Two staff members recognized as employees of the year, seven others also nominated
Two Strategic Resources and Support (SRS) staff members were among four university employees who received 2020 Employee of the Year awards from Chancellor Phil DiStefano. Another seven also received nominations for their outstanding professional contributions during one of the most challenging years in university history.
“All of this year’s winners have shown incredible strength and commitment to our operations, our staff, our students and the Boulder community during the pandemic. They represent the best of CU,” the chancellor said in November when he announced the finalists.
Tim Golden, director of transportation and distribution services, and Lisa Landis, assistant vice chancellor of employee relations, were among the four employees recognized in November for their efforts to go above and beyond to support students, faculty and staff by quickly mobilizing and implementing new processes and procedures to support our COVID-ready campus.
Nominators were asked to highlight exceptional employee contributions in response to the pandemic, and 29 university employees overall were nominated for the awards. In addition to Golden and Landis, the seven other SRS employees who were nominated for the awards are listed below. Please join us in congratulating our SRS superheroes and thanking them for their service!
- Catherine “Trina” Hicks – Hicks is a member of the Office of the Registrar team that transformed the fall 2020 class schedule to accommodate COVID-19 protocols. The team recreated structures for class sizes, modalities, room assignments, time assignments, etc., in close partnership with the Office of the Provost and Planning, Design and Construction.
- Rebecca “Becky” Jones – Jones led the Enrollment and Records Services team in the Office of the Registrar, which manually processed thousands of pass/fail change requests and hundreds of student emails, and managed spring 2020 issues on tuition, grade replacement and all associated process changes. She also supervised the office’s call center through pandemic.
- Stacy Lindholm – Lindholm works in Planning, Design and Construction and co-chaired a COVID-19 facilities task force that researched, planned, and developed requirements for campus physical distancing guidelines. She and the task force also analyzed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), state and county requirements, and worked with campus experts to develop a safe fall 2020 hybrid learning experience.
- Hannah Simonson – Part of the Office of the Registrar team that transformed the fall 2020 class schedule to accommodate COVID-19 protocols, Simonson reviewed data on thousands of classes to match newly revised instructional spaces with classes that required an in-person component, responded to feedback from departments, resolved issues and identified solutions.
- Carmen Ware – As a member of the Learning Spaces Technology team in the Office of Information Technology (OIT), Ware led the critical remote capable classroom service project to install more than 300 hybrid classrooms for the fall 2020 semester.
- Susan Youtz – Youtz works in the Office of Financial Aid and responded to COVID-19 implications for scholarship recipients, compiling approved plans that helped hundreds of students maintain scholarships that were put at risk by course and credit hour changes.
- Sarah Yurgealitis – Yurgealitis led a massive revision project for class data, classroom spaces, and a scheduling formula to adapt to COVID-19 protocols.