The annual Chancellor鈥檚 Employee of the Year Awards are presented to 麻豆影院 staff as recognition and appreciation for exceptional job performance and remarkable contributions to the campus community. Recipients of this distinguished award join a rich heritage of past recipients who display outstanding performance, inspired leadership, exceptional interpersonal skills and extraordinary service to the campus and community.
CU-麻豆影院 is filled with passionate and dedicated individuals who consistently define what it means to be extraordinary. Our 2014 award recipients embody this extraordinary service:
路听听听听听听 Lea Alvarado (Career Services)
路听听听听听听 Margaret 鈥淢eg鈥� Clarke (Department of Religious Studies)
路听听听听听听 Robert Dixon (Housing and Dining Services)
路听听听听听听 Bret Mann (ATLAS Institute鈥檚 Center for Media, Arts, and Performance)
I will honor these award recipients at a private reception with their invited guests, and a special recognition event will also be held at the women鈥檚 basketball game against USC on Friday, Jan. 9, 2015.
2014 Chancellor鈥檚 Employee of the Year recipients
Lea Alvarado
Lea Alvarado is the Alumni Career Program Manager in Career Services. Alvarado provides an extensive offering of free career counseling and monthly career events to an alumni network of more than 250,000 former students. Under her leadership, this joint program with the Alumni Association has not only met the needs of this extensive alumni network, but also provided unmeasurable good will in enhancing CU-麻豆影院鈥檚 reputation in the community and with alumni.
Alvarado is described as having an unwavering passion for helping graduates of the 麻豆影院. Since she began her career as an Alumni Career Counselor, 6,265 career counseling appointments have been made, serving 3,582 alumni from all corners of the world. In addition to her meeting with individuals in person, she offers remote services to alumni around the world using live media tools such as webinars, tele-classes and mini video training sessions.
Alvarado鈥檚 client feedback speaks strongly to her outstanding job performance and extraordinary service to campus and the community. One individual said 鈥淚n these days of financial and career insecurity, it is heartening to know that I have a resource to call upon with caring and diligent professionals who can help me reach my goals. The fact that it鈥檚 coming from my alma mater, a school I love, is doubly great.鈥�
Meg Clarke
Meg Clarke is the Program Assistant II in the Department of Religious Studies. Clarke joined the Department of Religious Studies during a pivotal transitional time and played a vital role in its success. Described as having unflagging energy, determination and innovation, she has directly impacted the ability of the faculty to perform their work and has established conditions under which the department can thrive and grow.
Not accepting the status quo, Clarke poured through hundreds of department files going back decades in order to understand past practice, assess current problems and formulate a plan of action to ensure an efficient and effective future for the department. Her dedication and pride in the department have supported efforts such as bringing the CU Mediterranean Studies Group back into Religious Studies and creating the opportunity for faculty to bring in external grants under CU sponsorship.
Regarded for her commitment to genuinely improving the department and its working environment, Clarke is admired by those in Religious Studies for her integrity, professionalism, intelligence and efficiency.
Robert Dixon
Robert Dixon is the Director of Information Technology in Housing and Dining Services (HDS). Dixon鈥檚 innovation and forward thinking in Housing and Dining Services have enabled students to thrive in today鈥檚 technological environment. Additionally, as a lead member in the Campus-Wide Collaboration of IT Professionals, Dixon has provided valuable leadership to the campus IT environment.
Dixon has been described as a pioneer in forming relationships with one of the country鈥檚 leading digital signage vendors, Four Winds International. This relationship brought digital signage to all of HDS and the campus through a campus-wide licensing agreement. Having a single digital signage vendor is more advantageous than ever as the campus works toward making the signage accessible to all. Furthermore, his work with the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure has helped reduce costs while increasing productivity, allowing staff to work from any station, laptop or other mobile device and still have their own personal desktop computing experience. 听听
Dixon is regarded as a valued team leader with a vision for sustainability. His ability to build partnerships has helped departments identify and create solutions and efficiencies that enhance the campus experience for staff and students.
Bret Mann
Bret Mann is the Broadcast Engineer for the ATLAS Institute鈥檚 Center for Media, Arts, and Performance. Highly regarded for ingenuity, compassion and commitment, Mann stands out by always thinking strategically about how to increase and improve practical teaching and learning opportunities for students.
Mann was selected in part for his advocacy for student participation in the development of a PBS series.听听 A 2011 partnership with Rocky Mountain PBS to develop the new series featuring live performances in the Black Box Theater could have easily been tasked to a professional team. From the beginning, Bret insisted that this project provide students with opportunities to work in all aspects of the production.听 This commitment to student development helped pave the way to a Heartland EMMY award for the premiere episode that aired in July 2012.
His work outside of his regular job has also earned a high level of respect from colleagues. In his spare time, he is a gifted musician and longtime drummer. On campus he recently performed in a multi-media performance at Fiske Planetarium. His band, 鈥淭he Band Aids,鈥� performs regularly at Children鈥檚 Hospital for patients and their families.听