Staff members recognized for contributions to campus, community during annual awards ceremony

That’s the message Stanley E. Henderson, vice chancellor for enrollment management and student life, had for all staff during the university’s annual Chancellor’s Staff Recognition Award Ceremony.

“You are not just staff members,” he said. “You are partners, community members. And you are essential to the work done here on campus.”

Henderson spoke to staff members Friday morning on behalf of Chancellor Daniel E. Little. The annual ceremony recognizes staff for their contributions to campus and the community.

Seventy-four individuals celebrated milestone work anniversaries and nine staff members received Chancellor’s Awards: Richard Durant, Jonathan Larson, Patricia Schlaff, Amy Skehan and the CASL Technical Team of Don Barbacci, Ed Bobak, Ibrahim El-Mezain, Bill Fluharty and Christina Hu.

Exceptional Service Award
Whether dealing with short deadlines, limited resources or frazzled UM-Dearborn personnel, Durant makes the remarkable seem ordinary. As desktop support specialist-senior in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS), his commitment to ensuring the technical needs of students, faculty, staff and guests are met surpasses his job responsibilities.

That includes troubleshooting and quickly resolving problems, finding solutions instead of short-term work-arounds and managing multiple projects for multiple departments. He’s quick to help others with their events and often sacrifices evenings and weekends to attend to technical difficulties and outages. And when the university transitioned to Google this spring, Durant volunteered to help CECS staff members learn the new features and navigation.

“Rich is the epitome of an employee who constantly strives to and does provide exceptional service within UM-Dearborn and beyond,” said Tony England, interim dean, CECS. “He is wonderful to work with and is a dedicated staff member who considers exceptional service routine and not an anomaly.”

Outstanding Service to Metropolitan Community and University Award
Larson, coordinator of LGBTQ and inclusion initiatives, doesn’t keep his passion for metro Detroit to himself. Instead, he works to keep the university involved in the community. As one nominator said, “Not only is he aware of the impact this campus has on our community, but is able to facilitate this vision with the students, creating a conglomeration of students who carry out the vision of this university.”

Larson extends the university’s mission to the metro area, hosting and attending events that stress inclusion and diversity, and he challenges student leaders to engage in volunteer service opportunities on and off campus. And his coordination of the Metropolitan Engagement Series—which takes UM-Dearborn faculty, staff and students to cultural, historical and recreational sites within Detroit—has made him the campus’ unofficial city ambassador.

“I can safely say that the work Jonathan has done this past year has not only surpassed previous years, but has set the bar extremely high for other staff members on campus,” said Fareed Shalhout, president of UM-Dearborn’s Arab Student Union.

Long-Term Achievement Award
The “first face of the university” is how Schlaff began her career at UM-Dearborn as admissions secretary. Thirty-five years later, she’s still making a lasting first impression. Now, though, she serves as special events manager of Fairlane Center, representing the university to hundreds of community agencies and working with groups to stage events.

“I have admired her willingness to do anything and everything in her power to make each client’s experience at UM-Dearborn exceptional,” said Katie Barbee, special events assistant. “When it comes to assisting clients and colleagues or helping friends and family, she does everything with a smile on her face, always asking, ‘Is there anything else I can do for you?’”

Colleagues say that same attitude helped transform the admissions office and the Office of Institutional Research, where she served as administrative assistant for more than 12 years. She also has been an active member of the university community throughout her tenure, serving on numerous boards and committees. And while some may see the award as career defining, Schlaff—who has always welcomed opportunities for growth—insists she still has more to accomplish.

Exceptional Performance Award
Skehan’s work with the Business Engagement Center (BEC) is modeled off of U-M Ann Arbor’s center—with one key difference. While Ann Arbor employs a full staff, Skehan has been a mostly one-woman operation since the creation of the BEC.

The BEC connects industry to critical university assets, including student interns, faculty researchers and university library materials. Skehan regularly hosts corporate partners on campus, coordinates grant applications and makes pitches to business leaders in order to ensure strong industry partnerships on behalf of the university. Her creation of the BEC Council provided an avenue for truly cross-campus collaboration on center’s goals.

“Amy's work has helped to promote student internships, research and strategic philanthropy. Over the last few years, her work, advice and influence has helped to establish and maintain many strategic partnerships with industry,” said Jason Davis, assistant director of alumni relations.

Exceptional Team Award
“You know will never have an easy job as long as computers display messages like this: No keyboard is detected. Please press ENTER to continue,” said Ilir Miteza, associate dean of CASL, when introducing the CASL Technical Team of Barbacci, Bobak, El-Mezain, Fluharty and Hu as the Exceptional Team Award winners.

Miteza noted a number of ways in which CASL faculty and staff have benefitted from the work of CASL tech, including simple and consistent multimedia user interface in all classrooms, networked classroom projectors, QR codes for help and team members’ cell phone numbers listed in all CASL classrooms. The team also offered support during the university’s transition to Google.

“In a year of overwhelming technological change for the campus, CASL Tech has been very proactive in making the transition smoother,” Miteza said. “The team is successful because it operates with passion, mission, a sense of cohesion and a culture of customer satisfaction.”

Milestone Work Anniversaries

Five Years:
Deidra Berry, Kelly Carron, J. Maria Cheatham, Becky Dresselhouse-Nauss, Charley Eaton, Susanne Gassel, Shirley Greene, Christine Hilbush, Ledina Imami, Michael Jemison, Ellen Judge-Gonzalez, Julie Kell, Karyn Koos, Maureen Laneski, Jonathan Larson, Cynthia McAuliffe, Barbara McLaughlin, Lisa Miller, Chau Nguyen-Ho, Michale Ogozaly, Catherine Stone, Letarsha Williams, Howard Williams, Joey Woods

10 Years:
Karen Bankovich, Darcel Brown, Jeff Evans, James Hague, Michael Kamen, Kela McClure, Kenneth Mitchell, Larry Pepin, Judith Walker, Dorothea Williams

15 Years:
Lisbeth Conners, Madeline Derrick, Frances Deyoung, Caryn Finkelstein, Susan Flannery, Shannon Hopkins, Noel Hornbacher, Scott Howard, James Pesco, Lia Simpson, Kenya Stribling, Gary Taylor, Maurice Turner, Anna Vince

20 Years:
Sherri Frost, Kathleen Milligan, Marie Shearer, Regina Storrs, Giannina Wilson

25 Years:
Joanne Bond, Julie Dunckel, Susan Gedert, Karen Holland, Soraya Patton, Britta Roan, Deborah Skoll

30 Years:
Marlene Dupre, Geoffrey Hosker, Renee Mainor, Cheryl Nevels, Cheryl Powell, Robert St. Clair, Gregory Taylor, Melisa Wilson

35 Years:
Laura Beer, Patricia Schlaff, Margaret Flannery, Judith Modelski

40 Years:
Chalina Hillson

45 Years:
Robert Quattro