Applause Awardees-2004

January-Lori Mueller, Mathematics
February-Sara Basiaga, Chemistry
March-Toni Penton, Geosciences
April-Janet Carlson, English
May-Cheryl Kruid, Communication Studies & Judaic Studies
June-Barb Nordmeyer, Biological Sciences
July-Amy Bearskin, Bureau of Sociological Research
August-Nancy Knapp, Institute for Ethnic Studies
September-Kelly Grey Carlisle, English and Prairie Schooner
October-Gayle Schuler, Biological Sciences
November-Jaime Longwell, Psychology

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November-Jaime Longwell

Our Applause awardee for November is Jamie Longwell in Psychology. As her nominations say, "As Department Chair I truly appreciate "team players" like Jamie Longwell. Jamie is an integral part of our team in many ways and makes a wide variety of valuable contributions. For example, in the Psychological Consultation Center (PCC) she skillfully deals with difficult clinical situations that would intimidate many. The PCC serves persons from the community with mental health problems, and whether it is over the phone or in person in the clinic, we can count on Jamie to provide the care, empathy, and follow through that are needed for our clients...

"Someone who can "keep her head when all about are losing theirs" is a highly valued asset in any department. At the Psychological Consultation Center (PCC), Jamie Longwell is the person we can count on to keep her head. Jamie is amazingly calm as she responds to the faculty, graduate students, and other staff who ask questions, worry about deadlines, or panic over unexpected crises, occasionally simultaneously. The PCC is the training clinic for the Clinical Psychology Training Program in the Department of Psychology, and Jamie is the Secretary who is the resource on PCC policies and procedures for Clinical faculty and 40+ graduate students. In addition to her PCC duties, Jamie provides coordination for numerous Clinical Psychology Training Program and Psychology Department events, manages grant budgets and reports for several Psychology faculty, and offers a helping hand throughout the Psychology Department whenever support is needed. For PCC clients, Jamie's warmth and genuine caring makes the person's first contact with the PCC an unusually positive one..."

"As you might imagine the very nature of the PCC is that it draws folks who need mental health support and Jamie is perfect in that setting. Not only is she able to relate to clients in a positive way but she handles emergencies with maturity and also with great kindness. In addition, Jamie respects the confidentiality of the clients and is very cautious of upholding their dignity in that regard. It takes a truly special individual to do the job that Jamie does each day and the University is fortunate to have her in this position. I have never known Jamie to shirk from a new challenge. She has chosen to educate herself on new computer programs and she is always available in the event we call on her to take on a project from another area. All of these things she does with a terrific sense of humor and great expertise. In the past year Jamie has also taken on the responsibility of monitoring faculty grants in our department. This was a need that we have been discussing for a long time in the department. As you might imagine, the faculty were reluctant to "let go" of their grants. However, once they understood that by turning over the information to Jamie their grants were in such good hands, the more we have seen faculty come to her for that type of assistance. Jamie is a great colleague! She is generous of spirit and is always willing to pitch in when the need arises. The entire staff is thankful that Jamie is a part of the family we have created in Psychology. In addition, the College and the University should be grateful that they have managed to keep a loyal and competent member of the support staff. Jamie is a gift .... "

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October - Gayle Schuler

Position: Payroll / Personnel Secretary for Biological Sciences
Years at UNL: Starting my 18th years
Biography: Moved to Lincoln from Sioux Falls, SD in 1990. I have a son, Tyler, who is currently in 8th grade.

What is the most unique or interesting thing about you that most people probably don’t know?
It may not be unique or all that interesting but I watch alot of NASCAR racing.

If you could have dinner with one person from the past or present who would it be?
I enjoy a nice dinner with my parents and family.

What is the one goal you would most like to accomplish?
Win the lottery and live "rich" ever after!!!!

As Gayle's nominations say, "Gayle has been a valued and loyal employee in Biological Sciences for the past twelve years. She is a diligent, knowledgable and hardworking employee taking over many different tasks in those years she has been with our School. When Gayle first started with us, she was not only the personnel clerk, she assisted with the purchasing process and became very well-versed in the Bottom Line system procedures... As a result of our interactions with pre-SAP and the size of the School personnel, we were one of the departments to go on line with Time Entry early in the process which also lead to Gayle becoming an assistant in the Time Entry training classes. As the process continues to go on line, Gayle has become very proficient with PAF's and Time-Entry concerns and has spent time with Data Entry in learning the on-line entry of graduate PAF's and other new processes as needed. She has also assisted the Beadle Business Center and Chemistry as HR concerns arise, such as assisting in training new personnel or covering for someone who is out when trime-entry or PAF's need to be done...

"Gayle is a very consciencious person, who very seldom is late or gone from her office and tasks and has continued to grow and is excited to learn new things. She has a fun-loving but concerned personality who knows her job tasks and get the work done in a timely manner...

"she has one of the most thankless jobs in the office. I have worked with Gayle for two years, and in that time, I have found her to be an exceptionally organized person who is willing to make phone calls and send emails to correct whatever problems come across her desk. She does not leave frustrated people out in the cold, and has always been willing to take the time to answer questions and provide advice and information. She keeps track of over 200 timecards and appointments every year, and that number just keeps going up. I have found her to be caring and interested in the welfare of the people with whom she works. I feel that the amount of time and energy that goes into keeping track of all of the SBS employess alone warrants an Applause award, but she should also be thanked for her willingness to not let people slip through the cracks without anyone there to help..."

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September - Kelly Grey Carlisle

Our Applause for September goes out to Kelly Grey Carlisle in English. As her nominations say, "Kelly Grey Carlisle is the Managing Editor of the international literary quarterly Prairie Schooner, part of the Department of English and supported by English and the University of Nebraska Press. During Ms. Carlisle's tenure as Managing Editor, we have had three major events: the celebration of our 75th Anniversary with a Conference and Celebration at the Cornhusker Hotel (over 1,000 people attended keynote speaker Joyce Carol Oates's talk and the three days of panels, lectures, and parties). In addition, the magazine has been endowed by a generous gift to the UN Foundation which brings us additional opportunities for publicity (Ms. Grey has designed and implimented three national ad campaigns, suggested other opportunities for expansion of our program, and represented Prairie Schooner at the new Nebraska Writers' Conference at UNL as well as national conferences). And we have started a new program, a Prize Book Series in two genres, poetry and short fiction; the prize books are published through the University of Nebraska Press. Throughout these grand changes, Ms. Carlisle has managed an increasingly large staff as well as the business responsibilities for an international quarterly with 78 years of continuous publication. To deal with the new Book Series, we have hired a Book Series Manager, whom Ms. Carlisle trained (in fact, she invented the procedures during our first contest year when we received some 1200 book manuscripts through the mail), our national advertising campaigns, our travel to conferences all over the United States and, in spring, to Canada, and the day to day operation of Prairie Schooner . She is a marvel and we are lucky to have her in this point position at the University of Nebraska. In fact, the University just has reclassified her job in recognition of her stellar work. With Ms. Carlisle at the helm, Prairie Schooner is traveling farther and faster...

"From the start, Ms. Carlisle was "under the gun" in trying to manage the highly successful Prairie Schooner Literary Prize contest, in its first year. A somewhat unexpected overwhelming response from the public resulted in an avalanche of manuscripts. In spite of being new to her position, Ms. Carlisle rose to the occasion and met the challenge. She designed procedures and processes to efficiently handle all of the manuscripts, and with the help of volunteers and interns, was able to get the contest concluded successfully. And although her academic background is in English, she is very skillful in preparing budgets and reviewing accounting reports to make sure that the magazine stays on track financially. We are fortunate to have someone with her unique combination of skills in this position."

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August - Nancy Knapp

Our Applause awardee for August is Nancy Knapp . As her nominations say, "Nancy Knapp is a Secretary III in the Institute for Ethnic Studies (.5 FTE) and International Studies Program (.5 FTE), which share an office suite. She is our only staff person, although the office was originally slated for two full-time secretaries. For the past three years, Nancy has kept the office running smoothly with the occasional assistance of a work study student and graduate assistant. This is no small feat, given that she works directly with two Directors as well as the three Ethnic Studies Program Coordinators and the International Studies advisor. She also processes travel requests, purchase orders, and other paperwork for about 12 other faculty members with joint appointments in Ethnic Studies. Nancy effortlessly handles the full range of activities required to keep our programs running smoothly. These include basic office tasks (e.g., receptionist duties, ordering supplies); course scheduling; budget and grant administration; and special projects (e.g., compiling and laying out newsletters, organizing conferences and speaker series, setting up booths at Big Red Welcome and New Student Enrollment). Nancy does all these things extremely well and with remarkable efficiency; we would be lost without her! In addition, during the last academic year, Nancy faced a new challenge: the Institute was involved in five faculty searches, three of which were coordinated by Ethnic Studies. As you can imagine, the challenge of running three searches, all involving joint appointments with different departments, was immense. Among other things, Nancy had to keep track of the over 100 applications for the various searches and make sure that reference letters and other materials made it into the appropriate files; complete the required monitoring forms for Equity, Access, and Diversity; schedule search committee meetings; and field questions from anxious candidates. When we began interviewing candidates, Nancy made all the travel arrangements; worked closely with the various departments to set up the interview schedules; and coordinated all aspects of the visits. At the same time, she stayed on top of all her normal tasks, which included helping with preparations for a major symposium on youth mentoring that the Institute sponsored... Because Nancy's job required her to deal with a broad spectrum of people, from faculty and staff to students and community members, her personality is a definite asset! In fact, all of the candidates we brought to campus were eager to meet Nancy in person and thank her for her help in setting up their visits; one job candidate stated that she is "a treasure"...

I'm working on a partnership that entails my travel to Russia, Yemen and Northern Ireland - Nancy has worked tirelessly to help me with travel arrangements, paperwork, class materials, as well as seeing to it that my responsibilities to students will not falter while I'm abroad. I have never worked with any staff at UNL that give so much for so little pay. She goes out of her way to help students, especially international students who need help sorting out the maze of rules and regulations at UNL... No one works harder and with a better heart than Nancy... She is the heart, soul, and brains of the office...

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July - Amy Bearskin

Our Applause awardee for July is Amy Bearskin in the Bureau of Sociological Research. As her nominations state, “Amy Bearskin assumed the position of Accounting Technician in February of 2003 and was recently promoted to Financial and Personnel Manager for the Bureau of Sociological Research. When Amy was hired with the BOSR, she was faced with many obstacles. Through her professionalism and determination, she managed to totally restructure and reorganize a position that in the past had been in complete disarray. Amy manages all of the BOSR project and grant accounts, she supervises numerous employees, she is in charge of processing paperwork for hundreds of employees, she maintains a fantastic filing system and she does all of this with a smile on her face. Although this is an extremely complex and demanding job, Amy always manages to make the best of it and is always willing to offer help and offer guidance to anyone that needs it. Recently, the Bureau lost it’s Assistant Director and Amy took on many of her daily duties making it unnecessary to hire a replacement for this position. In my daily contact with Amy, I have always found her to be positive, professional, a perfectionist and yes, a little bit goofy. Her energy is contagious and it is a pleasure to work for and with her. I can think of no one that deserves an Applause more than her. Thank you Amy!...

“Amy has many strengths to address. She has strong leadership skills. She is one of the few people who is aware of how others are feeling and takes action to not only solve problems and conflicts but she also is pro-active in seeing that problems never occur. I was experiencing conflict with others in my department and she took the time to really listen to my concerns. She provided guidance and addressed issues that needed to be corrected. I felt relieve that I had really been heard. Many managers at UNL lack this talent. Many others in our department turn to her for advice and ways to solve their problems. In addition to her leadership skills, she has a way of bringing joy to our often stressful environment. She is quick to laugh at things and always includes others so no one feel left out. She is a strong in her delegation skills and has been very patient when training me on various new tasks. She is a true asset to UNL and the Bureau of Sociological Research...”

NOTE: Although the nominations above talk about Amy’s work with the Bureau as Accounting Technician and then as Finance and Personnel Manager, Amy begins another new job this month as Grants Administrator. Congratulations Amy.

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June - Barb Nordmeyer

Our Applause awardee for June is Barb Nordmeyer. As her nominations state, "I coordinate a large grant at Duke University, which has a subcontract to the University of Nebraske-Lincoln, and have had the pleasure of working with Barbara Nordmeyer, who is a Research Specialist at the School of Biological Sciences at UNL. Over the past 5.5 years I have come to know Barb as one of the most dependable administrators I have worked with (and I have worked with many as I coordinate a program at Duke that has several subcontracts with fourteen different institutions). She is always extremely reliable, professional, prompt in her responses to me for requests for information, and her work is always impeccable. Barb is truly in a class by herself...

" Barbara has been with the School for over ten years and has done an excellent job with our grant program. She starts the grant process by assisting faculty by finding grants they could apply for, assisting with budgets and getting grants ready to submit. SBS has a large faculty base which means that not only do we submit alot of grants, more often than not when we have a deadline for grants to be submitted, we have more than one grant going in on that particular deadline date. Barb is well versed in the grants preparation and submission processes and does an excellent job of adapting her work schedule while prioritizing the the preparation schedules. She is understanding, knowledgeable, and flexible while assisting faculty with problems they may have during the grant processes... She is friendly, outgoing and has a natural talent for looking at the positive personal interactions of people and how we as staff can improve those interactions. She is a joy to be around...

" Despite the numerous deadlines, the sometimes short notice from faculty, the multiple demands when more than one grant application is being processed Barb is always upbeat and solution oriented. She sets aside any possible ill-will about the long hours and often intense demands and focuses her attention on working to create successful proposals. She truly places the good of our School ahead of her own welfare in a quite admirable fashion... always a warm and welcoming influence. She is always willing to answer questions and give encouragement to those of us who are still "learning the ropes." Her positive attitude and outlook have made even the most tense problems and situations more bearable and even (believe it or not) fun! Barb is a valuable member of our staff and a great asset to the university community. Even if she does not receive the College's applause, she certainly has mine..."

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May - Cheryl Kruid

Our Applause for May goes out to Cheryl Kruid who is shared between Communication Studies and Judaic Studies. As her nominations say, "Cheryl has been working in Judaic Studies for over a year now, and her work has been exemplary. Cheryl is eager to take on responsiblities above and beyond the call of her position. She is superb with details -- she regularly catches mistakes that I've missed in press releases and memos, and her eye for design and layout have made her an invaluable part of our work to publicize Judaic Studies events. Cheryl keeps on top of the needs of our faculty, and regularly supplies fellows of the Harris Center with what they need, even when they're overseas. She's learned to navigate her way through the sometimes mysterious protocols of the University Foundation, and has mastered the various forms needed to process payment requests and other matters. In short, she's made herself invaluable to me and to my colleagues in Judaic Studies -- and perhaps just as importantly, she's done this while maintaining a calm, cheery, determinedly upbeat demeanor, sometimes in the face of overwhelming odds. I can't imagine the Harris Center without her...

" Cheryl is a real asset to the Communication Studies department. She always has a smile for anyone that comes into the office and goes out of her way to help students, grad students, and faculty. She is extremely competent and willing to learn any new technology or duties. She is very creative and offers excellent ideas on how to make the office run smoother. She manages her "two hats" between the Communication Studies and Judiac Studies departments with calm and grace...

" in my opinion, her work effort and attitude is full-time in both. She always has a smile on her face and never says to anyone "I can't do that" or "that's not my job"---she simply takes what is given to her and gets it done. Her approach to her work and to anyone (faculty, students, or maintenance folks) that come into the office is "how can I help you" and that approach should be bottled and sent to every person in the University...

" Cheryl not only does her job extremely well but she always has treats on her desk or brings in baked goods that she shares with whoever comes into the office. If you have been lucky enough to eat some of the goodies she brings you would give her the Applause Award of the year just for her baking. The faculty and graduate student's come down to the office often to see her and to see if there are any snacks or to simply grab a piece of candy from her candy jar---which is always full. Sometimes faculty and students just stop by to visit---she always has an open ear for them..."

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April - Janet Carlson

For the second time - the first was in March 2002 - Janet Carlson in the Department of English receives our monthly Applause award. As her nominations say, “Janet has, from the first day of her arrival in the Department, taken on tasks voluntarily that were not, strictly speaking, included in her job description. Apart from doing a marvelous job managing the book orders in a huge department and assisting the Vice Chair in the scheduling of classes, she has helped me in the maintenance of the departmental web site by posting by herself the Course Descriptions, the Course Schedule, and the departmental newsletter on the web, after first converting all these data into web-publishable format. This requires her to completely reformat her databases and to convert them to the format of our web page. Janet’s work is largely done “behind the scenes” and mostly unknown to the rest of the faculty who benefit from the easy and attractive availability of this information on the web. While she is not always getting her due recognition -- and does not seek it in her quiet, unassuming manner -- Janet truly deserves our applause...

“ Janet has been instrumental in converting the department’s databases from an old DOS program (used comfortably since 1989) to Access. After taking classes sponsored by Arts and Sciences, she ventured bravely ahead and after enduring the long learning curve with Access, she’s successfully moved the department schedule, the faculty workloads, part of the student teaching evaluation process, and course description booklet information into Access. She’s also our guru in getting schedules and other information posted on the department’s website...

“ What is of immense importance to me is that she has created an extremely complex database (with a remarkably friendly interface for me) that has cut in half the labor I expend to schedule close to 500 sections we need in a calendar year. Drop-down menus give me access to courses, rooms, times, and faculty names with virtually no typing and a much reduced chance of mistakes. The program generates instantly updated schedules, room charts, and assignment lists. Again Janet created these databases from Access on her own, tailored to our needs, thereby improving the quailty of my work and, frankly, of my life. The intelligence, not to mention the very intense work, that it took to make this tool is astounding. Her patient instruction for me on how to use it, typical of her relations with all of us, made the whole process that much happier...”

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March - Toni Penton

Our Applause for March goes out to Toni Penton in the Department of Geosciences. As her nominations say, "Toni is a model of efficiency and good humor. She takes care of EVERYTHING in the department (that our other great secretary, Janelle Bird doesn't handle). She is on top of every regulation and requirement, she has organized and streamlined our office, she is friendly and patient with everyone no matter how many times she has to re-explain procedures. The office is always neat because of her organizational skills, even decorated according to the season. Prior to her appearance, it was always piled high with un-filed matter and unfinished business. This semester in particular, she has set up extra course sessions for students with special needs (within minutes of the request), found an error ... and didn't stop working on it until it was fixed, organized a series of applicants for a new position, ... -the list goes on and on, and that is just this semester!!...

" Toni is a truly exceptional performer. She's smart and learns quickly. She's organized and has a mind like a steel trap. No task is too large or too challenging for her, and she actually VOLUNTEERS to take on new responsibilities beyond those normally assigned to her (As one example, she convinced the department chair... to let her take over the job of managing class scheduling for faculty, previously a service duty assigned to a faculty person). She smoothly navigates the muddy waters of ledgers and budget sheets and explains these... to faculty. From faculty colleagues, I hear only praise of Toni's competence and management skills, whether it's solving some budget problem in a research grant or catching an error in a graduate applicant file. Toni is a person who can be trusted when she says "I'll take care of it". She does. Students like her, faculty and other staff like her, and everyone comes to her if something needs fixing. She is superb. This department has been fortunate in the quality of its office staff."

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February - Sara Basiaga

With 15 nominations, our February Applause awardee is Sara Basiaga in the Department of Chemistry. As her nominations say, "Sara Basiaga came into our department as an associate director of our Research Instrumentation Facility and the director of our undergraduate instrumentation center. These roles require her to divide her time between different facilities and different users and to be all things to all people. One day she may be responsible for graduate student training on a half million dollar NMR spectrometer; the next day she may spend the entire day showing fifty or one hundred students how to acquire an infra-red spectra as part of a teaching lab exercise. Sara has excelled in these roles and attracted high praise from faculty, staff , and students. Last fall, when the director of the Research Instrumentation Facility (and Sara's supervisor) was out of the country for several months, Sara became the interim director and did an outstanding job of balancing both jobs. We have once again turned to her while we search for a new director (her current supervisor was just hired away from us). Sara embodies the can-do spirit we want to see in all of our staff..."

" the students rave about Sara. She is so friendly and helpful that the exposure to advanced instrumentation in conjunction with the laboratory is not only interesting, it is just plain fun. This does not surprise me at all. In my dealings with Sara, I have always found her to be a very positive person, and to diligently try to help in any way that she can. She always wants to learn more, so that she can become an even more sophisticated analytical chemist, and contribute even more to the Chemistry team. Sara's attitude is contagious. She is a real asset to the Department..."

" Sara has consistently displayed a can-do attitude, a strong scientific focus, and a can-do attitude is in keeping with the best traditions of the university... when I had a problem on a weekend and had to call her at home, she was very willing to walk me through what to do (even though I later found out I had interrupted her dinner). Sara is a true professional ... She works diligently when the instruments are "experiencing technical difficulties" with nary a complaint... Sara is energetic, cheerful and always looking for better ways to assist students and researchers... Sara exudes contagious enthusiasm for her work... She is an awesome colleague. She always has a smile on her face, even when she is having a stressful day. She never complains, but always looks for the good in situations... she has made herself indispensable to the Department... "

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January - Lori Mueller

Our Applause for January goes out to Lori Mueller. Lori was a monthly and an annual awardee in the first year of our Applause but a new set of eight nominations results in her second selection. As her current nominations say,"Lori is an absolutely outstanding employee in the Department of Mathematics. The department relies on her for a large number of tasks, which she does with great dedication and professionalism. As one example, her work in putting together and running Math Day this year was exceptional. Faced with an enormous task of organizing and coordinating this complicated event that brought almost 1,400 high school students to UNL for a day of fun and competition in mathematics, she worked VERY long hours (often until midnight, often on weekends) for many days in the last few weeks leading up to this event in order to pull it off. She put the program together, handled all manner of questions, organized a small army of people to carry out the massive task of running the event, dealt with crises large and small, and did it all with good cheer and professionalism. This is one of the largest outreach activities that the University engages in, and it is almost entirely organized by Lori. She deserves our applause for this one event alone, but in fact she does much more... as an undergraduate adviser, she has helped many students get in the right mathematics course; she single-handedly organizes our annual Math Day, a monstrous job; she assists me (the Vice Chair) in preparing our class schedules every semester, and has saved me from many a blunder... She has accumulated a tremendous amount of departmental wisdom and I rarely do anything without checking Lori for "unintended consequences". She is always striving for ways to improve the way we do things, and seems to have an unlimited amount of energy...

" At the same time as organizing Math Day, and serving as the Departmental support for undergraduate activities, Lori is finishing her degree in Business Adminstration this semester and will graduate in December. This background and formal education will only make her a yet more valuable and effective member of our departmental team. Applause, both literal and figurative is most approriate for Lori's accomplishments this semester, both personal and Departmental!... Congratulations Lori on your upcoming graduation at UNL. YOU DID GOOD!!!! And to think you did this all while raising two beautiful young girls,acting as a loving and caring wife, working full time, and least of all looking after all of us here in the math department--with all our demands, foibles, and idiosyncracies. Thanks Lori--you are truly most deserving..."