Applause Awardees-2006

January - Erin Sayer, Arts & Sciences Advising Center
February - Charles Daniel, Department of Computer Science
March - Cathleen McFadden, School of Biological Sciences
April - Lori Ratzlaff, Department of Sociology
May-Barbara Trail, Department of Anthropology and Geography
June-Brenda Ensor, Dean's Office
July-Donelle Moormeier, Communications Studies
August-Laura Hanzl, Student Recruiter
September-Shannon Parry, Department of Modern Languages
October-Leanna Klempa, Chemistry
November-Elaine Dvorak, English Department

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Our Applause for November goes out to Elaine Dvorak in English. As a selection from her eight nominations say, "Elaine Dvorak joined the English Department in February 2005, and although she has worked here for only a short time, she has quickly become an integral part of the office. As the first person to greet people coming into the department, either in person or on the phone, she is always cheerful and helpful. She may have a hundred interruptions every day as she does other tasks, but she never treats callers or visitors as an imposition. She is happy to see people and genuinely kind and helpful to them. In addition she is eager to learn new tasks and to help out wherever she can. If there were a model for a team player, it would be Elaine. She has taken several SAP classes, and shares time entry duties with the Office Supervisor...

"We call her the Energizer Bunny, because she never seems to have a low energy day. When we send her to handcarry stuff to the Dean's office, she RUNS over there. Literally. And that pretty much sums up Elaine -- she not only goes the extra mile, she RUNS the extra mile... We thought perhaps this would wear off after the first few months, but no---if anything she is even more cheerful and energetic. There is no task or favor that we ask of her that she doesn't approach with energy and a smile. She goes out of her way to help students and faculty, as well as her fellow office staff. Not only is she uber-nice, she is incredibly efficient and hard-working... Her energy, strong work ethic, and skils are great gifts to this office and the English Department and an inspiration to everybody...

"When I ask Elaine to do something I always say, "This doesn't need to be done right now, Elaine." But she always has it done, almost before I'm able to walk back to my office. She is a whirlwind, working efficiently, collaboratively, respectfully, and with good humor. We couldn't do without her... We all wish that we could clone Elaine and ket her wonderful qualities. She is a great addition to the English department team! Go Elaine!... she makes working here that much more pleasant simply through her superbly capable and friendly presence... Elaine is an absolutely essential member of the department... She not only does a task well, but also has suggestions for improving the process. I can't think of any task Elaine has not cheerfully taken on and successfully completed. She works well with faculty and staff, has a positive attitude and tackles most jobs with enthusiasm, accuracy, and speed. We've teased her about installing "speed bumps" in the office. When Elaine is on a mission, everyone better stay clear! ..."

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Our Applause goes out to Leanna Klempa in Chemistry. As her 12 nominations say, "Leanna Klempa joined us a little over a year ago as a secretary in our front office and has proved to be one of those people who define how a job can really be done. She does not seek attention or talk about her accomplishments but she handles some enormous responsibilities and she handles them very well. Everything is done with a quiet competence. When the long-term staff assistant in this office relocated out of state late last fall, Leanna picked up many of the most important duties of the other position and kept things running smoothly until a new staff assistant was hired. Similarly, the new staff assistant left the position this summer. Once again, Leanna stepped up, absorbed some additional responsibilities, and kept things running smoothly... We have some great employees in our department; if we had a wall of "All Star Staff", Leanna would have already earned her place on that wall...

"Leanna was hired as a part time assistant, but if a project comes in that is a rush job, or needs immediate attention, she's willing to stay to finish it. She is always willing to fill in where needed... Her demeanor is always professional and friendly... I am most impressed by how well she interacts with all everyone in the department. She is always cheerful and always ready to provide assistance. She has given extra hours of her time when the need has arisen. I have never heard a discouraging word from her no matter how busy she has been... She has taken over the daily operations of the office, coordinating arrangements for Colloquium speakers, ordering refreshments for various Chemistry functions, entering payroll data, answering questions, coordinating student worker schedules, and other things as they come up... She is the go to person in the Chemistry Business office, and we are very fortunate to have her working for us...

"Leanna Klempa is fantastic!... our financial officier was to be out of the office on the day my NIH was due for submission. Leanna learned the necessary procedures and stayed hours past her normal work day, which was scheduled to end at noon, to complete the proposal submission. Leanna is someone faculty can count on to go above and beyond the call of duty in this department... Leanna is one of the most kind and sincere people I have ever met. Eternally patient, she is never put off by that student or professor who needs this done an hour ago. I can think of numerous occasions in which she stepped in to help out another employee of the department... It has been an honor and pleasure to work in the same office as Leanna."

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Our Applause goes out to Shannon Parry in Modern Languages. The following are mere sound bites from the 24 nominations received. "Being the office manager in charge of 70 faculty, lecturers and TA's is not an easy job... The job is very challenging and she handles it like a pro!!!... Shannon's performance demonstrates excellence on a daily basis... This past year alone, Shannon organized three recruiting events. The first was for a group of 30 High School students from Kansas, the second was for 40 High School students from LPS, and the third was for the UNL Language Fair which includes over 1000 High School students and teachers from across the state. Shannon's work involves making reservations, coordinating transportation, managing budgets, overseeing staff, managing large volumes of correspondence, and handling the general trouble shooting involved in event planning... Plus she is always willing to lend a shoulder to cry on or an ear to listen! She adds so much to this department that it's hard to put it all into words!!! She definitely deserves this award!!!!!... Shannon gives me hope that the world is not populated by stupid people. And Shannon takes care of them, too!... She has introduced many innovations, including improvements in the use of our extremely limited space in Oldfather Hall, and a parent-friendly schedule for the office staff... I must say that I have never worked in a better environment than that of the Modern Languages Department at UNL. This environment is greatly due in part to the amazing people who work in the office, one of whom I am nominating today, Shannon Parry. As a new GTA last year, I was constantly in need of help, direction, whiteboard kers or just someone to talk to. Without Shannon's constant willingness to help, to share ideas and stories or to just listen and sympathize with the incredibly heavy workload, I would have been incredibly lost...

"She is efficient, effective, reliable, dedicated, and caring.... The best thing about Shannon is her dry sense of humor. I like to think of an excuse to go to the office, just so I can enjoy her witty comments. Shannon is the best!!... She's highly efficient, unconditionally nice and extremely helpful... She has worked for Modern Languages for over two years and is the soul of the department. Her technical savvy, managerial efficiency, and overall good cheer earn her raves from everyone who works for us... These events put a public face on what we do as a department, and in many cases, the first face that outsiders see is Shannon's... Not only is she the chair's assistant, but she is the assistant to all of us, faculty, lecturers, and graduate teaching assistants. Being in Modern Languages is almost like being in Babel's Tower: many languages and cultures coexist, and it would be easy to get frustrated with all of our different ways of interacting with each other, but Shannon is always very professional. She is patient and learned quickly how to interact with all of us... We are lucky to have such an energetic person who is so very enthusiastic about her job... in cases of emergency [she] remains calm and offers help... Shannon is a person who would literally give the shirt off her back to you. I do not know how she does it. She can be in the middle of a task, and stop on a dime to help you... What impresses me the most about Shannon is that even though she is having a really tough day, she remains so calm, where others would lose their temper so very easily, she does not. She is the one to bring you up when you are feeling down. She takes a personal interest in every member of our department, and brings out the best in you... Her smile brightens anyone's day... She always goes the extra mile to help those of us who stay, rather defiantly, rooted in a print culture! She has helped me negotiate certain features to today's technology, assisting with patience and good humor. No request goes unattended. She communicates often with all members of the department so that we always know, in plenty of time, what's up ahead. The University depends on the work of a professional as dedicated as Shannon. I'm delighted to nominate her for an "Applause Award"..."

Our Applause for August goes out to Laura Hanzl, student recruiter for the College. As her nominations say, "Laura Hanzl deserves more than applause for her hard work and dedication to the recruitment efforts of the College of Arts and Sciences. She goes above and beyond the call of duty, answering questions for prospective students as well as ordinary students in the hallways of Burnett. She consistently comes up with innovative ways to capture prospective students' attention, and always organizes well-planned events. She is fantastic at her job, interacting with prospective students, and making them feel wanted. She makes anyone feel comfortable from the moment they first enter the room. She also goes out of her way to make current students, particularly her college ambassadors feel welcome and involved with the recruitment efforts, and is always readily available to serve anyone in whatever capacity she can. Laura is fun, dedicated, hardworking, and joyful. She is most deserving of this award.

"If the criteria for this award are innovative ideas, outstanding performance, and excellence in self-less service then I am surprised Laura has never won this award. [Actually, Laura received our Applause in July 2003.] I have been working with Laura as a student ambassador for the College of Arts & Sciences for 3 years. She has always exceeded her call of duty in recruitment efforts to bring top students to Nebraksa and also in being a mentor to the present students. She has enthusiasm, charisma, and a dedication that is contagious. Just a small example of her innovativeness, for the upcoming Big Red Road show she came up with a theme for the college of Arts & Sciences to incorporate academic departments that would need help bring people to their booth and also those who didn't have their own ideas for a theme. This really an analogy of how she works with all people. By this I mean she is always looking out for the University's best interest and a students best interest. Laura deserves this award for many reasons beyond a one page paragraph."

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Our Applause goes out to Donelle Moormeier in Communications Studies. Donelle received our monthly Applause in early 2000 and she also received our Annual Applause award that year. As her nominations this time say, "Donelle has been amazing over the years that she has been in our department. I was recently renewed as chair of our department but would not likely have accepted the renewel if it wasn't for having Donelle as my administrative assistant. Her work performance is the excellent, her personality is outstanding and her ability to multi-task is exceptional... She recently was elected President of UNOPA which shows that she is well respected by her peers. The faculty and instructional staff rated her in her last performance review at the top of our rating scale and think the world of her... There is no question she goes beyond the call of duty and is the very kind of person that just makes everyone elses job much easier...

"I have worked with Donelle for many years now, and I am constantly amazed by her skill, her orientation to her work, and her willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty on a regular basis. For the past two years she assisted me with two successive faculty recruiting processes at the same time she was coordinating the details of graduate student recruiting, departmental course scheduling, faculty and graduate student travel, and our various departmental budgets. And this is only a partial listing of her duties. She is consistently competent and pleasant in the face of what many would consider to be an overwhelming workload. She is the administrative heart of the Department of Communication Studies...

"Simply put, our department would not function without Donelle Moormeier. She is here before anyone arrives and, aside from those teaching or taking night classes, she is one of the last to leave. In every aspect of her job, she is outstanding. I never have to wait to get an answer, to get a task completed, or get assistance with some of my responsibilities. She never seems rushed, always makes us feel like we are a priority and, most importantly, does everything with a smile. This is pretty amazing considering the demands that faculty members and graduate students place on our office staff...

"She is, in short, incredible. In a smaller department like ours, one person has the responsibility for a wide variety of tasks. In the end, I believe this makes the job much more important and challenging. Donelle runs our office, assists the Chair, is the graduate secretary, does substantial work for all of our faculty members, coordinates all of our course and room scheduling, is responsible for all of our finances and payroll, takes care travel for faculty and graduate students and our speech and debate team that travels all over the U. S. The list goes on and on. She does all with excellence, intelligence, caring, and good humor. She is interrupted a hundred times a day (at least), yet manages to do everything and is a constant volunteer to help where it is needed... I can think of no one more deserving..."

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With nine nominations, our awardee for June is Brenda Ensor in the Dean's Office. As her nominations say, "Brenda has worked in the Dean's Office for two and half years. In that time, she has worked hard to improve on the Dean's office already smooth running operation. She has created "bibles" i.e. procedure guides to help with all aspects of her job. Her 'bible' has been imperative to cross-train other staff and to cover her post, in the rare times that she is gone. I can't even tell you the number of times I have referred to them... She makes sure the rest of her team is informed of all the changes she is making and she consults us when it is necessary. Brenda also during that time, became the resident expert on the College's website. This duty sort of fell into Brenda's lap after the web designer in the college left for another position. She was compelled to make sure our web pages were up to date, due to her overwhelming sense of customer service. She has diligently gone through every single page of the College's website and every single link to make sure it is running properly...

She does her job without complaint. When she is not busy, she finds something to do to improve the office or her skills. She is quick to help out others in a pinch. Brenda takes her job seriously but not herself. She brings laughter, joy and friendship to the office... No task is beneath her. She is constantly looking for ways to stretch and learn and grow. As time has permitted she has worked at her own pace in learning more about MS Word and MS Excel... She is also our cheerleader. I know that I am not the only one who has received a little note card from her as encouragement or in acknowledgement of something big for us that is coming up in life. She is a treasure to have in our office!... With her I am always confident that nothing falls throught the cracks. On top of this, she is always has a smile and is pleasant to work with...

"She does what ever it takes to keep the Dean's Office running smoothly and professionally. She has a positive, 'can-do' attitude that is infectious. Last summer, when one staff member resigned and another was on maternity leave, Brenda rose to the occasion taking on numerous responsibilities left unattended to by the staffing situation. Brenda became well versed in Time Entry and served as time clerk for the Dean's Office during this time. She also took on the responsibility for routing and tracking the volumes of offer letters that flow through the Dean's Office. Her persistence in following up on each and every letter helps to insure there are no unnecessary holdups to letters routed through the Dean's Office. Brenda is also a huge 'Husker' fan and embodies the meaning of school spirit. On several occasions she has volunteered to serve as a college representative for the 'Take a Parent to Lunch' program that is offered through New Student Orientation. She is a persuasive advocate and supporter for the University, College and the Dean's Office and is very much deserving of recognition and APPLAUSE!..."

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With an amazing TWENTY nominations, our Applause for May goes out to Barbara Trail. As only a small part of her nominations say, "In the case of the Anthropology and Geography department, Barbara Trail's unfaltering and tireless work on behalf of the faculty, students, and other staff makes all our work easier... Last spring the department moved from Bessey Hall to Oldfather; the move was coordinated and overseen by Barbara. This move was a major headache on so many levels, from packing up of offices, equipment, and furniture, to working with the movers, faculty, and students. While there were any number of minor annoyances that arose, Barbara never lost her sense of humor, and made sure our move was efficient and painless for the rest of us... She took the responsibility entirely upon herself, dealt with allocations of rooms to faculty without a single complaint being made (amazing in itself!), oversaw all the expenditures, actually saving money on some purchases, such as our fine bookshelves, and did it all with grace and humor. She is even pretty handy with tools-on a number of occasions I could see only her feet as she lay under desks expertly fitting them together...

"Her work is beyond reproach... She works tirelessly in managing the financial affairs of the office and the evergrowing number of grants. She is a great supervisor and always has a pleasant word to say to everyone and gives a listening ear. She thinks "outside the box" by thinking of solutions to problems that the rest of us don't see... Barbara is an incredibly dedicated and committed professional. She is thorough, always on top of what needs to be done, efficient, and handles many crises simultaneouly. At the same time, she is always pleasant, has a sunny smile, and time for whoever walks into her office. We would all be lost without her, and I can't think of anyone more deserving of this award...

"Barbara's best quality is her personality. She always has time to see how you have been and is always interested in how you are doing. Barbara goes way beyond her call of duty... All of our staff are wonderful, but Barb takes the cake! ... No one is unimportant to Barb... Barbara's dedication toward creating a sound environment in which scholarship and teaching can occur serves to inspire the best from both faculty and students... she is very cheerful and unafraid to take on difficult and complex tasks even if they are slightly beyond the call of duty... in reality she is the hub of the entire department, handling all the budget, human reources matters, summer school,faculty travel and grants,space issues, and it just keeps going. She does all this with an independence that makes my job so much easier, with a conscientiousness that ensures that the job is done well, and with an open and friendly manner that has improved the climate of our workplace immeasurably since she arrived some two years ago... I know I speak for everyone in the department--students, staff, and faculty-- when I say that we are fortunate to have Barbara amongst us..."

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Our Applause for April goes out to Lori Ratzlaff in the Department of Sociology. Lori also received our Monthly Applause in May 2001. As only a small part of her EIGHT nominations say, "Our office is nearly always a very busy place with the telephone ringing, faculty and graduate students needing help, undergraduates with questions, tests to run, supplies to order, and much more. Her understanding of the many requirements of her job, her outstanding ability to handle the varied and demanding tasks that she is responsible for, and her composure and good sense of humor while she is meeting these requirements is truly a vel... She is helpful and pleasant and helps to create a working environment that is friendly and welcoming. Lori is a real asset to our department. She is very dependable, conscientious, efficient, and always has a smile for everyone... Lori’s list of official duties is long, but her actual activities would likely take a small book to relay. For example, while Lori completes the official tasks of promptly relaying messages and ensuring that syllabi, assignments, quizzes, and exams are copied and in faculty and graduate student boxes, she also willingly does this frequently as a “last minute” request... this semester Lori has been extremely helpful as she organized and put together our graduate student brochure. She volunteered to read through the brochure numerous times, she made corrections to it, and took care of having it printed and distributed in a timely manner. Additionally, Lori assists with other graduate student matters including keeping track of graduate student committee members and keeping up to date lists... Finally, I would also like to acknowledge all of the great work that Lori does with regard to getting our department ready for our annual Sociology Meeting as well as our recent Graduate Expo. For example, she took it upon herself to be responsible for creating all the signs for our bulletin board, in which she truly did an outstanding job with the display...

She is the first contact person in the department for all faculty, staff, undergraduate and graduate student questions or concerns. She does an excellent job of relating information and the right answer to all our faculty and students. This is a very important position because people leave our department knowing it has a friendly and helpful atmosphere. We have had many people comment on how she always assists them in answering their questions, and if she doesn’t know the answer, she will always find out who does. They leave the office with a feeling that our department truly cares about them and their needs. She provides such a stable and friendly environment. Lori’s skill level and work style is such an important ability which enables her to deal with the constant interruptions throughout the day. Her quality and quantity of work is excellent and her ability to work with others in a team effort is exceptional. She is always willing to help others and is a great team worker... rather then resisting change, she embraces change, and has made our department even more efficient. Throughout all these changes, she has remained cheerful, courteous and very dependable. You can see it in her personality, she really loves her job and completes her tasks in a confident and professional manner... She’s simply amazing!... more than a colleague, she is a true friend. She really is a joy to have around. I highly recommend her for the Applause Award! ..."

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Our Applause for March goes out to Cathleen McFadden in the School of Biological Sciences. Her nomination came from a student, and says "Cathleen came to the university in October of 2000. She was hired as a chemist and a lab manager. Her major responsibilities included setting up AND learning to run analytical instruments she had little or no experience with. Upon her arrival, she took charge of a lab that was in a state of disarray, disorganization, and covered in dust and dirt and quickly transformed it into a productive enterprise. Her lab is now known as the Ecosystem Analysis Lab, and analyzes samples from universities around the country and around the world. The demand for this lab's services are high because Cathleen can send off accurate results in the shortest amount of time and at the lowest cost. She is here early and late, and I often run into her on the weekends, loading up another tray of samples. On top of her day to day laboratory responsibilities, she also makes time for the undergraduate and graduate students who need her chemistry expertise. As a graduate student who was here at the beginning of her career at the university, I am continually impressed by her analytical expertise, hard work, and attention to detail. I think she deserves some recognition for her achievements here at UNL. "

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Our Applause for February goes out to Charles Daniel in the Department of Computer Science. As his nominations say, "Charles is our system guru, a position that involves dealing with every one's frustrations and demand to be served immediately. Naturally, the burnout rate in such a position is generally quite high. Charles has the unique gift, however, of keeping his cool and putting every one seeking help at ease by competence and friendly demeanor. He knows how to delegate tasks to people working under him and how to supervise them in a way that they all end up liking him. We feel very lucky to have a systems manager of his caliber stay in his position when he could go out and easily earn a lot more. I hope this is because he feels wanted and appreciated by every one in the department...

"He supervises a number of full-time and student administrators, and makes sure all computers in the department operate correctly. This is no small task for a department whose entire focus is computers! We have hundreds of various computer systems that all work together flawlessly. The k of good system administrators is when the computer system works so well that you never realize how much you rely on their expertise... He has a job like no other: he gets urgent and frantic calls only when a crisis arises (systems fails, machines are hacked, or more space and faster processing power are needed immediately). When things go well and everything runs smoothly, we rarely remember the system administrator that is maintaining and running all our computer infrastructure. Since our infrastructure is rarely in crisis, we fail to recognize Charles' great contribution to our Department often enough...

"He is brilliant. I embarrass him by introducing him to others, that he is the most important person in the department. This is a true statement. Without him, when we have problems with our computers, work comes to a stand still. Charles is always willing to help, even when he is pulled in many different directions. Charles has been the lead in projects that CSE has made available to many other UNL entities. These projects include online class evaluations and the faculty database. Charles always has ideas for how to make things better...

"While it would be impossible to be an expert on every software program being used by faculty, his knowledge of the software programs is phenomenal. Every UNL student taking a Computer Science course has access to our computer labs. It is extremely important that the computers (and programs) be working at all times. He has a very difficult and time consuming job. He handles all situations that arise in a "speedy" and professional manner. It is my pleasure to nominate Charles Daniel for the Applause award. I can think of no one more deserving of this honor..."

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 Our Applause award for January goes out to Erin Sayer, in the Arts & Sciences Advising Center. As her nominations say "Erin has worked in the Arts and Sciences Advising Center as an Academic Adviser specializing in Pre-Professional Advising for almost 4 years. During that time, she has done an outstanding job. She not only sees students on an individual basis, but works on many projects involving pre-professional advising. Some of the projects she has accomplished include developing and presenting workshops on topics such as Introduction to the Health Professions and Applying to Medical School; preparing handouts on pre-professional areas; keeping the Web information updated; and creating the Blackboard Site for Pre-Law students and updating the Blackboard site for Pre-Health Students. She also provides students with other services such as conducting mock interviews with students in preparation for their professional school interviews, reading and giving feedback to students on personal statements, and recruiting students at Red Letter Days and hundreds of campus visits. She is also the adviser to numerous student organization related to pre-professional areas. These include the NuMeds, Pre-Health Club, Pre-Law Club, and pre-professional honoraries. These organizations allow her to connect with students outside the office and keep her busy meeting with students in the evenings. She also is the academic adviser who works with the NU Paths program and the Humanities in Medicine Program. These activities include not only meeting with the students in the programs but also working on the program organization and, in the case of NU Paths, participating in the selection of the students for the program. Erin is very dedicated, always managing to squeeze another student in over her lunch hour or at the end of the day. Erin has done all of this while completing her Ph.D. on the topic of FERPA and was then able to lead a discussion on FERPA for the Chief Advisers. Erin also maintains strong links to the professional schools that UNL student apply to and keeps current on all of the changes in requirements (14 different pre-health programs and pre-law!)...

"Dr. Sayer is by far the best resource in the Arts and Sciences Advising Center. She is extremely organized and effective. Her attitude toward students is positive, encouraging and friendly. She is always approachable when student advisers have questions or concerns... I have had the opportunity to know Erin not only through my work as a student adviser but also as a pre law student. She has been encouraging, helpful and open in helping me prepare for my graduate education. Our office has been truly blessed to have Erin and she deserves our recognition and appreciation...

"On top of it all, Erin keeps an amazing, optimistic attitude. She continues to work above and beyond what is expected of her because she truly cares about the students and wants to continue to help. Erin really deserves this award in recognition of her outstanding commitment..."