This week’s recipients are:
Kaela King, administrative assistant to the Office of Accreditation & Assessment and the Office of Undergraduate Education, Office of the Provost
In the Provost’s Office working on Assessment and on General Education, Kaela never hesitates to make helpful recommendations and to take on new projects. Her cheerfulness lightens the work. She is invaluable to the smooth operation of both programs, especially during the pandemic. – Richard Ruppel
Heidi Wissa, operations manager, Academic Financial Operations
Heidi has done a wonderful job adapting to the numerous challenges that the pandemic has brought in budget management. She has been flexible and always willing to step in and figure out the best approach in supporting the academic units. – Kim Mikhael
Liz French, financial analyst, Academic Financial Operations
Liz has worked hard to adapt to the numerous changes in the past year due to the pandemic. She has been diligent in supporting the Academic Financial Operations team and the many departments that the office supports. – Kim Mikhael
Heidi Lasky, coordinator, Faculty Athenaeum, Faculty Affairs
When the campus closed and the faculty athenaeum was no longer available to faculty, Heidi learned a new job to assist the department – quickly pivoting to being a key support in managing the faculty timekeeping process and assisting wherever needed. – Eileen Besner
Erika Gates, financial aid counselor, Financial Aid
Erika has proven herself to be a huge asset to the financial aid team and the Chapman community over and over. She tackles her job with a sense of empathy (and humor!) and can always be counted on. Recently a colleague commented that Erika is at once “amazing” and “awesome” and these two words only touch the tip of the iceberg when you are describing her. During the pandemic, she has made sure she is more available for student and parent appointments and is working on increasing our social media visibility as a way to continue to help students. Students and parents always know they are in good hands when Erika is working with them. – David Carnevale
Alex Musser, system support assistant, Financial Aid
Lauren Musser, datatel support analyst, Financial Aid
Alex and Lauren were instrumental in ensuring that our transition to remote operations went smoothly. Prior to the move they tested all of our reporting and processing capabilities so that we would have uninterrupted services. In addition, Alex stepped in and helped with team member’s individual set ups to make sure their remote access was working. Throughout our remote time, our processes have continued to run smoothly and efficiently and both have been instrumental in making sure that necessary data is still being reported accurately and as needed. – J. Whitaker and D. Carnevale
Craig Williams, accessibility technology Analyst, IS&T
Craig’s expertise, commitment to excellence and hard work made it possible to update, refine and write up all the processes for the Chapman community to return to campus. He is a pleasure to work with, while insisting on accuracy and clarity. – Helen Norris
Ryan Tanovan, information security specialist, IS&T
COVID caused an increase in remote work introducing increased security risks. Ryan was the tech lead for the IST effort to improve security through the two-factor (2FA) process and spent long hours to troubleshoot requests for faster user onboarding. – Helen Norris
Steve Acheson, network specialist, IS&T
Dave Acheson, network project manager, IS&T
Steve and Dave worked hard to add network capability in classrooms in Argyros Forum. Their work will ensure that faculty and students have a great experience with hyflex learning after Spring Break. – Helen Norris
Andrew Valbuena, head of serials, Leatherby Libraries
Andrew volunteered to help the Leatherby Libraries by working in Circulation as an essential employee to alleviate an employee shortage during times when we are required to staff the building to provide curbside pickup and document delivery.
Brett Fisher, chair of library systems & technology, Leatherby Libraries
Brett provided technical support during the pandemic by partnering with IS&T to assist with imaging laptops and hardware preparation. He also worked closely with library employees to help establish their remote work capabilities. – Helen Norris
Doug Dechow, engineering, science and digital humanities librarian, Leatherby Libraries
Doug played a vital role in ensuring the success of our FFC Info. Literacy program this year. Doug created our evaluation activity focusing on COVID vaccines to help first-year students make more informed decisions during the pandemic. – Helen Norris
Mayra Linares, medical ssistant, Student Health Center
Sierra Daniels, medical assistant, Student Health Center
Alicia Alonso, health & safety assistant, Student Health Center
Brandy Martinez, health & safety assistant, Student Health Center
Tanya Marshall, health & safety assistant, Student Health Center
Yazi Hernandez, medical assistant, Student Health Center
Raymond Moreno, department assistant, Student Health Center
Kelsey McCarthy, health & safety assistant, Student Health Center
Emily Belson, health & safety assistant, Student Health Center
Anthony Pelaez, health & safety assistant, Student Health Center
Jeannette Hecker, nurse LT, Student Health Center
Jessica Orozco, medical assistant LT, Student Health Center
Matthew McGarvey, physician assistant, Student Health Center
Diana Rios, nurse practitioner, Student Health Center
Janet Zedler, nurse practitioner, Student Health Center
Amber Leonard Alibrio, nurse practitioner, Student Health Center
Amber Lewis, nurse practitioner, Student Health Center
Devon Oddy, registered nurse, Student Health Center
Alicia De La Cruz, health & safety assistant, Student Health Center
Judith Taylor, registered nurse, Student Health Center
Aileen Andrion, nurse practitioner, Wellness Center
Julie Payn, medical assistant, Wellness Center
Karen Beam, registered nurse, Wellness Center
Deborah Wagner, department assistant, Wellness Center
Charles Pfeiffer, nurse practitioner, Wellness Center
The crew in the Student Health/Wellness Center have really gone above and beyond to make it so our campus could remain open in some capacity throughout COVID restrictions. All essential workers and students have benefitted by the services they have provided. – Randy Burba
Sarah Lee, assistant director of content strategy, SMC
Sarah’s strategy for and management of the CU Safely Back website is exemplary. She creates and edits numerous posts for the site, including, most recently, supervising the writing of our return-to-campus process posts for all stakeholders. – Jamie Ceman
Michelle Anguka, campus communications specialist, SMC
As editor of Working@Chapman, Michelle creates an excellent newsletter. She collaborates closely with various teams to increase the amount of information being shared. A survey indicated employees view W@C as a vital form of news during the pandemic. – Jamie Ceman
Tod Brewster, social media and digital marketing specialist, SMC
During the pandemic social media has been a crucial communication tool and the first information source for some. Tod has done an excellent job sharing out the CUSB updates as they develop and keeping our campus community up to date. – Jamie Ceman
Jessica Barber, marketing strategist, SMC
Jess has done a great job with the CUSB marketing campaign in response to the pandemic. She worked with SMC team members and across campus to determine what we need to communicate, how we will communicate and how we will all collaborate. – Jamie Ceman
Stephanie Brewer, executive assistant to VP, SMC
Stephanie does so much to support the SMC staff while remote, but also is responsible for the setup and scripting for all the campus-wide town halls during COVID-19. – Jamie Ceman
Justin Kerfoot, senior campus planner, Campus Planning & Design
Through Justin’s work on Fowler School of Engineering, Rinker Student Center and other capital projects, the University has avoided Covid-related delays and cost escalations. Through the pandemic, Justin has delivered excellence to Campus Planning and his stakeholders across the University. – Collette Creppell
Monica Aparicio, executive assistant, Office of the Vice President, Investments & Administration
Monica made an extraordinary effort to ensure that the office is supported well and continues to function effectively through the pandemic. Several times she assisted with special projects and worked over the weekend. She also provided notary services several times. – Janna Bersi
Melissa Tran, budget analyst I, Budget Office
Melissa is being recognized for her support in the annual budget development by building new reports and troubleshooting critical database issues. Her ability to quickly resolve issues has been crucial in budget development, especially during COVID. – Crystal Barney
Brenna Bell, executive assistant, EVP/COO
Brenna has diligently managed the COVID-19 Recognition Programs this past year. She alone has processed more than 900 nominations. Thank you, Brenna! – Harold Hewitt
Jamie Wisdom, client services lead, IS&T
Jamie is being recognized for her ongoing support for the tech needs of the EVP/COO office, which have been more challenging this past year, during COVID-19. – Harold Hewitt
Joey Anderson, client/media services specialist III, IS&T
Joey is being recognized for his support this past year to Trustees participating in Board Committee meetings, via Zoom. You played a large part in the success of these meetings. – Harold Hewitt
Allison Kelley, senior administrative assistant, EVP/COO
Allison is being recognized for her management of an abundance of contracts, agreements, purchase orders, etc. during the pandemic. She also assisted in revising the Sole/Single Source Justification form to make it more efficient. Her professional and foresight is much appreciated. – Adey Oyenuga