UW–Madison honors classified staff with Recognition Awards

Five members of UW–Madison’s classified staff were honored with the 2010 Classified Employee Recognition Awards.

“As usual, the evaluation committee had a difficult time selecting these employees out of a pool of great nominees. It really speaks to the wonderful employees we have on the campus,” says Mark Walters, director of classified human resources.

This year’s honorees are:

Margaret Bergamini

Program and policy analyst, for the ASM Bus Pass Program in the Offices of the Dean of Students

As the Associated Students of Madison bus pass adviser, Bergamini has worked for the last 11 years to promote the university and provide bus passes to its more than 40,000 students.

She has worked to expand her role beyond the distribution of bus passes to advise shared governance student appointees, build relationships with campus and community partners, and work with other educational institutions interested in devising similar programs.

Nominator Lisa Aarli, a student services program manager, says Bergamini has worked with Madison Area Technical College and other schools to develop bus pass programs. Students whom she has advised helped create the UW Faculty/Staff Bus Pass Program and programs at Ohio State and Hawaii. Bergamini has worked to ensure that all segments of the student population can obtain the bus passes. She has worked with groups such as the PEOPLE program, the McBurney Disability Resource Center, Odyssey Program and the Student Research Opportunities Program to provide access to passes.

Aarli says Bergamini initiated and worked on a project to integrate non-traditional students into the ISIS database so they could receive the passes and other services easily. “This project improved the efficiency of several on-campus entities and many students,” Aarli adds.

Additionally, when ASM ran into problems with its 2006 elections, Bergamini stepped in to recruit and coordinate academic staff, student employees and other staff to fill 72 shifts during a two-day span. That work required her to solve payroll issues, develop a reminder system and coordinate the volunteer training to get the election back on track.

“Margaret was resourceful and incredible,” while working under a tough deadline, Aarli wrote.

Jeff Burkett

Lab prep technician-senior, Department of Chemistry

Burkett has worked for more than 26 years in the Department of Chemistry, providing technical assistance and support for instructional staff and students and preparing equipment and reagents for teaching laboratories.

In addition, Burkett assists with developing, maintaining and storing a large chemical and equipment inventory. He also trains and supervises student employees who work the stockroom counter.

“Jeff’s input has been invaluable in maintaining the high quality of our teaching program, despite budget and staffing concerns,” says nominator Pam Doolittle, who supervises Burkett. “Jeff continues to accept responsibility for the big projects that fall outside of the scope of his job description for the sake of improving the quality of the department’s teaching program.”

Doolittle says Burkett saved the department considerable money by accepting responsibility for the set-up and maintenance of a student computer room on the second floor of the Chemistry Building. He also personally paid for courses to improve his knowledge of Widows-based networking systems.

Another nominator, Bruce Goldade, manager of the Chemistry Fast Copy Center, says Burkett has a thirst for knowledge and has completed chemistry courses on his own.

“His extra effort and knowledge of chemistry helps with getting the numerous labs for both the analytical and general chemistry courses set up before the next class starts with a different experiment,” Goldade says.

Recently, Burkett’s co-worker retired, says Goldade, and Burkett assumed the challenge of working a two-man stockroom by himself.

Chemistry professor Lloyd Smith adds: “He is often the ‘face’ of our chemistry department for undergraduates from all over the campus and, as such, his stellar performance and behavior is particularly beneficial for the department and the campus.”

Stephanie Gray

Financial program supervisor, Research and Sponsored Programs

Gray supervises the award setup section of Research and Sponsored Programs, and has become the primary contact for questions on all aspects of sponsored programs.

Nominator Kim Moreland, associate vice chancellor for research administration and director of sponsored programs, says that one of the reasons people hold Gray in such high regard “has to do with her ability to analyze dense regulatory material and engage our constituents in understanding the applications of those regulations to their own projects.”

Moreland says Gray handles a large portfolio of projects and showed innovation as the lead functional designer of a major software module created to link to the office’s grants system. Called WIPSER, it helps manage and track details needs to meet federal and other regulations.

Gray also led the Administrative Process Redesign project’s successful Award Setup Team, which took the average time to set up an award from 113 days to an average 20 days, Moreland says.

“The pressures on her have been tremendous and she has far exceeded the standards we set for her own performance, and for the system,” Moreland adds. “Stephanie has all of the qualities of intelligence, perseverance and self-direction needed to succeed at any task she undertakes.”

Three officials in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences wrote that Gray is always available to consult.

“Her ability to maintain her composure and remain pleasant at the most stressful of times is amazing and further speaks to her outstanding ability to present a responsive and service-oriented image for the university,” wrote Carol Hillmer, assistant dean for research; Rebecca Bound, the school’s pre-award supervisor; and Angela Seitler, business manager of the research division.

Rebecca Hoffman

Flow cytometry microbiologist-advanced, Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene

A number of years ago, the State Laboratory of Hygiene stopped doing clinical flow cytometry because many hospitals had adopted the technique. But Hoffman decided to turn the situation into a positive by applying the technology to the environmental field.

The change came just as Milwaukee experienced an outbreak of cryptosporidiosis — the largest waterborne outbreak in U.S. history. Hoffman worked with other microbiologists to develop a better method. Her work showed that the parasite could be accurately assessed using flow cytometry, says nominator William Sonzogni, professor of environmental chemistry and technology and director of the state lab.

Sonzogni says the federal Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) asked Hoffman to provide cryptosporidium reference samples to labs around the nation, and the EPA certifies labs for this type of testing based on her samples.

“UW–Madison, through Becky, is the only place in the U.S. providing these important reference samples,” he says.

Sonzogni says Hoffman serves on state and national committees devoted to improving the safety in drinking water and recently helped plan a conference for the Singapore Public Utilities Board on the subject.

“Her devotion to promoting safety in drinking water on an international scale has had a real impact on human health, and I for one am grateful for what she has done,” Sonzogni says.

Alan Degnan, a microbiologist at the lab, says Hoffman has built a network of talented researchers and recently attracted $604,825 in funding to UW–Madison by collaborating with researchers in Texas and Colorado.

Sharon Long, associate professor of soil science and the lab’s director of environmental microbiology, says Hoffman “is well-organized, keeps her laboratory in immaculate condition, and has a great memory for scientific details.”

Karen Turino

Program assistant, Lubar Institute for the Study of Abrahamic Religions

Turino is the founding administrator of the institute, which was formed in 2005 to create a better understanding and discussion of Abrahamic traditions among scholars, members of those religions and the general public.

Nominator Charles L. Cohen, the institute’s director, says he relied on her to coordinate events, order computer gear, handle marketing chores, manage office issues and deal with the public.

Cohen mentioned Turino’s work on a conference in the institute’s first year that featured Dr. Mustafa Ceric, Grand Mufti of Bosnia. Turino mastered diplomatic and religious protocols and worked with his Sarajevo-based staff to manage details for him and his family when his itinerary was extended. She also completed arrangements for more than 20 other participants.

“Any gaffe might well have embarrassed the institute and fatally compromised its reputation from the outset. Instead, the conference went smoothly,” he wrote, adding that the institute “began to gain a standing for professionalism of which we are all proud and for which Karen deserves enormous credit.”

In addition, Turino developed her own procedures to mesh university accounting systems with the institute’s own procedures, designed and developed conference invitations and posters, and ensured that meals for participants meet various religious dietary requirements.

Last fall, the institute sponsored a talk by Rev. Jim Wallis, a national evangelical leader. When the crowd exceeded the room’s capacity, Turino managed to quickly arrange an overflow room with a video feed and set up scores of chairs for attendees.

“Did I mention that she does everything while holding a 50 percent appointment and serving as treasurer of the Letters and Science Department Administrators’ Network. One should spell efficiency T-u-r-i-n-o,” Cohen added.