Extra Effort Awards – May 8, 2020

Helga Dotti – Alvarado, ESL Instructor, JCAE – Nominated by Georgia Deming
Helga took on the responsibility of not only learning Zoom but teaching 20 other ESL instructors on how to utilize Zoom in their online classrooms. She taught them everything from how to set up a meeting, share screens, utilize breakout rooms, customize chat, audio and video controls and extract attendance.  She organized individual Zoom instructional sessions with teachers and attends their classes to troubleshoot when a problem arises.

Amy Becker, Marketing Coordinator, Creative & Content Department – Nominated by Kim Steinmetz
Amy has worked for several weeks on a rush form conversion for Financial Aid and IISS. This form has been complicated and had several major iterations. Amy has accommodated all our needs and been supportive, efficient, and helpful throughout the entire process. This form will help students access Financial Aid. Also, it allows for transparency between two teams. Amy is more than deserving of recognition for her extra effort for this project!

Alicia Bredehoeft, Counselor, Counseling – Nominated by Kim Steinmetz
Alicia is always such a joy to work with! She contacted me personally about a student issue. She went out of her way to make time to call and discuss the complexities of the case. This shows her student focus and desire to inform other areas of concerns. She always takes time to empathize and listen to the challenges. She recognizes that students are facing hardship and works to try to find tangible actions that will support them through the hard times. She has done this on several occasion for international students. I know the students and our staff are always appreciative of her ability to balance all the needs we have and help us find common ground. Thanks Alicia!

Gina Brewer, Senior Planning & Research Analyst, Institutional Planning & Research – Nominated by Natalie Alleman Beyers
Gina has worked through the transition of working remotely while continuing to make progress on a variety of projects.  Specifically, Gina did an excellent job working with colleagues across campus related to the administration of spring course evaluations.  While there were challenges, Gina provided solutions for different scenarios. Gina’s brilliant problem-solving skills helped create a rather seamless course evaluation administration cycle, partnering with others to overcome obstacles. Gina, thank you for your continued great effort.

Mary Ann Dickerson, Program Director, Testing & Assessment Services – Nominated by Kim Steinmetz
Mary Ann has been putting in long hours working toward accommodating the testing needs of students. She is very conscientious of her responsibilities to uphold the academic standards while letting students access the college. Mary Ann has had to deal with a lot of unforeseen challenges to her processes, but she always finds creative ways to address them. Mary Ann is deserving of the extra effort award because she has put countless hours into finding new ways to serve students!

James Drone, Senior Enterprise Desktop Engineer, Academic Technology Services – Nominated by Barbara Greenwood
James is the most patient and considerate person when helping with IT.  Without James most of HR would not be working from home! He has helped almost all of us in setting up our home computers and in solving various problems. James doesn’t make a person feel inept!  James can be counted on to find a solution and will do whatever is necessary to resolve the problem as soon as possible. I am so thankful to James for all he does and who he is! My husband was equally impressed with James in helping me at home! Thanks James! 

Rachel Haynes, Coordinator Technical Training, Staff Development – Nominated by Kim Steinmetz
Rachel has been instrumental in supporting our staff while we transition to new technologies! She joined an IISS team call and helped us navigate Zoom. She is working with us to get several projects launched. She is so kind, professional, and fun. Rachel is such a good trainer. She’s patient and translates between computer and person! So lovely! Every organization needs a Rachel! ?

Tammie Holmes, Senior Project Manager, Information Services, Project Management Office – Nominated by Stace Acup
I would like to nominate Tammie Holmes for an Extra Effort Award for her management of an extensive long-term project that recently went live, the Information Services TeamDynamix OneIS Ticketing Tune-Up project. This was a collaborative initiative spanning 18 months requiring involvement from many IS professionals to successfully consolidate the IS ticketing applications, streamlining ticket entry and strengthening services. Tammie served as Sr. Project Manager on this project and showed great leadership, perseverance and together with the rest of the IS team, overcame many obstacles in bringing this to a successful conclusion.

Meredith Nelson, Senior Ed Tech Analyst, Educational Technology/Distance Learning – Nominated by Kim Steinmetz
IISS is developing an online orientation for new international students. Meredith is a tech wizard and walked us through all the ins and outs of Canvas. She is a tech genius and can translate our desires into Canvas. That’s not easy because we don’t know what we want or need. Meredith is more than deserving of extra effort as she has done a lot to support those of us trying to catch up in the online realm.

Jocelyn Devaney-Prasad, International and Immigrant Student Support Specialist, IISS Dept. – Nominated by Kim Steinmetz
Jocelyn has been integral to getting the IISS/Financial Aid online form off the ground. She has researched the structure, format, and questions needed for students to submit their forms. She ensured we had all the questions on the form. She also ensured that we were able to upload. She anticipated issues and resolved them. Without her guidance this project would not have gone so smoothly! She deserves extra effort for her hard work!

Magda Carlos-Trevino, Lead Student Assistant, IISS – Nominated by Kim Steinmetz
Magda was given a large project. She is contacting all our current students and getting them to update personal information. This has required reaching out continuously and verifying that we are only contacting students who have not yet completed our form. This information is crucial for immigration compliance and she has done a great job organizing and keeping us up to date on this project. Thank you, Magda!