University of Idaho Honors Employee Achievements

Tuesday, May 6 2008

May 6, 2008 MOSCOW, Idaho – The University of Idaho will honor 21 employees for outstanding achievements at the annual Staff Awards Reception at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, May 7, in the university's Student Union Building Ballroom. In addition, 205 employees will be recognized for a cumulative 2,685 years of service to the University of Idaho and 20 University of Idaho Honored Staff Retirees will be recognized. “It is important to recognize and appreciate those staff members that have served the University of Idaho through dedicated and outstanding service,” said Dan Noble, chair of Staff Affairs. “The university community looks forward to this annual event.” Established in 1972, this signature event is hosted by the university's Staff Affairs and is designed to honor outstanding staff members that have been selected by their co-workers and/or supervisors. The goal of the awards is to encourage more support and recognition of staff for their dedication and hard work on behalf of the University of Idaho. Each recipient is presented with a plaque and a $500 check in recognition of their outstanding service. Outstanding Employee Awards Exempt Classification

Butch Fullerton

, a Montana native and Vietnam veteran, has worked in Facilities Services for 22 years. Fullerton employs a team of construction inspectors, and together they are responsible for managing the post-bid construction effort on all of the major capital projects at the university. A majority of his time is spent dealing with facilities issues at the outlying centers around the state, such as the Idaho Water Center in Boise and the Cummings Center in Salmon. Fullerton said he "enjoys the comfortable work environment wherein people can work up and down the organizational chart and across departmental lines to accomplish the common mission."

Keith Hite grew up in Emmett and attended the Community College of the Air Force. He has been with the university for almost five years, and describes himself as an avid outdoorsman who enjoys fishing and shooting sports. Hite is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Technical Services team, which includes him and "two fantastic technicians." Hite said if it plugs into the wall, they take care of it. He also co-chairs the technology strategic implementation committee and said what he enjoys most about working at the university is the encouragement to grow and develop as a technician and supervisor.

Janice L. Jones is responsible for fiscal duties within the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, which includes working with various fund sources, budgeting, monitoring and reporting on these funds. She serves as support staff to all departments within the college. Jones attended Kinman Business University and joined the university 14 years ago. What she enjoys most about her work environment are the people with whom she works. In her spare time, Jones spends time gardening and quilting.

Shelby Silflow, a native to Spokane, Wash., is the assistant manager of supplies at the Bookstore. Silflow is responsible for purchasing all general merchandising, as well as retail planning and planning of events related to the Bookstore, such as secret sales and football concessions. Outside of work, Silflow actively is involved with buying groups and serves as a member of the Pi Beta Phi House Corporation Board. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, golfing, relaxing at the lake and reading. An alumna of the university, Silflow said she loves her role she now is in and appreciates the opportunity to give back to the institution that gave so much to her. "I love being a Vandal and am glad to be in a job where I am continually surrounded by people who share that same passion," she said.

Antony J. Opheim is senior director and chief technology officer of Information Technology Services. He is responsible for the leadership and direction of enterprise infrastructure services – networks and systems, management information systems, and Web services. Opheim graduated from the university in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and has worked for the university since February of that year. His hobbies include systems programming and racing formula cars.

Lawrence Young, assistant director for service-learning and internships, encourages and facilitates service-learning and internships across campus to provide students with an engaged transformative educational experience. A member of the university for the past three years, Young also has served on several university committees, including the Goal Three Team of the university’s Strategic Plan. He also is an adjunct professor of sociology and conservation social sciences, and teaches a course each semester. Young received his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His primary extracurricular activity is being a dad and husband; Young and his wife have a five-year-old daughter and will adopt another child this summer.

Technical/Paraprofessional Classification

Cheryl Behler Wallace

is the assistant to the dean in the College of Business and Economics. Her job is to maintain his calendar, make his travel arrangements and keep the office running smoothly. Wallace is listed as the secretary of the college faculty, so she takes notes at all meetings. She is the college’s budget officer; serves as the affirmative action officer of the college; and coordinates the college’s commencements activities. Wallace is an alumnus of the University of Idaho. She began her employment at the university in January of 1979. What Wallace enjoys most about the university are the people, the students and the energy they bring. "I have been fortunate to have worked with such a great group of staff and faculty in the College of Business and Economics," she said.

Diane Isaak has worked for the University of Idaho for 20 years. Isaak’s major responsibilities are to provide administrative, fiscal and personnel management to the District II Cooperative Extension director, faculty and staff in nine county extension offices. She also provides fiscal and personnel management for the Caldwell Complex, which includes the Caldwell Research and Extension Center, Business and Technology Incubator, and Food Technology Center. An alumnus of Northwest Nazarene College in Nampa, Isaak said the best part of working for the university is the people. She describes her peers, both on and off campus, as always being very helpful and pleasant to work with, which in turn makes her job more enjoyable.

Lynne Kittner is a budget specialist for the College of Natural Resources. Her primary responsibilities include monitoring the college’s administrative budgets and working with college administrators, faculty, staff and students. Kittner provides payroll and fiscal services, helps resolve concerns, answers questions, and ensures expenditures follow appropriate rules and policies. She has worked in the same office at the university for 25 years. Kittner is a graduate of Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts and has taken additional courses at Idaho. She enjoys traveling, gardening, and spending time with friends and family. Kittner enjoys the great people she works for and with, the feeling of “family” that exists in her college and the people with whom she interacts across campus.

Matt Jepsen is the primary programmer/developer for Engineering Outreach, the graduate distance-education arm of the College of Engineering. He designs Web applications for students, staff and faculty use, such as an internal database, a calendaring application for scheduling recordings in his four studio classrooms, an online video-on-demand viewing and download interface for students, and a grade and homework tracking system for faculty, among many other things. This past year, Jepson has put together servers to deliver thousands of course videos online as an alternative to mailing DVDs. Jepson came to the university as a freshman in 1999; he began working for ITS customer support in spring 2000 and graduated in 2003 with a degree in music theory. When he’s not spending time with his wife and two kids, he likes to drink espresso, read and play guitar.

Cheryl J. Wheaton is the program adviser for the University Honor’s Program. Wheaton’s responsibilities include: coordinating primary details for the annual University Honors Convocation, an event that celebrates the academic accomplishments of more than 3,000 students; arranging the annual membership drive for Phi Eta Sigma, the freshman honor society; maintaining data on the 500 members in the program and assisting in advising those students; management of the program budgets; and acting as an ambassador of the university and the Honors Program. She enjoys traveling, gardening, and – most especially – being the grandma to "my four delightful young grandchildren." Wheaton believes the people at the University of Idaho are the backbone of the institution and are what make it the place it was, is and can be. Wheaton received an education degree from the University of Idaho and previously taught elementary school in Virginia and Maryland.

Secretarial/Clerical Classification

Jan Pitkin

is an administrative assistant II for the Department of Forest Products. Her main responsibility is the recruitment and retention of the students. She also performs the day-to-day tasks of the department, such as receptionist, faculty support and record keeping. Pitkin also organized the first Department of Forest Products Reunion last fall and has been writing the departmental newsletters. Pitkin has been with the University of Idaho for almost 24 years and has lived in Moscow for 40 years. She enjoys being out in the woods searching for mushrooms and huckleberries.

Randy Michael Hilker is the financial technician for the Idaho Falls Center for Higher Education. Hilker always is ready to take on new challenges or fill in when needed, serving above and beyond the call of duty. He continually strives for excellence, and is highly detail oriented. In the nomination for Hilker, a co-worker noted, “Mike is a very well rounded individual…He is creative, hardworking, responsible and always wants to improve himself.” Another noted, “Mike is a person who appears to be ‘working in the background’ without much desire to call attention to himself."

Sande Schlueter is an administrative assistant in the College of Law, where she works with the dean, associate dean for administration and students, associate dean for faculty affairs, and director of administrative and fiscal operations. She maintains their calendars, prepares correspondence, processes travel and travel reimbursements, prepares the law school class schedule, and processes law school “bills” and timesheets. Schlueter has lived in Idaho since 1997 and has worked for the university since 1999, when she started at the law school as part-time irregular help. She has been in her current position as administrative assistant to the deans at the law school since 2000. Schlueter also serves as the law school’s “registrar” and maintains the student files, process grades, standings and the Dean’s List.

Skilled Craft Classification

Brad Baker, an interiors technician in Facilities Management, Baker puts forth the effort in every task to ensure that the results are exceptional. One coworker said of Baker’s work, “The doors he installs are perfectly straight, plumb, fit like a glove, and swing open and closed with almost no effort.” He takes the initiative to make special tools and templates to fit the needs of the job. His quality of service is outstanding, and he goes that extra step to fix anything he sees wrong – not just the problem he was called in to resolve. Baker always is friendly, polite and helpful in his dealings with everyone. One nominator noted, “[Brad] has quietly performed his work in an outstanding manner for many years and truly deserves recognition for it.”

Service Maintenance Classification

Douglass Revord is a custodial services specialist for University Housing. Staff members in the International Programs Office have the highest regard for Revord, noting that his diligent service to their facility has led them to regard him as an integral part of the IPO team. Rather than rushing to accomplish the bare minimum, Revord continually takes the time to address the varied needs of the office. A staff member recently noted, “Doug is an excellent example of how to achieve positive, professional interpersonal relationships with colleagues across campus. It is because of Doug’s initiative and dedication that the foyer remains welcoming, organized and sparkling.”

Outstanding Team Award In 2007, the ITS Exchange Implementation Team collected technical requirements for the new Microsoft Exchange System by conducting meetings with key users and campus system administrators to understand how the system was expected to function for customers. The team built, tested and migrated the entire campus (faculty, staff and students) to the new program. The new student e-mail system is a modern system that gives the students 200 times more storage space for their messages and a personalized e-mail address instead of the impersonal format. The Exchange system used by staff and faculty also has more room for e-mail storage, displays a common directory of all e-mail addresses and names, and provides an integrated calendar/scheduling system for everyone on campus. There are around 4,000 Exchange email accounts, which send and receive more than 3 million messages every month. And, behind the scenes, the system blocks more than 10 million spam messages every month. Team members include:

Dave Lien, networks and systems manager, said the team project required careful planning so that e-mail services could be migrated in a way that did not cause a service outage for our customers. "Although a core team was responsible for planning and executing the main technical plan, the entire ITS organization was involved," he said. "Without the efforts of the ITS teams, such as Help Desk, Secondary Support, Network Team and the Systems Team, the project would not have been a success." Lien joined the university eight years ago after working in the private sector, and enjoys the change. "I like the people that I work with; ITS has a great vibe to it – it’s doing lots of good things and has a great attitude about customer service," he said. "I like that the university is in Moscow; a beautiful campus in a small town in a beautiful part of the country."

Tim Curry, server systems analyst, is one employee that is making life for students on campus much easier. Curry is involved in the replacement of the old e-mail system with Microsoft Exchange enterprise-wide. Curry has a bachelor's degree in microbiology from Oregon State University and a master's degree in systems management from the University of Southern California. This is his fourth year working in ITS at the University of Idaho. He also has professional certifications in Microsoft and Novell operating systems. Curry is an ex-Naval Officer and his interests include history, politics, internet blogging and competitive shooting.

Don Miller, systems development analyst, completed the migration project to Microsoft Exchange. It took the entire year of 2007 and is partially ongoing with additional issues coming up every month. The project involved researching implementation solutions and processes, working with vendors on purchasing and installation, coordinating customer support resources to address customer needs, developing and testing a migration plan, and then “opening the floodgates” for migration. Miller is a Moscow native and has been working for the university for about 15 years.

David Summers, server systems analyst, joined the university in fall 1997, when he started working part time as a student. He said the biggest benefit of the new Exchange system is its "modern e-mail and calendaring software." He enjoys playing and listening to music, riding bicycles and motorcycles, and playing games. Summers' favorite things about the university include "the smaller community, that I can ride a bike to work and that I can take classes at a reduced tuition rate."

Lawrence C. McBride Prize

The Lawrence C. McBride Prize was established by private donors in 2002 to recognize exempt staff for exemplary service to the University of Idaho. This prize, the first of its kind, complements the Outstanding Employee Awards sponsored by Staff Affairs.

This year's prize was given to Lawrence Chinn Jr., principal architect in the university's Architectural and Engineering Services. Chinn is responsible for oversight of all design and construction phases of assigned major and minor capital construction. As a licensed architect, he reviews and stamps all projects created within Architectural and Engineering Services. Chinn is a 1966 graduate of the University of Idaho with a bachelor's degree in architecture; he has been an employee of the university since 1973. Chinn enjoys gardening, travel, history and classic automobiles. Chinn is impressed most with the quality and appearance of the campus, and enjoys the association with the many talented and dedicated students and employees. This is the first year that sponsors will donate their services for the event. Sponsors include AIG, Liberty Mutual and Vision Service Plan. For more information about Staff Affairs, visit www.uidaho.edu/staffaffairs. # # # About the University of Idaho Founded in 1889, the University of Idaho is the state’s flagship higher-education institution and its principal graduate education and research university, bringing insight and innovation to the state, the nation and the world. University of Idaho researchers attract more than $100 million in research grants and contracts each year; the university is the only institution in Idaho to earn the prestigious Carnegie Foundation ranking for high research activity. The university’s student population includes first-generation college students and ethnically diverse scholars. Its high academic performers include 42 National Merit Scholars and a 2006-07 freshman class with an average high school grade point average of 3.42. Offering more than 150 degree options in 10 colleges, the university combines the strengths of a large university with the intimacy of small learning communities. For information, visit www.uidaho.edu. Contact: Joni Kirk, University Communications, (208) 885-7725, joni@uidaho.edu KR-5/6/08-STAFF

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About the University of Idaho
The University of Idaho helps students to succeed and become leaders. Its land-grant mission furthers innovative scholarly and creative research to grow Idaho's economy and serve a statewide community. From its main campus in Moscow, Idaho, to 70 research and academic locations statewide, U-Idaho emphasizes real-world application as part of its student experience. U-Idaho combines the strength of a large university with the intimacy of small learning communities. It is home to the Vandals. For information, visit www.uidaho.edu.