Congratulations to the winners of this year's CoE staff awards, and thank you to everyone who took the time to nominate a colleague. Scroll down to find out who took home this year's awards, including the Rising Star Award, Team Builder Award, Hero Award, and T'xpert Award, as well as the coveted Buzz Trophy for the school spirit poster competition.
Rising Star Award
The award is for individuals beginning their career at GT within the past 3 years. It recognizes a staff member who has created or utilized an opportunity to grow and develop in their role and as a result, has made important contributions to their unit.
The recipient is Ian Tumey, Financial Administrator in CHBE. He was nominated by Deborah Babykin.
From the very start, Ian leaped into his position in CHBE with a burst of positive energy. He took advantage of any opportunity to learn more, often asking for additional tasks and finding ways to further contribute to the mission of the school. As a result, his role expanded quickly and he soon accomplished tasks well ahead of the typical learning curve for this position. He tackles new challenges, which show up daily in an academic unit, with a positive attitude.
His nominator Deborah writes “When Ian started on the staff culture council, I was not sure if this would be a good role for a new employee. Ian has already made presentations to our management team and in our admin/finance team meetings encouraging others and soliciting information to take back to the council.”
Team Builder Award
This award is for an individual that fosters a work environments that supports others, passes on knowledge and experience, demonstrates flexibility, and helps the group achieve productive results.
The recipient is Shirley Manchester, Academic Advisor in MSE, nominated by Renita Washington.
Shirley’s commitment to the students in MSE is demonstrated in her daily interactions with students, faculty and staff. Every event and service she coordinates contributes to her willingness to go beyond tasks and reaches into the heart of the School. This along with her work ethic, desire to be part of a team and all around excellence make her an excellent choice for this award.
From her colleague Sarah, “Shirley is a team player, supportive, adaptable, and always learning. She is one who is always willing to make time for you and to be present in her conversation with you I am grateful for a colleague like her who will stop what she’s doing to lend a listening ear or to help with whatever you’re requesting from her. She is not one to avoid feedback, but to learn from it to make herself the best she can be and use it as a learning moment... it is a privilege to call Shirley a friend.”
Hero Award
The award is recognizes an individual who is a role model, is committed to the delivery of excellent service and results always, and is the person the everyone turns to for support or solutions.
The recipient is Chris Malbrue, Educational Support Manager for the Vertically Integrated Projects program in ECE, nominated by Julia Sonnenberg-Klein.
Chris joined the VIP program 3 years ago—over that time, he has enthusiastically taken on more responsibilities and has executive brilliantly on each one. He is one of the reasons that the program has been able to expand from 300 students when he joined to more than 900 today. As anyone who works with him in the program can attest, he has the most positive, can do approach and is the perfect person to serve as first point of contact for VIP. He is so invested in Georgia Tech and VIP, that he’s truly become an expert at what he does. He has vast knowledge and an even bigger network of contact across campus.
Prior to joining VIP, he worked in the ECE Academic Office. Mary Ann Weitnauer writes “When Chris left the ECE graduate office to join VIP, we received actual hostility from faculty who were upset to see him go! This is because Chris is the “go-to” person in any work group.”
T’xpert Award
This award recognizes an exceptional individual who has made outstanding contributions to technical services with positive impact to support unit mission in addition to promoting a positive work experience through respect, support and collegiality.
The recipient is Kevin Guger, IT Support Manager in CHBE, nominated by Dawn Franklin.
Kevin is an all around technical star and a great person. He is a wonderful resource for everyone in CHBE dealing with multitude of IT challenges that come up in a large school. In a field where the landscape is continuously changing, Kevin does an impressive job in staying ahead of the curve to keep school IT systems secure and efficient. He has quietly created a behind the scenes redundant network that reduces potential exposure to catastrophic IT events. He is always thinking ahead to anticipate challenges rather than just react to them.
Kevin has been described as the “social glue” in CHBE. David Sholl says “He is famed for his interest in cooking and food, and there have been many instances where he has brought elaborate contributions to staff events... On top of these events, Kevin always seems to have a simile on his face and deals with everyone around him patiently and helpfully. Quite simply, it is hard to imagine CHBE without Kevin!”
