Tara is a consummate professional with the Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology and Science and genuinely cares about meeting and exceeding the needs of her colleagues and partners. She goes above and beyond in pursuing excellence in her collaborations and support of external units. Tara has become a wonderful ambassador for our university in assisting faculty, students and staff as they navigate the university policies and resources and in serving as a point of first contact for visitors and guests. “If she did not exist, we would try to invent her,” said one of Tara’s colleagues. Tara is helpful, caring, resourceful, and happy to offer service no matter the task. She is a true champion for higher education with a tireless commitment to serving our university.

Blake Wickerham is an Athletic Trainer who provides comprehensive health care to our student athletes. Even though it is not required Blake has completed additional training as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). During the Fall of 2018 a student athlete presented with difficulty breathing and stated that he felt as if his throat was closing in. Blake immediately remembered that the student had a history of nut allergies and began the evaluation and treatment for anaphylaxis. Blake’s quick response, recognition of the severity of the medical emergency and effective treatment resulted in saving the life of this student. A delay or failure to take action could have led to a tragic outcome. Blake is always striving to improve the care he provides to student athletes and is willing to go above and beyond.

Micheline is the Building Environmental Technician for Holladay Hall where she marks the epitome of great customer service: friendly, considerate, polite, meticulous and very conscientious. She notices when things are out of the ordinary. She goes above and beyond to ensure that Holladay Hall is a welcoming environment. She has a tireless work ethic and commitment to a superior quality of work. Micheline’s warm smile and friendly voice engage Holladay Hall every morning. She greets everyone by name and her singing brightens up the atmosphere, bringing a sense of peace to the office. The joy she exhibits reflects what makes NC State truly great and a wonderful home to many people. Micheline Baluka is a model co-worker who exemplifies the “Think and Do” attitude and spirit of NC State.

As Supervisor of the Roofing shop, Alex demonstrates outside the box thinking with innovative, cost-saving solutions. Instead of having to replace 2 new roofs, Alex and his crew were able to perform 2 roof overlays with a total savings to the University of approximately $300,000. Exemplifying caring leadership and personal courage, Alex was a source of stability and strength to the roofing shop throughout a tragic incident involving the death of a teammate. Alex provided an emotional foundation for both the shop and the family as he personally spent numerous hours providing support and resource referrals all while maintaining the closeness and cohesion of the team. Alex’s compassion and dedication to his team are the epitome of loyalty and cohesion, a stellar example of leading the Pack.

Customer Service Center Associate for Facilities, Denise Caldrone, captivates the Facilities workflow process as if her life depended on it. Denise epitomizes self-sacrifice and always has the customer’s interest in the forefront of her work. During a transition period in her department, Denise frequently came in early and stayed late to get the job done. Hurricanes and snow? Not a concern to Denise – volunteering to sleep on an air mattress to ensure responsiveness to the arising weather-related requests. Her love for NC State and the customers, along with her work ethic, and concern for the university’s stewardship of resources always comes before her own needs.

Generating nearly $500,000 in annual savings for NC State is just another year’s work for Kerby Smithson. Kerby works tirelessly to improve campus through energy reduction projects that not only save energy but further cross-department collaboration on campus energy savings. He’s created the Ultra-Low Temperature Freezer Energy Efficiency Rebate program, incentivizing researchers to use energy efficient equipment, has improved the efficiency of the 1911 Building through innovative window film that preserves the building’s iconic architecture, and upgraded lighting standards resulting in NC State’s first building with 100% LED lighting. Kerby also coordinates the Holiday Energy Savings Initiative, which this year generated nearly $400,000 in savings while campus was closed for winter break. NC State is a better, more efficient campus due to Kerby‘s impact.

Bob has worked for NC State Dining for over 20 years as the General Manager at Case & Murphy Dining Halls. Bob instills the importance of hospitality and community within his department. Creating his own success and challenging conventional thinking, Bob is innovative in recruiting and retaining talent, encouraging cross-training and professional development to help with staffing flexibility and personal growth, and reached even further into the community to create and collaborate with Wake Tech hospitality, Step Up Ministries and Passage Home to provide professional training for people who need a helping hand in life to develop job-ready skills. He really believes in homegrown talent; it is amazing to see all the people that he has hired, developed and has had the opportunity to grow on our campus and in our community.

Across two roles in OIT Enterprise Applications Services (EAS), Natalie Boone exceeded expectations in meeting the needs of her customers and played a major role in the selection and implementation of the new Enterprise Research Application (ERA) project. As an assistant, Natalie excelled at maintaining a complex document tree that grew into hundreds of files covering every aspect of the selection process. Natalie became the iconic presence the ERA selection committee valued as the one who “always knew where everything was.” She took the initiative to learn critical business processes, and because of her rich experience, Natalie was hired as the first member of the EAS ERA Development Team. Since then, Natalie has been the foundation, as we’ve built out a team to support the project’s implementation and customers.

Brian DeConinck is one of NC State’s strongest advocates for digital accessibility. On his own initiative, Brian figured out how to use an open source accessibility engine to build WordPress Accessibility Helper, an outstanding plugin that tests WordPress pages and posts for common accessibility issues, provides visual alerts, and shows content creators why they are issues and, importantly, how to correct them.

Brian has given several talks on this plugin and continues to lead in its development, using feedback from users on and beyond campus. This plugin is now available on thousands of NC State pages and has been shared with many other campuses and companies. By actively ensuring that WordPress works to make their new editing environment accessible, Brian is having a significant impact at NC State and beyond.

Katie McInerney, OIT’s training coordinator, has become integral to many of OIT’s training and outreach efforts, especially those involving cybersecurity, a topic of crucial concern as NC State strives to balance the needs for both academic openness and increasing information security. Katie led the first mandatory Data Security Training effort, involving more than 25,000 university employees. Initially involved with only content development, she ultimately led the multistep process to produce online training modules.
In addition, Katie headed a team tasked to create training and communications for two-factor authentication enrollment for employees. By involving key participants from several campus units, she enhanced the rollout of that all-important cyber security measure. Katie now chairs the cross-unit Cybersecurity Awareness Team and continues to seek novel ways to enhance security awareness.

Cheri Pipkin went beyond the requirements of her position to ensure the success of the REPORTER application and the non-credit campus community. Her amazing customer service and penchant for collaboration and teamwork were crucial to the project.
Cheri faced challenges in leading a project that campus has not quite tackled — a single non-credit registration system. With limited resources, she had to work with different campus departments and support a system with rapidly increasing needs and audience sizes. In the past year, registrations in the system increased exponentially, due to high-demand and high-volume courses. A campus push to move outreach activity and required training into REPORTER made the past year extremely challenging.
Cheri’s willingness to lead made the difference in our customers’ success and a significant contribution to NC State .

Laura embodies exceptional customer service. Laura joined NC Stateas the office manager for the Office of Research and Innovation. She worked with all five research and innovation units, our partnering divisions and colleges, as well asexternal local, regional and national collaborators. Because of her outstanding work, she was promoted to a University Program Associate and then to a University Program Specialist. She is constantly looking for new and innovative ways to improve her work and she ultimately increases the impact of the groups she represents. If you mention hername, you will typically hear phrases like, “she is amazing”, “I couldn’t have done this project without her”, “can I please borrow Laura”, and “can we clone her.” Her quality and commitment to customers and partners is genuine and represents the true spirit of organizational excellence.

Serving as North Carolina Sea Grant’s coastal construction and erosion specialist for over 40 years, he has provided scientific, research-based information to coastal property owners, government agencies, designers, and building professionals while ensuring that researchers understand and work to address the needs of these coastal stakeholder groups. He has developed a reputation as a national expert on construction and how natural processes interact with the built environment at the coast. We estimate that his work, in collaboration with the North Carolina Building Code Council, has produced savings for North Carolina commercial and residential property owners that exceed $1,000,000 annually through reduced insurance premiums. To improve coastal construction, he has surveyed the impacts of every hurricane and many of the tropical storms in the Atlantic and Gulf coast regions over the past four decades. He has consistently provided leadership at the state, regional, and national levels.

Dr. Deborah Acker has mentored faculty teams through the initial preparation for a new minor in Global Leadership that she developed. The minor includes a full Study Abroad semester through NC State’s newly expanded European Center in Prague, providing a unique benefit to students as they experience other cultures, work with diverse teams, learn how to negotiate travel, and develop a world view. The minor could potentially become a platform for an ongoing partnership with European or other global partners, setting NC State apart from its peer universities. Acker aspires to the pursuit of excellence in all of her undertakings, She has exhibited excellence in this most recent achievement for the University as we continue to strengthen ties across Europe and prepare our students to work in a global economy.

Jonathan Champ, DELTA’s Lead Information Architect / PHP Developer, has made outstanding contributions to the workplace at DELTA as a model of collegiality, and at NC State, where he has actively worked on a parental leave policy for the university for over two years, striving to bring to the attention of decision makers the very real issue of the lack of adequate parental leave for new parents. Jonathan is an outstanding colleague, someone that you can count on for a friendly conversation and an invitation to lunch. Outside of work, he helps others by volunteering with the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina, helping to fight food insecurity in NC. Jonathan is a model for those striving to make the workplace, and the world, better for others.

William goes above and beyond in customer service and as a team member by offering key services around the clock at the NC State Libraries. In his original role as overnight supervisor, William ensured safety by partnering with campus security to train and coach the Libraries guard staff, who are often the first faces that library patrons encounter. He often volunteers for shifts in Adverse Weather situations when colleagues are unable to get to work. He manages all of the logistics that allow the Libraries to stay open and fully-staffed 24 hours per day, 5 days per week, and 361 days per year. His efforts result in great efficiency and predictability for Libraries staff and student workers.

Lou is a founding member of the Open Knowledge Initiative and the use of the open-source learning platform Moodle at NC State. Lou is the “quintessential big picture guy. He anticipates and builds solutions for his audience, across colleges and units. Lou has been heavily involved with learning analytics, using various data that is known about students which helps predict a student’s success in a given course and more importantly, using that data to identify students who may need additional support. He was recently named to the steering team for the Educause Student Success Analytics Constituent Group, a national group brought together to further the use of data to ensure student success. Lou has spoken at engagements related to learning analytics in Edinburgh, Scotland, New Orleans and San Diego.

Alexis Simison has demonstrated leadership, the ability to launch significant HR initiatives, and an ability to tackle major HR-related challenges. Alexis’s actions are made with the employee’s interest first even as her eye is on the organizational goals. She has championed numerous policies and practices that increase morale, from helping plan a lactation room in the new Center for Technology and Innovation building, to leading DELTA’s wellness program, to crafting standard operating procedures for our organization that provide work flexibility for our staff. For her continued excellence as the HR Goddess for the Division of Academic Outreach & Entrepreneurship, and her tireless focus on creating a better place for all of us to work, Alexis’s daily contributions to workplace morale make her deserving of recognition.

Bethanne Tobey, Lead Instructional Designer, DELTA, is deserving of the NC State University Award for Excellence in recognition of her leadership of a new course quality assurance program for online and blended courses at NC State. This innovative program has resulted in 8 courses becoming Quality Matters (QM) certified, a recognition of national importance that raises the profile of our distance education programs. Twenty-eight faculty and staff have received QM-based professional development in effective course design. The research-supported and best practice-based standards and tools of QM are a driving force in online course quality and assurance. Outside of work, Bethanne is a model of giving and community service, currently serving as the lead volunteer for Helping Horse, the oldest therapeutic riding program in Raleigh for kids with special needs.

Connor Brady serves as a Community Director within the Division of Academic and Student Affairs. In addition to his service to the NC State Community, Connor has demonstrated his dedication to public service efforts in the Raleigh, Wake County, and eastern NC communities through service to projects of the Raleigh Jaycess as well as worked to pass on a love of service and leadership to high school students through the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership foundation. Connor has made outstanding contributions to public service and his ability to share his love of public service projects, while engaging his students and colleagues to do the same, makes him truly deserving of this honor.

James Jennings serves as an HVAC Technician for the Division of Academic and Student Affairs where he plays in integral role in maintaining the heating and air-conditioning systems that serve over 3 million square feet of the Division’s buildings. James is dedicated to improving his skills and always strives to provide the best possible service to the students of NC State University and epitomizes the University’s motto of “Think and Do”. James is a very talented technician who puts in 100% effort into everything he does. He is dedicated, hard-working, and committed to taking care of the needs of his customers. James is an invaluable member of the DASA Facilities team and very deserving of the Award for Excellence.

Brian Mathis serves the NC State Community in his role as Associate Director of Leadership and Civic Engagement and has been instrumental in shaping and inspiring the shared vision for civic engagement at the University. Through his work and involvement with the local community, Brian has proven himself as a fiercely committed advocate for civic engagement and social change through his work, which includes assisting with the launch of the first online service platform that connects the NC State Community and local organizations, spearheading the creation of Pack the Polls, and serving as the co-chairperson of the Service Zone at Packapalooza. Brian’s leadership and vision in the institutionalization of service and engagement has been an invaluable asset to NC State University and the surrounding community.

Travis Sills serves as a Regional Facilities Manager within the Division of Academic and Student Affairs. His leadership and dedication go above and beyond what is normally expected from someone in his role and goes even further than the daily maintenance operation of the campus he is responsible for. In September Hurricane Florence loomed off the NC coast. Travis immediately began preparing for the storm’s arrival. Travis and four other staff members stayed on campus to provide immediate response in the event campus was inaccessible. Although NC State averted the direct hit from Florence, UNC Wilmington took a direct hit. Travis joined a volunteer team that went to assist in UNCW. Travis’s knowledge and leadership played a vital role in the team’s efforts to lend a hand to another University .

Jacqueline makes every alum feel special at NC State. She listens to older alums’ sorties like a caring daughter. Jacqueline has amazing people skills yet sides in and out the matrix we call Advanced like a nimble-fingered data ninja. Jacqueline is a great colleague with a laugh so infectious it could fill Reynolds Coliseum…and then bounce off the walls of Talley.
One project that she took on was the NC State Alumni Association’s premium fulfillment. This streamlining of premium process highlights the greater diversity of Jacqueline’s talents. This project took many people’s efforts to bring to fruition, but Jacqueline brought it all together.
The Alumni Association staff is grateful to Jacqueline for the positive energy she brings to work and for improving the efficiency and service to our alumni community.

Joey was instrumental in the name gift for the Wilson College of Textiles. He was involved in this gift before it was even a reality. Not only did Joey do a lot of hard work in the beginning to set up this transformational $28 million gift from the Wilson family, but he exemplified what it means to be part of the Pack by collaborating and bringing in the right team members at the right points in time to make this a successful partnership for everyone involved. Joey is liked and respected by all of his colleagues, which is a direct result of his positive attitude, his genuine interest in others, and the respect he shows and garners to help everyone to be successful.

Neil serves as the Research Shop Manager and Building Liaison in the Department of Biological & Agricultural Engineering. He epitomizes someone that puts plans and practices into action that have resulted in innovation, savings and efficiency.
The best example of this is probably his innovative approach to the renovation of Weaver Laboratories. In fact, the renovations in the Weaver Labs have caught the attention of the University Architect’s office and Chancellor Woodson. Both the Chancellor and the University Architect, along with others, have toured the innovative renovations that have improved the laboratories that were once eyesores for the department. They are now showcases for multi-investigator research space. Neil is constantly considering ways that the entire department can be innovative in our approach to improve our teaching, research, and extension programs.

Over the past two years, Geri has demonstrated an unselfish devotion to her duties above and beyond the normal requirements in the building of the Dinah E. Gore Teaching and Research Kitchen complex. Geri took a leadership role in connecting with internal and external support. Specifically, she is directly responsible for cultivating the contributions of the statewide North Carolina Extension and Community Association as well as their five district affiliates. Through this process, Geri managed unforeseen emergencies and construction delays, and communicated with building occupants about construction progress. Geri embodies the kind of colleague that we all strive to be. Her passion, commitment, and organizational skills go beyond any expectation of her position.

Albert “Buddy” Daniels is a long time, dedicated employee of the Horticultural Crops Research Station in Castle Hayne.Buddy is the quintessential employee that always does his share of the work plus a good portion of someone else’s. His work will always surpass your expectations. In the spring each year, blueberries are susceptible to cold damage. Several of the blueberry faculty members would sit up all night with him during this time; however, in recent years, they stopped coming on these dangerous nights. It is not because they don’t want to, but rather they know they don’t have to. They know that Buddy will provide the very best care for their plants – even in a rain storm, in the middle of the night, or when the temperature is in the teens.

Annie Freeman has been an administration assistant in the Richmond County Cooperative Extension office for several years now. She assists the program areas of livestock, 4-H Summerfun, week long camps, and day camps, as well as 4-H awards programs.
When a 4-H youth comes in scared or a parent comes in angry, they always leave with a smile because she has helped to calm their nerves and troubleshoot their problems. If you looked up the word Customer Service in the dictionary, her picture should be there smiling back at you.
Even when Annie had damage to her home during Hurricane Florence, she was still able to keep the office running smoothly. Annie makes it look easy, but as we all know, it’s really a lot of work.

John Garner, Superintendent of the NCSU Williamsdale Farm Extension and Research Center, went above and beyond his normal duties during Hurricanes Florence and Matthew. During the first few days after the storm, John was very active on conference calls coordinating the response, despite that fact that his own research station was in peril, and that he had to evacuate his own family.
Throughout the Hurricane Florence and Tropical Storm Michael experience, John Garner, became one of the keys in all the response efforts. After the storm he was again called on to help with additional supply distributions because of his willingness and his ability to get a job done.
His ability to connect the dots between the various agencies, commodity groups, farm organizations and community needs allowed many to get help that otherwise would have had to suffer even more than they did.

In the fall of 2018, Lenoir County and the surrounding area suffered one of the most devastating floods to date after Hurricane Florence.
As the floodwaters rose, Eve began receiving messages from coworkers and volunteers who wanted to help.Eve quickly realized that she was in a pivotal spot, in the middle of the devastation, yet still fortunate to maintain cell phone and internet services.
Basically, Eve jumped in and became the connector piece for farmers with donations and farmers in need of donations. And, by her example, she inspired the creation of other supply distribution centers in Onslow, Pender, and Duplin counties, as well as at a research center. A state level effort grew out of a few text messages and one woman’s drive to get things done.

Enass works in post award grant management. She represents the type of meticulous, detail-orientated person that has significantly contributed to the smooth and timely operation of the contracts and grants program within the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. In the last two years, her philosophy of service through collaboration is phenomenal.
Ms. Wahby pre-empts problems. She exquisitely exemplifies exceptional “Customer Service” her dedication, promptness, attention to detail, organization, integration of a portfolio rather than dealing with single grants, accommodating emergencies and unanticipated deadlines, and many others, are much more relevant than quick response.

Jim demonstrates an unselfish devotion to serving to the citizens (our students, faculty and staff) of the College of Design. His devotion manifests across many of the categories of the NC State University Awards for Excellence: in unadorned customer service; in purposeful and judicious innovation; in heartfelt, non-saccharine human relations; in honest service: and through a focus on safety. At each engagement, he greets you warmly; provides you with his full attention; gives an honest answer – a critique which can be heard; and generally seasons the conversation with his distinctive chuckle. Jim’s kind and engaging demeanor belies his focus on the safety for each person in the shop. Jim is consistent, honest, authentic, kind, and devoted.

Nikki is an incredibly valued employee of the College of Design. She takes initiative in providing outstanding customer service to both the College’s internal colleagues as well as external constituents. She is always eager to help in any way and does it in a timely manner. Most recently, Nikki took the initiative to strategize, organize and carry out a project that benefits multiple different areas of the College including Development, External Relations IT, and every department within the College. She spent additional time orienting Faculty members to this project and it has greatly benefited many areas. Colleagues are consistently impressed with Nikki’s ability to relate to all faculty and staff and her light-hearted service she brings to the job. She is an incredibly valued member of our community.

Meghan is truly the one who makes our MOOC-Ed initiative work. She works with each course instructor to take their online course or MOOC from content to reality. She goes the extra mile by editing content, making recommendations for how to improve user experience, and translating course content into a fully interactive online course. She gives each course developer personal attention and ensures that she turns their vision into reality. This is no small task, considering she is the only staff member providing this service and we run nine courses per semester. In addition to building the course, Meghan works with the course teams to help them brainstorm how to structure content for our online platform and is proactively involved in all facets of course development.

Ms. Jackson is the Director of Research Management in the College of Education. She has been at NC State for 19 years and in the College of Education since 2008. When talking about someone who exceeds expectations to meet the needs of the customers, one is taking about Ms. Jackson. Her work ethic and engagement exemplify what it means to be an amazing steward of government resources, always focused on the needs of those she serves and adding value to all customers’ experiences. Her devotion to her service and to the college is above and beyond what is required in her position, and her unwavering commitment to better serving the university and the state of North Carolina is a clear asset to our community.

Mitch sets a high bar for public service. One example: he volunteered to serve a three-year term on the Rolesville Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. During his tenure, Rolesville planned and built the Rolesville Main Street Park. The park, with greenway trails, shelters, playgrounds, an open play field and a gazebo, is now the heart of that community.
He volunteers with “Grow and Share”, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing food security by helping establish local gardens. Mitch helped start and transplant thousands of vegetable and herb seeds in Grow and Share’s greenhouse. All recipients were asked to sign Grow and Share’s “Pledge to Share”–to take enough plants to grow more than they needed and share the extra with “neighbors, strangers or food banks” to help bring fresh food to their community.

It has been said that to the world you may be just one person, but to one person, you could mean the world. This adage applies to Tammy, as she treats everyone she meets as if they were the most important person in the world. Tammy has been referred to as the “2nd Mom” to countless students. The strong bonds she makes guides, nurtures, and supports them throughout their academic journey.
She’s received countless notes of appreciation from parents for serving as their child’s “NC State parent.” One parent of a blind student expressed how reassuring it was to know that Tammy was there for her son, and it allowed her to rest easier at night. As such, a generation of NC State Computer Science graduates have grown into adulthood, prepared well for the journey because of Tammy.

Charles has rewritten and redesigned all the department’s collateral materials that are used as “sales tools” during Open House. He took the lead on bringing the entire production of the departmental annual magazine, Spotlight, in house and increased distribution to over 2,000 recipients. He also took over the CHARGE website and newsletter which promoted innovative research across the nation. This saved the department approximately $60,000/ year keeping production in house. Charles designed an electronic gallery wall to exhibit the ECE Alumni Hall of Fame, he created the ECE 100th anniversary logo and incorporated it into marketing materials, He is significantly involved with the ECEDHA branding campaign and will be one of the NCSU ECE representatives to present this work at the national 2019 ECEDHA Conference.

Harvey is always willing to help anyone who needs it, whether it be a student, staff, faculty, or external constituent. He provides tours and demonstrations of the CAMAL Laboratories, he provides guest lectures in a number of graduate and undergraduate classes, and he always makes time to answer questions within his area of expertise from graduate students across campus. Harvey is sought after because he’s the one “they heard can help”. He has a smile for everyone. His positive outlook and helpful friendly demeanor continues to have a tremendous impact of the overall attitude and character of the work environment at CAMAL, the College of Engineering and NCSU as a whole. His dedication, willingness to help, and positive attitude exemplify what the term “customer service” really means.

Anthony Bennett has demonstrated commitment to NC State University in his exemplary service to our students, faculty and staff. He help students obtain the ability to effectively navigate and understand university systems, which often contributes to their success. A critical component of his duties includes advising a caseload of 50 students however, when the department did not have a permanent academic adviser, Mr. Bennett stepped up and increased his caseload to 120 students. An academically stellar student had been accepted by a number of MSW programs and decided to attend NC State because she felt a sense of connection and belonging. His diligent efforts, coupled with his human social capital, gave her support in the admissions process and confidence that this was where she belong.

There are few people more dedicated to their work and family than Crissy Williams. She excels at her job and always has a calm, positive demeanor, but her reach extends throughout campus for her creation of a support group for parents of children with special needs. As one of these parents, her initial goal was to solicit help and feedback from others in similar situations, but after she discovered the significant need across campus, it turned into something bigger. She invites various groups to meetings, including the Autism Society, Wake County Schools (to discuss IEPs), and University HR (to discuss FLMA). Other meetings focus on tips for managing home and work lives, helpful resources and simply providing a listening ear. Crissy also mentors students through the work-study program and TRIO, which helps students overcome class, social, and cultural barriers to higher education.

Although it is Ellen’s fifth year in Global Programs, she has been amazing every year. Due in large part to her efforts, Poole College sent 87 students abroad in 2018: a 120% increase over 2017. She meets with prospective Study Abroad students first to find programs that fit them and later to advise participants on travel, housing and visa requirements.
Ellen travels in advance to some destinations and insures all details are in order for faculty and students alike. She has received much praise from both. A student wrote: “…thank you so much for taking the time to find all this information for me. … you have been the most helpful person I’ve found at NC State, and I can’t thank you enough…”

Sherley provides superior customer service to all she encounters: faculty, staff, current/former/prospective students, parents & families, and members of the general public.She handles many things: reimbursements for faculty & extensive financial activities for numerous workshops incl. hotel bookings, airline tickets, etc; liaises with HR and the International Office to handle a large number of foreign-born faculty and graduate students; and contract work for lecturers, instructors, and teaching & graduate assistants.
When December weather impacted exams, she assisted dozens of students in scheduling make-ups by finding space and proctoring them herself. Anytime special accommodations are needed for exams, Sherley locates the proper environment and makes sure they have what is needed to succeed.Sherley treats everyone with respect and genuine care.

Erin is an Academic Coordinator for the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources. She has always put students first. She was integral to transitioning the Environmental Sciences program successfully to FER, working on curriculum revisions and making sure that ES students were served. Erin’s role has evolved and she continues to lead and contribute in innumerable ways. Her excellence in communication was recognized and utilized to produce an outstanding weekly newsletter. Students immensely value this resource to read news and look for internships and jobs. Erin has also taken over the professional development classes for three majors. Erin launched the FER Leadership Board and serves as the organization’s adviser. She has set a positive example in her event planning, working with students, and teaching, all in service to students and the department.

Mary, an outstanding business service coordinator, does not simply provide services, but she truly cares about the needs of the people that she supports. She is detail oriented, hardworking, a great communicator and multi-tasks with the best of them. Her role is at the heart of Geospatial Analytics operations working with various research offices to resolve complicated project modifications, completing summer salary actions on time despite last hour changes beyond her control, completing visa paperwork to exacting specifications, quickly resolving complex travel issues, running simultaneous HR actions with precision and resolve, and offering tireless assistance with college events. She does this with a friendly and genuine smile, and her presence is deeply felt by everyone around her. She is passionate about doing all she can to support the students, faculty and staff.

Wall serves in a variety of important roles, including as the capital assets manager and the building liaison for many of the department’s buildings. He also participates in a broad range of training so that he can serve as a reliable source of information about university policies in environment, safety and building operations. He has helped protect expensive laboratory equipment and important samples during floods and power outages, ensuring that the disruption to research is minimal.
In the words of one nominator, “Wall takes every responsibility and request — of which there are so many — as seriously as the next, and doesn’t stop until he knows concerns and problems have been addressed.”

Alan is known for being the backbone and heart of the department, as well as being extremely well-versed in the finer points of budget and human resources policies and regulations. He has earned a reputation for open communication, good organization, common sense, hindsight, forward planning with kindness, compassion, encouragement, respect, and concern for everyone he comes in contact with.
In the words of one nominator, “Alan is the spirit and the glue who keeps this department together, making everyone feel welcome through numerous intangible gestures, patience, supportiveness and consensus-building. Alan is respected and liked, without exception, by staff, students and faculty alike.”

Meredith’s position is responsible for supporting the day-to-day operations of proposal processing. Much to her credit, Meredith eagerly demonstrates her desire and ability to manage responsibilities outside her scope of work. Recently Meredith took the lead role in developing and launching the College Research Office’s new proposal development services.
For one of the new services, Meredith constructed a Faculty Research Area database, which is a database of Faculty’s research areas of expertise and interest used primarily by Meredith to match potential funding opportunities to specific faculty. In short, Meredith has revolutionized faculty members’ approach and enthusiasm for writing grants! Her willingness to go beyond expectations and her commitment to constant improvement makes her a tremendous asset to Wilson College of Textiles.

Melissa’s commitment to NC State and her work ethic has served to raise the public image of the newly named Wilson College of Textiles. One year ago, Melissa began working tirelessly to bring Techtextil North America to Raleigh. Techtextil is an annual trade show dedicated to the technical textiles and nonwovens industries. Melissa met with show organizers in early 2018 and started making the case for Raleigh to host the event in 2019, ensuring them that there could be no better location to bring together the textile industry.
From Feb. 26-28, representatives from companies near and far discovered NC State’s Wilson College of Textiles and our capabilities. In addition, Techtextil N.A. organizers are now in the process of negotiating terms to bring the event back to Raleigh in 2021. No one did more this year to tell Wilson College of Textiles’ story wide and far than Melissa Sharp did.

Lindsey works diligently and innovatively to improve laboratory facilities, anatomical resources, and course administration. Her efforts have resulted in growth in efficiency, directly benefiting hundreds of students and her co-workers and generating huge cost savings. Lindsey is, at her core, a problem solver. She has a knack for identifying inefficiencies and immediately acts to reform them. Lindsey has achieved many innovations while maintaining a heavy teaching load, instructing first-year DVM students in the lab component of both the small and large animal anatomy courses, and overseeing the daily operation of a large teaching laboratory facility. Though it somewhat uncommon for anatomy lab managers in medical education to take an active role in teaching, Lindsey has embraced teaching and has excelled as an educator.

Jeneal exemplifies the qualities of outstanding customer service. She goes beyond the expectations of her position and always has a cheerful, “let’s-get-this-done” attitude. She has been instrumental in helping faculty successfully submit too many grants to count. She helps with every single issue from figuring out budgets to making sure support letters are correctly formatted to contacting others on campus to make sure we are doing everything correctly. She is always cheerful and offering extra help. And, this is not an 8am – 5pm effort. Jeneal stays late to make sure we meet the deadlines and answers emails at night and on weekends. By the time we submit grants we are beyond grateful for her help and are left feeling extremely fortunate to have someone like Jeneal in our college.

Kristen is a skilled “technical” technician, but where she really shines is client education and client interaction. She is our ‘first line’ when it comes to admitting pets to the hospital, contacting pet owners to provide updates about their pets, and assisting with patient discharges. Our pet ‘parents’ LOVE Kristen, and she is most often the one they ask for when they are calling with questions about their pet. The pet owners even provide her with updates after treatment is complete. She does a wonderful job of connecting with people to ease their fears and anxieties about radiation treatment for their pets. She is truly an advocate for the patients and their caregivers, and she is a compassionate “face” of NC State Veterinary Hospital to the public.

Jenna’s impeccable standards for client service, communication, horse handling, ethical behavior, accurate record keeping, team work, and lifelong learning set an amazing example for NCSU veterinary students. Last year Jenna helped organize a national primary care veterinarian wet lab called Field Skills for Road Warriors.
NCSU CVM hosted this training event for the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP). The AAEP requested a hands-on experience for practitioners, so this event required extensive coordination of live animal resources, NCSU CVM facilities, faculty instructors, student volunteers, equipment rentals and vendors. It literally took months to plan this event and none of it would have been possible without Jenna’s innovation, creativity, problem solving ability and efficiency; and she did all this in addition to her “normal” duties.

Nikkiya has advanced the reputation of the Student Services Office by developing efficiency and innovation in recruitment, admissions and scholarship application processing. She possessed the vision of the creation of a diversity brochure to highlight the college’s commitment to inclusion. She developed two recruitment weekends to target non-resident and resident applicants separately. She has worked with the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid with the implementation of PACK Assist as the scholarship application system for the CVM. This year, she has also implemented changes to the CVM Awards nomination and voting process. Nikkiya exudes a positive attitude and welcoming demeanor. She tries to be resourceful and friendly while maintaining fairness and equity. She is great to work with because she listens carefully and offers an insightful perspective.