Credit: Nick Romanenko

Engineering student Caleb Williams chats with Aaron Gibbs, a counselor at Rutgers Business School and member of the Science MBA team.

Six employees received Excellence in Service Awards; and six collaborative, interdepartmental groups representing the Camden, Newark, and New Brunswick campuses received Bridge Awards at the annual President’s Recognition Program Awards Ceremony.

“Five years ago Rutgers inaugurated the President’s Recognition Program with the purpose of honoring and offering for emulation the most outstanding staff achievements,” said President Richard L. McCormick at the October 14 awards ceremony in the Rutgers Student Center. “The individuals and teams nominated for awards have demonstrated exceptional commitment, creativity, and teamwork. This is our opportunity to acknowledge, from every campus, the very best of the best over the past year.”

Planned and organized by University Human Resources, the staff recognition ceremony was preceded by a showcase event at which each Bridge Award-nominated group displayed a presentation of their project. The displays illustrated work processes, team goals, and outcomes, and their impact on the Rutgers community. This year, 383 individuals, representing 134 different units and departments across the university, were nominated for awards. (This includes employees nominated for individual awards and those nominated for team awards.)

Excellence in Service Award recipients are as follows:

• Patricia Bell, head accounting clerk, Office of Financial Services, Camden Campus
• Marie Diaz-Torres, assistant registrar, Newark Campus
• Robert J. Heffernan, director of institutional research and planning, Office of Institutional Research and Academic Planning
• Anne Sokolowski, graduate program administrator, Department of Psychology, New Brunswick
• Leroy Washington, retired police officer, Rutgers University Police Department
• Marta Zurbriggen, research and contract grant specialist, Office of Research and Sponsored Programs

Bridge Awards were presented to the following teams:                    

Emergency Management Exercise Team Following the tragedy that took place at Virginia Tech a year and a half ago, this team came together to coordinate the university’s largest-ever emergency management exercise in July of 2007. Representing areas including Public Safety, University Relations, Housing, Environmental Health and Safety, and the Department of Genetics; team members worked countless hours over the course of eight weeks to coordinate the efforts of more than 20 university departments and 10 community partners. The exercise has been used as a model at other educational institutions and drew local, state, and national attention in the public safety and security communities.

Huddle with the Faculty Team Capitalizing on the popularity of the Rutgers football program, the Huddle with the Faculty team developed a seminar series to bring attention to the accomplishments of the university’s academic team. The Office of Community Affairs led the interdepartmental effort to coordinate and market the program, addressing challenges ranging from gaining the confidence of faculty to promoting their work in a nonacademic setting, to the logistics of transportation and event timing based on changing television schedules. The Huddle with the Faculty: Gameday Seminar series was successfully launched, giving football fans, alumni, and friends of the university the opportunity to hear firsthand from Rutgers’ nationally and globally recognized scholars. The seminar series continues as a means of showcasing the intellectual depth of Rutgers to the citizens of New Jersey.

Keys to Success Team Team members representing academic and administrative offices came together to establish the “Keys to Success” program for first-year undergraduate students in Camden. The program, held in June and July, assists students in registering for classes, establishes an earlier and deeper academic connection to the university, and introduces students and their parents to the academic opportunities available on campus. Students are invited to attend sessions and, through indication of an intended major, are divided into advising groups and matched with peer mentors. An extensive welcome program for parents is offered as well, providing insight to everything from financial aid to social networking websites.

REX Development Team Comprising staff from the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and the Office of Information Technology, this team is responsible for the development and delivery of the RIAS Extension system, or REX, now available to units universitywide. What began as a departmental effort to more efficiently manipulate data in RIAS resulted in the UGrant system that allows users to drill down from the highest summary information to the lowest level of transaction detail in a single screen. Team members developed an innovative web browser format, allowing staff, faculty, and principal investigators to view their accounts and prepare reports that are easily manipulated, searched, and saved. Evaluated through a review of similar systems, the UGrant system was selected for universitywide adoption and was delivered under the name of “REX.” Today, the system offers departments across Rutgers greater efficiency and flexibility in accessing their account information.

Science MBA Team Meeting the needs of a changing scientific world and fulfilling the strategic vision of the Rutgers Business School, the Science MBA Team came together to develop a multidisciplinary joint degree program combining an undergraduate natural science degree in a field such as biology, chemistry, or physics with an MBA. Representing staff and faculty from the Rutgers Business School in Newark and New Brunswick, the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, the Newark Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and the New Brunswick School of Arts and Sciences; team members collaborated across campuses to conduct research, establish the program’s framework, and develop supporting materials for the program. The first class of students, in both New Brunswick and Newark, entered the program this semester.

Transforming Undergraduate Education Information Development Subcommittee Between July and September 2007, a committee of individuals representing areas including Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, University Relations, and University Human Resources took on the task of ensuring that students, faculty, and staff had the information and tools necessary to manage the dramatic change in organizational structure occurring on the New Brunswick Campus. The committee developed a comprehensive communications plan using the web, innovative paper publications, and video to explain the changes and provide contact information to various audiences. As students returned to campus, many described the transition as a “seamless” one. Although this committee did not command a visible presence in the transformation of undergraduate education, the team members’ efforts to successfully coordinate and disseminate information touched many aspects of the university.

For a full list of nominees, click here.