Extra Effort Awards – July 1, 2020

Connie Brickner, Benefit Specialist, HR – Nominated by Magda S. Carlos-Trevino
I would like to nominate Connie Brickner because she went above and beyond to make sure I had all the accommodations required by my PCP before my return to the office date. She walked me through the whole process so patiently that it made me feel more comfortable. Thank you!

Heidi Ide, Administrative Assistant, Nursing – Nominated by Peggy Barlett, Angie Sears, Nanette LaNier
As part of our graduation/pinning committee, Heidi is always a key player. But this year especially, she wore so many hats: organizing faculty virtual messages, creating a student PowerPoint recognition ceremony, producing the student slide show from photos sent in by the students, working with Media and AV services to make virtual appointments for the students to “flip their tassel” during the virtual ceremony,…and the list seems endless. We have no idea what we would have done if not for Heidi’s tireless work on making this ceremony so special. To top it off, this is what Heidi does as just a part of our graduation committee. Can you imagine all of the countless other jobs she does for the nursing department? We are certainly blessed.

Star Triscornia, Counselor, counseling Leadership Assistant Chair – Nominated by Angie Claussen
Star has gone far above and beyond to organize schedules as we return to campus. She worked endless hours to be sure that all IM, virtual walk-ins & quick questions, zoom appointments, phone appointments, emails, floating shifts, and more were covered every hour as we moved off campus. Now as we return to campus, she has redone everything again to accommodate yet another way we will work with students, “in person” Quick Question Counseling. She is nothing short of a mastermind to be able to figure this all out successfully! Thank you so much Star!

Julie Neemeyer, Manager Creative Marketing & Content, Creative Marketing & Content Dept.– Nominated by Sandra Warner
Sincere thanks and congratulations to Julie Neemeyer and her team for developing the beautiful signage we see all over campus welcoming students and employees back for Step 3 of the Return to Campus Plan. Their efforts produced a well-thought-out wayfinding strategy and signage catalog, consistent design, and intuitive placement. This effort took weeks to develop on the heels of designing and publishing the JCCC Return to Campus Plan. The knowledge and expertise of this team is second to none. Check this out this amazing Step 3 map! https://www.jccc.edu/about/campus/maps/files/step-3-campus-map.pdf 

Shawn Smith, Director CoLab, Academic Support – Nominated by James Hopper
JCCC Student Agency is a labor of love for Shawn. She works with the clients, students, and faculty to ensure timely completion of the projects. She keeps clients. agency students, and mentor faculty up to date on all projects. Without Shawn’s insight and dedication, the student agency would not be successful. 

Kevin Spykerman, Offset/Digital Technician, Document Services – Nominated by Monica Roberts
Kevin is an excellent co-worker. He works hard on getting the Covid-19 signage. He goes above and beyond the scope of his job, from editing to thinking of new creative ways to display the signage. He is integral to the JCCC image in that he takes the time and precision to always do a great job.

Mike Vochatzer, Senior Offset/Digital Tech, Document Services – Nominated by Monica Roberts Monica Roberts & Melissa Nemmers
He has kept our crew staying focused and organized during this crisis making Covid 19 signage for the return of staff and students. The changes are made daily with new and different signage and he takes it in stride.

 

Academic Technology Services Team:
Jeff Morgan, Senior Cloud Sys/App Adm
Bret Lawson, Senior Cloud Engineer
Tim Lucas, Senior Cloud Sys/App Adm
Sen Lin (TEAM)
– Nominated by Adam Entwistle
Wanted to extend my appreciation and gratitude for the work completed by the Academic Systems Cloud Team.

Over the last few months these individuals completed numerous hours of work and after hours project items going above and beyond to accommodate technology needs for our students and faculty. While these individuals exist to an extent in the shadows of JCCC, they continually work on backend systems to allow integration and enable critical technical functions utilized across the academic areas. Their efforts helped to ensure that regular face to face course work could operate in an online-only fashion. They ensured that the administration of the Canvas LMS was adapted for the increased load, implemented new student mappings and organizational units for virtual course systems use, remote class image deployments, and ensured online platforms and systems servers were running at optimal levels.

Their efforts made the process of moving 100% online nearly seamless, as far as course technology items are concerned, allowing students to continue with classes remotely while having limited interruption.

This list of achievements below does not show all of what took place but gives insight to those individuals whom assist with the backed processes which make JCCC not only able to survive in a crisis but thrive and continue moving forward to meet the needs of our students.

• Assisted with the enablement of free student Adobe Creative Cloud accounts for students related courses: Coded for active enrollment by course to add students in Photography, Graphic Design, and other programs to Adobe console for free student Adobe accounts
• Migrated numerous class items to allow seamless delivery to Canvas online.
• Implemented YuJa integration w Canvas to enable seamless video playback within courses
• Installed Labster LTI in Canvas for 3D animated virtual labs for Science with features to track student progress and provide feedback
• Enabled Canvas assignment bulk editing ability in Canvas which improves instructors’ ability to select multiple assignments, batch edit dates, and improve date validation.
• Completed 34 course merges to combine sections for instructors
• Completed 232 requests for Source courses for instructors for building classes and training
• Assisted with the shift and migration to support new Active directory user account configurations, groups and course mappings to backend technology needs within academic VMware platforms to allow additional remote course offerings.

 

Access Control Team:
Eric Christensen, Access Control manager
Jason Buell, Access Control Specialist
Darla Mabrey, Access Control Assistant
Matt Riggs, Access Control Technician
Jeannette Lula, Office Assistant
– Nominated by Alisa Pacer and Dixie Johnson
Thank you to Access Control for creating such a smooth June 22 soft opening of our door access system on campus. They strategized and coded entrance doors on 18 active use buildings throughout campus to make things work seamlessly. Your dedication and hard work are amazing!

International and Immigrant Student Services Team:
Kim Steinmetz, Program Director International & Immigrant Services
Rabeh Ghadiri, Office Coordinator
Jaya Daniels, Coordinator International & Immigrant Students
Dessa Crum, Coordinator International & Immigrant Students
Suzanne Maheu, Coordinator Homestay
Jocelyn Devaney-Prasad, International Program Support Specialist
– Nominated by Magda S. Carlos-Trevino

I would like to nominate my entire team for all the support they have given me (professionally and personally). First, when we transitioned to work from home and now that we’ve got back to the office. I feel so proud to be part of IISS. Thank you is not enough; GRACIAS!

 

Return to Campus Taskforce Sub-Team:
Ebeth Campbell, Manager House/Volunteer, CC Sales and Marketing
Dixie Johnson, Administrative Assistant, Emergency Management
Aaron Swift, Administrative Assistant, Police Department
Jim Dice, Coordinator Athletic Fac. & Clinic, Athletics Director
Anne Hunt, Manager Conference Services & Room Scheduling, Scheduling & Event Management
Gary Cook, Director Housekeeping Services /Haz Mat Control, Housekeeping Services
Aaron Manning, Coordinator Housekeeping & Custodial Services
Alisa Pacer, Director, Emergency Management
– Nominated by Alisa Pacer

Several volunteers and the Housekeeping team lead a sub-team to prepare common hallways and spaces on campus for social distancing guidelines. The sub-team consisted of Ebeth Campbell, Dixie Johnson, Aaron Swift, Jim Dice, Anne Hunt, Gary Cook, Aaron Manning and Alisa Pacer. The team did an outstanding job of setting standards and signage to prep the Common Areas/Hallways around campus for social distancing. Once the guidance was established, Housekeeping took a huge lead and carried out the strategy to all necessary buildings. They helped turn chairs around and tape them off that were not within with 6ft social distancing guidelines, placed “Seat Closed” signs on tables/chairs not to be used, and placed “1 Person only” signs strategically on benches. The Housekeeping team also assembled and positioned hand sanitizer stands at entrances in each building being used starting June 22. Thank you so much for your hard work!

Moving forward, the virtual Extra Effort Awards will be announced bi-weekly. The virtual Extra Effort Award nomination form can be found at https://blogs.jccc.edu/staffdev/awards/extra-effort/