Clyde’s Kudos are a Staff Association initiative celebrated each month on Communique. Nominations are also recognized through a variety of forums including the Staff Association website, the Staff Association newsletter, event shout-outs, handwritten cards and other methods of distribution.
Individuals:
Amy Sayer | Andrew Archuleta | Annie Pirtle | Becca Cherpak | Brenna Faricy | Charlie Bowers | Cindy Brown | Cody Parish | Colby Whittmore | Dan DeCelles | Emily Meshkov | Heather Allen | ISean’Dre’ Ezell | Jennifer Biga | Kerisa Brown | Lily Cosgrave | Megan Mrkonjich | Noelle San Souci | Paige Whitney | Rose Johnson | Staff Association | Tamsin Cowdery | Veronica Harding
Teams:
Sloan Gonzales, Nicole Simmons-Richon, Leya Schnitter, Ryan Achor, Telma Frumholtz, Tiyana Hardney Vela, Kane Ruiz, Isabella Polombo | Johnson Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences Staff
To: Amy Sayer
From: College of Public Service
Since Amy joined the College of Public Service, we saw an increase in enrollment at the Master of Public Administration Program. If you knew Amy, you would understand why that is the case. Her warm, outgoing, and friendly nature won over students interested in our program. Above all, Amy is a great colleague and deeply cares about all of us at CPS.
To: Andrew Archuleta
From: Alan Shoho
Andrew has represented UCCS in an exemplary manner during the Provost search. His responsiveness is great and he has kept all the candidates well-informed. He provides great client services and regardless of the outcome of the search, I have been very impressed with Andrew’s personalization and the way he represents UCCS to people externally. Keep up the great work Andrew!
To: Annie Pirtle
From: Bill Craighead
Annie did fantastic work managing communications and marketing for the Economic Forum, taking on additional tasks following a staff departure, ensuring that the event was well-publicized and well-attended.
To: Becca Cherpak
From: Brad Bayer
Kudos to Becca Cherpak, Coordinator of Student Engagement, who has taken on additional responsibilities this semester to support fraternities and sororities. Becca led strong recruitment efforts, and the Greek community has grown to 200 students. Additionally, check out the next Student Life and Leadership Club Newsletter that demonstrates Becca’s commitment to supporting student organizations with up-to-date resources, while highlighting the amazing work of 170 clubs and organizations.
To: Brenna Faricy
From: Brad Bayer
Brenna Faricy, Program Coordinator of UCCSlead and CLC, is to be commended for her fantastic work in growing student participation in UCCSlead Days of Service events by 93% so far this year (642 student participants). She has done this by expanding partnerships with area non-profits and the UCCS GPS program, while working wonders behind the scenes on all the logistical details.
To: Charlie Bowers
From: Maureen Storch
Charlie has gone above and beyond the scope of her job position throughout 2024 during a time of staffing challenges in the UCCS Health Circle Primary Care Clinic. Charlie serves as a healthcare administrative support specialist in the clinic. In the absence of a full-time practice manager for the majority of 2024, Charlie provided leadership, a nurturing attitude, optimism and confidence for all clinic staff and patients. Charlie ensured that it was “business as usual” in the primary care clinic despite our staffing challenges. We are all extremely grateful for Charlie’s selfless service to the Health Circle Primary Care Clinic.
To: Cindy Brown
From: Elisa Thompson
Thank you, Cindy, for making the time to help me with a time-critical Canvas issue on a busy Monday! I am grateful for your help with Canvas and your consistently positive, patient attitude. The College of Education is so lucky to have you!
To: Cody Parish
From: Brad Bayer
Kudos to Cody Parish, Program Director of the Chancellor’s Leadership Class (CLC) and UCCSlead, who is making significant strides in advancing student leadership development at UCCS. CLC scholarship support is flourishing, a recalibrated professional mentoring program launched during the fall semester, collaborative programs with various campus partners have grown, and CLC scholars collectively contributed 4,500 hours of community service last year.
To: Colby Whittmore
From: Liz Brown
Colby has been instrumental in helping the library host the Pikes Peak Zine Festival on campus in Berger Hall this year. He stepped up to make sure all details were taken care of, even when we were under pressure to have catering invoices produced in time for a grant deadline. He made sure little details we had overlooked- like background music and background projection- were addressed. Thank you, Colby, for all your help with the Pikes Peak Zine Festival!
To: Dan DeCelles
From: Anonymous
Dan, I am truly so grateful to have you in the front passenger seat next to me as we cruise through another semester together. Navigating alllll the things can be overwhelming and consuming, and I cannot rightfully express my gratitude to you appropriately. So, here’s a kudo!!
To: Emily Meshkov
From: Anonymous
Emily in the Registrar’s office has been a huge support to students/faculty/staff during these busy registration times. She is always so kind and helpful!
To: Heather Allen
From: Stephanie Hanenberg
Heather has gone above and beyond to support the division of Enrollment Management and Student Affairs. She managed the Visioning Project for both divisions prior to the merge, assisted in office moves, revised job descriptions, and coordinated the entire EMSA information session. Her passion for students extends into her oversight of the Air Force ROTC program where she cares for those students as if they were her own. She in constantly brainstorming ways to improve the student experience and increase staff moral which is why she is such a valued member of the UCCS community. Thank you Heather for being the amazing person you are! We all appreciate you!!!
To: ISean’Dre’ Ezell
From: Colleen Stiles and Barbara Clementi
ISean’Dre’ is a brilliant TA for Technical Writing, Presentations, and Proposals (INOV 2100). He meets with students every week and is highly respected by the teaching faculty. During office hours, Isean Dre helps other students outside of class with questions, feedback, and support. YOU ARE THE BEST!
To: Jennifer Biga
From: Colleen Stiles
Jennifer went out of her way to provide me with counsel and advice and was incredibly professional. Jennifer also stepped up to the plate and helped me fix a problem that I could not figure out how to – and she rocked it.
To: Kerisa Brown
From: Laura Austin-Eurich
Kerisa attended the Communication Department faculty meeting in October and demonstrated the Faculty Student Support Network and console to our faculty members. We really appreciate her initiative to help faculty better support our students. Kerisa is a wonderful partner to the department and is incredibly supportive of the students she advises. This is just one small way she demonstrated that commitment to their success.
To: Lily Cosgrave
From: Minette Church
Lily devised, populated, disseminated and explained to LAS Deans Office Staff and Chairs and Directors a very useful data tracking tool/template for tracking teaching workload and capacity needs for the college, in a way that gives Chairs and Deans the tools to plan strategically, track workloads, and work on anticipating future capacity/needs for each department and in LAS as a whole. This should help us serve our students – especially those who end up on waitlists – better across our 22 LAS Departments. Many departments and new Chairs were not tracking this data on their own, and Lily’s work gives them a clear template to do so strategically into the future. Thank you, Lily!!
To: Megan Mrkonjich
From: Sarah Jane Baker
Megan hosted her first EAS Career Fair and knocked it out of the park. She did a phenomenal job organizing and hosting. This is a pretty huge and complex event to organize only a few months into her time at UCCS. If I didn’t know Megan was new I would have thought she had been doing this event for years. So many EAS students got to meet with employers to learn about jobs and internships. Way to go Megan!
To: Noelle San Souci
From: Brad Bayer
Props to Noelle San Souci, Director of Student Engagement, for her collaborative leadership in working with the Student Government Association and community partners to facilitate voter registration and get out the vote efforts on campus this fall. This included an incredibly informative and educational website and several creative marketing streams to include providing “get registered to vote” stickers with a QR code at the Big Cat Coffee locations on campus. This is just one example of the multiple ways Noelle supports civic engagement.
To: Paige Whitney
From: Maureen Storch
Paige assisted a patient who fell in our parking lot as they were walking from their car to an appointment at the UCCS Health Circle Clinics. Paige remained with the patient until a family member was able to arrive to assist the patient further. This patient contacted me asking that I thank Paige for her kindness, compassion and willingness to be a good samaritan. On behalf of the UCCS Health Circle Clinics and this grateful patient, I would like to thank Paige for her noble act of selflessness.
To: Rose Johnson
From: Anonymous
Thank you to Rose for organizing our department’s contributions to Clyde’s Cupboard Battle of the Departments! Rose motivates our department and encourages us to support the campus community.
To: Staff Association
From: Anonymous
I want to thank the staff association for putting on a fun night at Cinemark with a private showing of Hocus Pocus. It was nice to get out of the house and see people that I don’t usually see on campus. Look forward to future events.
To: Tamsin Cowdery
From: Bill Craighead
Tamsin stepped up in a huge way to manage the Economic Forum event after a staff departure. She kept track of and organized many important details, small and large, all on top of her regular responsibilities. The event was a big success, in large part due to her important and conscientious behind the scenes work!
To: Veronica Harding
From: Sarah Jane Baker
Veronica from Event Services is extremely prompt, thorough, and detail oriented. I have a high amount of trust in her when working with me on both space approvals, and my own events, which is so nice and incredibly refreshing. Veronica’s attention to detail is very impressive and highly appreciated. I really enjoy working with her and she deserves to be recognized!
To: Sloan Gonzales, Nicole Simmons-Richon, Leya Schnitter, Ryan Achor, Telma Frumholtz, Tiyana Hardney Vela, Kane Ruiz, Isabella Polombo
From: Jon DeWitt
They all did an amazing job at the CU Social Justice Summit. It is a ton of work to put on a summit, especially with all four campuses joining. It was very well run. From the selection of the speakers to the announcers and greeters, truly appreciate all the hard work to make this happen!
To: Johnson Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences Faculty and Staff
From: Stephani Hosain
I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to the faculty and staff of Johnson Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences for their exceptional support. Your insightful information, prompt responses, and collaborative approach have been invaluable in helping me fulfill my role effectively. I truly appreciate your dedication and the teamwork you’ve demonstrated to me personally. It’s a pleasure to partner with such a responsive and knowledgeable group!
Want to celebrate your staff colleagues? Submit kudos anytime through the Staff Association website. Communique publishes Clyde’s Kudos each month.