Valentine’s Day 2013 was a special day on the U of A campus but not for the usual reasons, because on this day, UA Staff Senate recognized four full-time staff members as Employees of the Second Quarter (October – December ).

• Sharon Garner – Professional/Non-Faculty Academic
• Will Allred - Professional/Non-Faculty-Administrative
• Mike ‘Charles’ Fincher - Secretarial/Clerical
• Sandy Frazier - Skilled Crafts/Service/Maintenance

To make the cut for this special recognition, a potential Employee of the Quarter must go above and beyond their normal job duties.  In addition, nominees were reviewed for special achievements or recognition received and impact on their unit and/or UA as a whole.  To explain why these individuals were chosen by the Committee, let’s take a peek into their nominations.

Sharon Garner, site coordinator of the operations management graduate program, was nominated by Carol Alton from the College of Engineering. Sharon serves as the operations management representative at the Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville. As the full-time coordinator and adviser for the program, her responsibilities include all the daily activities associated with running an off-site program for the University’s largest graduate major. Sharon takes great pride in engaging students, whether active duty, veteran, or civilian to ensure continuous movement toward completion of their Master of Science in Operations Management. Her priority is their success! As Carol stated in her nomination, “We rely on Sharon for her sound judgment and knowledge of our program policies. … On a daily basis, she continually completes more than what is expected of her.”

Will Allred, associate director of technology at the Walton College of Business, received his nomination from Allison Foxworth in the Walton College of Business, accounting department. Will’s job really is one of 24 hour days, 7 days a week, ensuring the entire Walton College of Business computer infrastructure continues to stay up and running smoothly every day. Any size system glitch and Will is always willing to help, no matter what time. Allison reported he strives to make technology easy to use and understand for every user-needy professor, picky Ph.D. students, whining graduate assistants. What is most impressive about Will, you ask? Somehow he finds time for each and every user in need making changes, trying new things, anything to make their computing experience easier even if it makes his job harder. 

Mike ‘Charles’ Fincher, inventory control technician at Facilities Management Central Supply, was nominated by Geoff Hulse, logistics manager of Facilities Management. In his role as a parts driver at Central Supply, he delivers custodial supplies to their designated buildings as well as the routine part run for the skilled trade shops. Geoff cited the following reasons why Mike was nominated for this award:

·       “Mike does more work by 10 a.m. than most people do all day.  He is smart, thorough, and busts his tail every day to make sure his job gets done properly without incident.”

·       “Mike is friendly, outgoing and has a positive attitude that contributes to the atmosphere we all enjoy at Central Supply.”

Sandy Frazier, institutional service assistant for Facilities Management, received her nomination from Cat Donnelly and Kristin Musgnug from the Fine Arts building. They explained Sandy as a special type of employee who does the best job she can using knowledge from U of A policies and procedures while still being capable of thinking outside the box, if necessary, to get the job done.  Reliable, honest and considered an important part of the Fine Arts team, Cat and Kristin write, “The Department of Art really appreciates Sandy’s spirit and her hard work and dedication to our department and our building. Sandy is an integral part of our team, understanding our quirky needs and getting to know the staff, faculty and students within our department. She is not on the fringe, partly because we don’t place her there and partly because she finds more job satisfaction being a part of us. She has greatly improved the custodial services within our building, which makes our jobs so much easier and more pleasant. Sandy has gone above and beyond by taking students under her wing and keeping them on track.”

Congratulations to each recipient of Employee of the Second Quarter for a job well done and also for their impact both inside and outside the University of Arkansas!

Can you think of an individual in your office or building who should be considered for Employee of the Third Quarter (January - March)? If so, nominate them and possibly their story will be shared with the UA community next time. Nominations are due no later than 5 p.m. on Monday, April 15. For more information, please visit the Staff Senate Employee of the Quarter website:  http://staffsenate.uark.edu/22.php.