate ideas, but to implement them on realistic timelines. I feel privileged to be a small part of it. Thank you! | Community Leadership |
Stacy Pinto, Clinical Assistant Professor, Counseling Psychology |
Meredith Corley, Assistant to the Chair | If there is one person who makes the world go round behind the scenes, it is Meredith.
I can’t even recall the many times she helped me out (I just say Pioneerweb and trying to find anything in the faculty tab, she is a wizard). Not only is she very good at what she does, she also is endlessly patient with all student concerns, caring listener, and a friendly, and true help for any concern. Whenever a student of mine or I have a question or concern and I do not know what to do, she would be my first stop (and more often than not resolving the problem at hand right away). In sum, she is truly fantastic to be around and should be recognized for what she does. |
Caring Community Creativity Solution Seeking Other – system knowledge and proficiency |
Kerstin Haring, Assistant Professor of Computer Science |
Daniel Pittman, Assoc. Prof of the Practice | Dr. Pittman (or Dr. Dan 😉 ) is a fantastic example of how to continue caring for students and deliver outstanding classes, now online.
Every single one of my students I talked to said without any doubt, they would (or already did) sign up for another class with him. With his colleagues, Dan is one of the best help and inspiration for online teaching and master of tricky and creative Canvas settings, and he is always there to help. Dr. Dan should absolutely be recognized for his efforts, care for students and colleagues, sense of community, and inclusivity he is demonstrated every single day. |
Caring Community Creativity Inclusivity Solution Seeking Other – teaching excellence |
Kerstin Haring, Assistant Professor of Computer Science |
Kathie Novak, Assistant Teaching Prof/Management | In the transition to online, Kathie stepped up and took on an additional section when our adjunct was unable to take on what was originally assigned. She herself was new to online teaching, so no doubt this was a tremendous undertaking for her. This was a great example of organizational citizenship behavior. | Caring Community Leadership |
Aimee Hamilton, Interim Chair/Management |
Gabby, Marketing | She holds EVERYTHING together when it seems like it’s ALL falling apart! And she makes you feel like it’s no big deal and she’s happy to do it. She ROCKS!!! | Caring Community Leadership |
Melissa, Marketing |
Carla Hase, Assistant Director/GSSW | Carla provides excellent support to all the students, adjunct field faculty, and agency partners in the Four Corners program. She provides thoughtful solutions to problems and has great clinical skills in navigating complex situations. She always does this with grace and a sense of calm. | Caring Solution Seeking |
Aneesha Bharwani, Assistant Dean for Field Education/GSSW |
Leslie Hasche, Associate Dean/GSSW | Leslie has done the work of ten people – getting all classes online, dealing with student issues, making policies, managing the schedule, and more. She does this all while being supportive of everyone else and their needs. She does this with confidence and reassurance. I don’t know how she’s not completely exhausted physically and emotionally. Thank you for being a pillar of strength. When this is all done, please take a month long vacation. | Community Leadership |
Aneesha Bharwani, Assistant Dean for Field Education/GSSW |
Juliana "Juju" Lucena, Psychology | Juju Lucena has had to adapt her work most significantly as her usual responsibilities involve in-person contact with students, faculty, staff and clients in the Psychology department as well as other currently paused activities (ordering, mail). Juju has maintained an upbeat and open approach, learned a range of new skills and software, provided the spirit of support that her position involves even when the traditional opportunities are not available – including to individuals outside the department. | Caring Creativity Solution Seeking |
Sarah Watamura, Professor & Chair, Psychology |
Daniel Storage, Assistant Teaching Professor, Psychlogy | Dr. Storage has been exceptionally responsive and supportive in the transition to online teaching. Just prior to COVID closure, he offered a session on teaching with a number of relevant resources. He quickly became integrated as a peer support person and provided support to colleagues across campus. He has been welcoming to prospective students in his online courses, generous with his materials, and flexible to changing teaching needs in the department. An all-around awesome team player! | Caring Community Leadership |
Sarah Watamura, Professor & Chair, Psychology |
Leslie Hasche, Associate Professor/Graduate School of Social Work | Leslie is our Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Even before COVID-19, Leslie had shepherded GSSW through challenging moments including substantial changes to our curriculum in service of students and program affordability, the re-organization of important processes including student advising, as well as the to day ups and downs that come with her role. She works tirelessly and without complaint, often behind the scenes, to keep our students, staff, and faculty well-engaged the learning process. She somehow also makes the time to help problem-solve with others and offer supports and an empathetic ear when needed. I am in awe of her level-headed leadership, patience, and kindness — and in this very challenging moment in time, my gratitude for her can not be easily put into words. | Caring Community Leadership Solution Seeking |
Jennifer L Bellamy, Professor/Graduate School of Social Work |
Robin Tinghitella, associate professor/biological sciences | She has had a series of impressive accomplishments with regard to funding her research this quarter, including at least three NSF grants, a Morris Animal Foundation grant, and two supplements for a previous NSF grant. Plus, as a teaching superstar, I have no doubt that her students are well taken care of this quarter. | Other -Scholarship and Teaching | Anna Shere, Professor/Biological Sciences |
Cindy Cragg, Academic Director/Assistant Progessor | Cindy is a fantastic Director and stands as a model to others! I am lucky to work with her 🙂 | Solution Seeking | Bobbie, Associate Professor |
Stephanie Roberts, Internationalizatoin | Stephanie has worked non-stop on international issues, beginning when we had to recall our students from abroad and now shifting to think about what to do with our fall term study abroad students. She is optimistic and hard working and truly solutions focused. A model of graciousness among colleagues. I appreciate her greatly. | Caring Creativity Solution Seeking |
Jennifer Karas, VP Academic Affairs |
March 2020
You have an amazing ability to see the big picture and to track the details. You lead meetings with focus and are always prepared. Your leadership sets an example for everyone else. You are dedicated, focused, and realistic. You consider who needs to be included and are ethical every step of the way. You seek solutions and create realistic timelines for how to accomplish tremendous strategic goals. You fiercely represent others, and care about the needs of students, faculty and staff every step of the way. YOU ROCK!
Kara has lead free guided meditations over the past couple months. These meditations benefit many people inside, and outside of the DU community. This opportunity creates exceptional community through Kara’s teaching of mindfulness, and meditation practice.
THANK YOU KARA!