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Pat on the Back Awards January 2011

Congratulations to -

I would like to nominate Karen Ottobre in the College of Business for the Pat on the Back Award. I am president of SHRM, a Ferris RSO, and Karen has been instrumental in helping me plan our trip to Chicago this month. We asked her to help us out (very last minute) and we would not have been able to go if it wasn't for her hard work and quick response. On a more personal note, Karen has helped me make sure that I not only got the classes I needed, but the schedule that I really wanted. She called me multiple times with updates and looked at my schedule to let me know all of my options and possible alternatives, which was so helpful. I have spoke to other students in my program and many of them have had the same experience with Karen. She is extremely dependable and always makes a genuine effort to help students as much as she can. It shows that she truly cares about us and I just want her to know that the students do notice and we really appreciate it.

I would like to nominate Jim Spedowske and Gary Unger for the quality work they do in maintaining the grounds and areas around the West Campus and the West Campus Community Center. These two are always willing to ensure that the grounds/environment is maintained and provide the special outside touches that make the Community Center inviting to all its guests! Thanks Guys for the pride you take in your work, which gives us great pride at the Center and West Campus!

I would like to nominate Amanda Mitchell, who works in Grand Rapids on the Student Services team. I have known Amanda for years and have seen her grow so much professionally. I appreciate all the support she provides me and her willingness to help out in many other areas. She is a strong advocate for students and goes above and beyond for them. Remember the pie Amanda, eventually you make 95% of them happy :)

I would like to nominate Laura McKiness, the Grand Rapids front desk guru! I love working with people like Laura who always go above and beyond in her role because that is just who they are; weather that be staying late to help a student with FerrisConnect, helping out on a project in the office, filling in the gaps when we are short a staff member and for always willing to help out, fill in, and donate time and money to causes! Thanks for all you do Laura!

A huge Pat-On-The-Back to Heather Cosgrove, Ashley Monahan, Stacy Olson and Kirsten Warner, our student employees, who work in the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid for going the extra mile day in and day out in our office. Due to our front desk employee accepting another position within the university, these ladies have stepped up to the plate by covering our front desk, insuring that our customer service is a positive one for all those that walk through the door. They are polite, respectful, and have a positive attitude not only to our customers, but to the staff as well as to each other. Everyday I am reminded of how AWESOME it is to work with them on a daily basis.

I would like to nominate Alison Konieczny, Librarian and Assistant Professor. Alison is always willing to take on any task to help students learn various material, whether it be in a face to face format or on-line. She is always researching advanced technology to 'reach out' to students. She puts in weekend and evening hours if that is necessary to put student's schedules above her own. She truly is an asset to Ferris State University.

I would like to nominate the following people for a Pat-on-the-back award: Jeff Stirn, Mary Herring, Julie Modene and Gordon Patton. These wonderful, hard working people are the Dining Services Storeroom Coordinators and not only are they very helpful; they are all awesome as well. They order, inventory, transfer products between units, educate Hospitality students who are in the Purchasing class about the purchasing process and they take care of thousands of pounds of stock everyday for the University. We depend on them to make sure we have the right amount of food and supplies so we can prepare the students and guests who enter our facilities an awesome meal. Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication. YOU ROCK!!

I would like to nominate Nicole Wright and Kari Abdelrahman-Yost for a Pat-on-the-back award. Nikki and Kari both do a wonderful job for us here at The Rock Cafe and I want them to know that their efforts are appreciated. Thank you ladies for serving up delicious food to all of the students and guests who enter The Rock Cafe. You Rock!!

I would like to offer a Pat on the Back to Robin Mellema and Mary Bradshaw at Kendall College of Art and Design, for their humor, patience, and most of all persistence in the face of accounting complexities! They remain gracious and helpful, and their efforts are very much appreciated.

I would like to send out a Huge Pat on the Back for everyone who assisted in getting 600 new mattresses moved in to Miller, Ward and Taggart residence halls on January 5th. What a huge success in pulling together Physical Plant staff - Dan Vanhorn and staff, Al Eastlund, Randy Snavely, Chuck Zimmerman, Faye Young, Ken Schussler and students and all the great Housing Staff - Lisa Ortiz, RA's, DSM, HD's, CA's and any one else who helped contribute. The project was bigger than imagined, but with great team work and "adapting on the fly" the Ferris Team was successful. Thanks to Everyone, you are all the best and deserve a Pat on the Back!

Thank you to Mary Holmes who worked so hard this past month and over the Christmas break to set up the pilot for Blackboard 9.1.  I know there are a lot of pieces she had to do and coordinate with Vicky Deur, Meegan Lillis, and Scott Randle as well as Blackboard to get everything ready to run this Spring semester.  

I just wanted to thank the IT folks -- Kris Rasmussen, Krista Wilcox, Jesse Klocke, Mary Holmes, and Vicky Deur -- for all you did to upgrade the FC servers so quickly after Christmas. As an end-user, I lost little to no time due to your thoughtful scheduling. Thanks for working during the break to make this happen.

Scott Randle and Kris Rasmussen deserve a HUGE Pat-on-the-Back for restoring the Pharmacy 4-1-1 course in FerrisConnect.  The course serves all pharmacy students, staff and faculty (600+ members) and is vital to communication between the Big Rapids, Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo sites.  The course was inadvertently deleted mid-December and Scott and Kris worked tirelessly before, during and after the holiday break to restore it.  They accomplished this without losing any data!    We can't thank them enough for their hard work and dedication.

Jesse Klocke. I wanted to thank you for your help with getting the printers up and functional. I know we were not the only thing you had to deal with, and I certainly appreciate you. Thanks,

This month's POTB t-shirt winners are: Laura McKiness, Jesse Klock, Nicole Wright, Stacy Olson and Amanda Mitchell