PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 23, No. 18, April 22, 2004

Eight staff members honored with Chancellor’s Distinguished Staff Award

By John Loos, Student Intern

Eight staff employees will be honored with the Chancellor’s Distinguished Staff Award at a banquet beginning at 5:30 p.m. April 22 at Peabody Private Dining Room. The award recognizes exceptional performance and service to the UI. At the honors banquet, each recipient will be awarded $2,000 and a plaque. Recipients’ names also are inscribed on a plaque displayed in the Personnel Services Office.
Permanent staff employees with at least two years of service or retired employees in status appointments during the calendar year can be nominated for the award by faculty or staff members or students. A committee appointed by the chancellor recommends finalists. The chancellor gives final approval.

Photo by Bill Wiegand Carol Bosley

Carol Bosley came to the UI as an administrative aide in 1987 and by 1994 she became an administrative assistant II in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. She has since founded several successful programs, drafted more than 100 speeches and established herself as an “organizational hub” to the office.

“I can honestly say that I do not know of anyone more deserving of [this] award than Carol Bosley,” wrote Tom Seals, director of the Counseling Center. “She truly makes an enormous difference in the life and work of so many students, academic professional staff and faculty.”

Bosley organized the first Working Moms’ group on campus, a supportive network for women who wish to return to work after having children. She also founded the inaugural mentoring program for the Secretariat, recognizing the benefit of having executive secretaries mentor other secretaries aspiring to higher-level positions. She is known for her ability to calm exasperated parents, the guidance and personal attention she gives to student interns and the community service she initiates through her parish.

Eight years ago she founded the St. Joseph Village Gardeners in which residents beautify their community by volunteering to plant and tend flower beds in public areas. As an elected member of the St. Joseph Library Board, she has spearheaded an initiative to enhance the external appearance of the library. At St. Patrick’s Church, Bosley has been involved in restructuring the youth program to include a strong community-service component.

Photo by Bill Wiegand Gary Cutler

As a storekeeper II for the College of Veterinary Medicine, where he has worked for 25 years, Gary Cutler receives, loads, unloads and distributes all the supplies from outside vendors. He also prepares receiving reports, distributes paperwork to the respective departmental office and prepares outgoing shipments.

Known as the “Lizard Hunter” to colleagues after an incident in which he had to personally track down 300 escaped Anoli lizards in the college’s receiving area, Cutler has shown great meticulousness in his work as well as strong investigative techniques when he receives incorrectly or insufficiently marked packages. As the “back door vendor” to the college, Cutler meets a wide range of people daily and has developed excellent rapport with many of them.

“Gary has become an indispensable and integ ral part of the college,” wrote Marie Childress, an accountant for the department of veterinary biosciences. “In addition to being a dedicated, reliable and accurate employee, Gary is also the heart of the college.”

Every year, Cutler organizes the college’s Toys for Tots and Food for Families drives during the holiday season and promotes them tirelessly. He personally collects donations and delivers them to the Salvation Army. He also keeps the college’s donation records, encouraging them to improve each year.

Photo by Bill Wiegand Sharon Decker

When Sharon Decker retires at the end of this year, she will have worked in the English department for 21 years. In that time, she has worked in every segment of the department, from the Graduate Office to the Writing Studies Office to the main office, performing exemplary service in every position she’s held. She also is a UI alumna – an English major, of course. Now she is the manager of the Graduate Studies Office and the department’s Graduate Placement Service. Decker’s work touches an international constituency as she invests herself in attracting a truly global student body.

“Sharon has now served the English department in two of the most complex and vital staff positions,” wrote Charles W. Wright, professor of English. “And [she’s] performed superbly in both – with little fanfare – though not without the admiration and gratitude of those who have benefited from our association with her.”

Decker was considered essential in teaching others in the department about the UI Direct system during its implementation in 1994. She also is known for her no-nonsense attitude and good-spirited humor, which she uses to teach and mentor her colleagues and orient new graduate students. She has helped international students traverse the new INS requirements and oversaw the launching of a new master of fine arts program.

“We have all benefited from Sharon’s savvy, her team spirit and her extraordinary service for over 20 years,” English professor Carol Neely wrote.

Photo by Bill Wiegand Vicki Eddings

As the UI’s only full-time member of the East St. Louis Action Research Project, a 12-year-old nationally recognized public engagement initiative of the university, Vicki Eddings has demonstrated great dedication and passion in her position as administrative secretary. She has been the one constant in the revolving door of team members for the past three years, and has maintained communication lines among students, faculty and staff working on ESLARP both on campus and in East St. Louis. Such connectivity requires frequent 360-mile round trips between the locations. Eddings not only makes these trips but she also volunteers to travel for ESLARP’s Outreach Weekend Program, which takes volunteer students and faculty members into East St. Louis to work on ever-changing neighborhood projects.

“It is hard to find someone more spirited [than Vicki],” wrote Michael Andrejasich, interim director of the ESLARP. “Her smile breaks the tension in the most difficult situations … and trust me, they can occur often in the public engagement arena.”

Furthermore, Eddings has been invaluable in her assistance as ESLARP faces a difficult transitional period marred with fiscal uncertainties. She has helped in future planning by organizing weekly staff meetings at both locations, equipping student research assistants and faculty members with the resources needed to carry out their responsibilities, and monitor the budget.

As ESLARP director Mark Garrett wrote, Eddings “is the glue that holds the whole project together.”

Photo by Bill Wiegand Peter Hetman

In the department of mechanical engineering, it takes a one-of-a-kind person to craft the one-of-a-kind apparatus used in the laboratories. As an instrument maker for the department he joined in 1985, Peter Hetman uses his skills as a machinist to design and develop efficient educational apparatus. Whether it is a simple metal plate, a combustion bomb or a solar-powered vehicle, Hetman approaches each creation with enthusiasm and professionalism even if it takes, as in some cases, hundreds of hours to complete.

“[Pete] always takes on any project that is assigned to him with enthusiasm, interest and concern,” wrote David Tempel, Research Laboratory Shop supervisor. “Whether these projects are menial or require the utmost skill level, he will carry them out in his usual pleasant and competent manner.”

Hetman also has a reputation for being resourceful. After a cataclysmic system failure in the laboratory, he recognized and proposed solutions within 15 minutes of arriving on the scene, thus making a prospective two-month-long shutdown last less than two weeks. He has transplanted this resourcefulness into a role as an informal educator by assisting students with class projects and explaining to them various operations within the laboratory.

Hetman recently finished a four-year term on the United Way of Champaign Advisory Board as a representative of the AFL-CIO.

Photo by Bill Wiegand Doug Hilgendorf

Doug Hilgendorf knows his cows on a personal level. He knows which ones are picky eaters, which ones are good around children, which ones produce the most milk and which ones respond best in a given management situation. As a herder-foreman for the UI Dairy Farm, Hilgendorf manages not only his herd of cud-chewers, but also about seven to 10 herders and two to seven students at a given time, making sure they feed the cows, clean the barns, treat the sick animals, dehorn the calves and do any other chore on the farm that needs attention.

“Doug is the farm employee who is most frequently called upon to assist with research projects because of his knowledge, ability and attention to detail,” wrote Neal Merchen, professor and head of the department of animal sciences. “The word from the faculty and graduate students is if you want something done correctly, ask Doug.”

A particularly glamourless task on the farm is artificially inseminating cows, but Hilgendorf often comes in before work or stays afterward to ensure an optimal insemination process. When labor is short, he’ll complete the daily chores himself. And when the state 4-H and FFA competitions come to the farm each year, Hildendorf jumps at the opportunity to help the contestants, particularly the children, prepare the animals for contest while answering questions and showing them proper handling techniques.

“Doug is a warm and caring person. No task is too large, no one is unimportant and the UI dairy cows are his passion,” wrote James Drackley, professor of animal sciences.

Photo by Bill Wiegand Betty Lacy

For more than 15 years, Betty Lacy has been a main desk attendant at the Allerton House Conference Center where she has welcomed guests from around the world. Willing to accommodate visitors in any way she can, Lacy has looked for lost luggage, gotten keys out of locked cars, driven sick guests to the hospital and even climbed over fallen trees during a storm in order to ensure the comfort of Allerton’s visitors.

Lacy also has been a driving force behind the annual Allerton Holiday Showcase, an event that has brought in more than 25,000 visitors through the years. Lacy organizes the mailing lists, coordinates dining reservations and answers a myriad of inquiries. She exhibits the same dedication to groups that hold conferences at Allerton. At the annual conference hosted by the UI Coordinated Science Lab, she can be seen clearing dining tables, toting linens to the laundry and, in one case, filling in for an injured chef.

“Betty is a problem-solver extraordinaire – and the problems [at Allerton] can run the gamut,” wrote Patricia Justice, assistant chancellor for development. “One of her many strengths is that she anticipates the needs of the clients.”

“Betty is the perfect team member,” wrote David Schejbal, associate vice chancellor and director of the Office of Continuing Education. “Her unselfish attitude is an excellent example for other employees.”

Photo by Bill Wiegand Donald Roberts

Since 1978, Donald Roberts has been employed as a crops testing specialist for the department of crop sciences for corn breeding and genetic testing project directed by Professor John Dudley. He is responsible for maintaining and operating a research plot planter and a research plot combine and also for hiring and supervising seven to 10 summer employees and 10 to 15 part-time employees during the fall and spring semesters. Roberts completes his tasks in a timely way, not adhering to a “9 to 5” philosophy.

“Don is a very dedicated, responsible and conscientious worker,” wrote Torbert Rocheford, professor of plant genetics. “Don comes from a farm background and understands what it takes to get the job done properly regardless of the time of day.”

It is estimated that in his time at the UI, Roberts has planted and harvested more than 748,000 corn plots without accident. Some of those plots have been in Hawaii, where Roberts goes every second or third year to pollinate the college’s winter corn-breeding nursery.

Roberts also has developed his own computerized inventory system, regularly indoctrinates graduate students to the methods used in the field, and ensures that his employees and student workers always have a job to do.

“[Roberts’] work ethic is beyond question,” wrote R.J. Lambert, professor emeritus of plant breeding and genetics. “His willingness to put out the extra effort to complete his work responsibilities contributes to his superior job performance.”

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