UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State President Eric Barron and his wife, Molly, welcomed the 2017 winners of the University Staff Advisory Council (USAC) awards for morale, leadership and excellence to Schreyer House on May 19 for a celebration of staff’s accomplishments and contributions to the University.
About 60 staff members were nominated for the various USAC Awards by their colleagues across the Commonwealth. The awards committee chose one recipient in each category.
“It was really difficult to choose because the nominees are all truly excellent at their jobs, but after we each read the narratives and ranked our choices, we came together and found we were on the same page,” said USAC awards committee chair Wanda Hockenberry.
Jill Schulte is the 2017 recipient of the Staff Morale Award. An implementation specialist and research program manager with the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness, Schulte is responsible for supervising, guiding and supporting the team in handling requests from professionals working with military families.
Her nominator wrote: “I am encouraged and impressed by Jill as an excellent and caring team lead. Jill is motivating to her team members and peers because of her positive attitude and creative mind. She is attentive to the needs of others, sensitive when needed, and a strong and positive role model.”
The winner of the Staff Leadership Award is Cathy Holsing, the director of learning design for the Filippelli Institute for e-Education and Outreach in the College of the Liberal Arts. According to her nominator, Holsing grew her unit from a staff of one to 13 and currently assists both residential and online faculty in the Liberal Arts transition their courses to Canvas. One nominator wrote: “She believes in empowering others. She believes in including a diverse range of expertise in any decision that will impact others. She believes in looking for the strengths in others. She believes in giving credit where credit is due. She believes in creating critical thinkers all around her. From my first day in Liberal Arts, she has believed in me."
Alba Congiu is a senior budget analyst with the Huck Institute of the Life Sciences where she manages financial practices and compliance. One nominator wrote: "Alba is extraordinary and highly deserving of recognition for her excellence." She was recognized with the Staff Excellence Award for her success in identifying and rectifying a $1 million budget deficit. Her nominator said it was “a challenging issue that others had been unable to resolve, but she did it."
The USAC Award winners were nominated by faculty, staff or students to show appreciation for their efforts and contributions.
“Reading the nominations showed us what an outstanding, diverse and hard-working staff the University has,” said Hockenberry. “These are just the nominees – there are a number of staff out there who go above and beyond that we don’t even know about.”
USAC serves the president and his administration in an advisory capacity through the vice president for Human Resources about issues that have an impact on staff across the University. USAC provides a forum for the exchange of ideas among the members of the University staff, and serves as an advocate for staff welfare and development.
For more information, go to: http://ohr.psu.edu/university-staff-advisory-council.