Employee Recognition
March 2022
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Stacy Emery
Stacy Emery is a key member at the Sindecuse primary care clinic. From managing supply orders, to scheduling staff time off and adjusting the electronic health record, Stacy touches almost every medical function at the health center. She explains WMU policies on TB testing for international students, COVID testing. In the absence of a Director of Nursing since August, Stacy has managed to keep it all running smoothly. We would be in tough shape without her attention to detail!
Joe VanDerBos
February 2022
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Mike Deblecourt
Mike is the model of consistency and dedication: two integral components of creating a great experience at the BC. We can ALWAYS count on Mike to get the Bernhard Center opened ahead of time, anticipate needs, give great input on set ups and operations, provide genuine and positive customer service, and have our rooms ready every time. I can't wait to see how Mike takes on the new Student Center as our lead house staff employee!
Paul Terzino
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Brian Dubrish
Brian goes above and beyond to help not only students, but staff. His dedication to making a good experience for all on our campus is admirable. Brian never shies away from helping people, regardless of who they are. I am honored to work with Brian and appreciate him! Thank you for always pushing through Brian!
Roshona Porter
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Janice Quakenbush
Janice recently went out of her way to capture video featuring the installation of detailed work on the new student center. This video will help spread the word, build excitement and create social engagement - as well as help initiate an archive of the construction and history of the new student center. Thank you, Janice!
Student Affairs Assessment, Marketing and Communications
January 2022
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Kate Papson
Kate has been contributing here expertise and passion to Housing and Residence Life for many years. Through good time and challenging times she has provided a voice of reason and understanding. Her commitment to diversity shines and is reflected in all that she does. I am proud to have her on our team!
Steve Palmer
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Roshona Porter
Shoni is a team player and really gets things done! She is always open and willing to hear multiple viewpoints related to any issue that is being worked through. She genuinely cares about how the outcome will impact people. She puts students first in all that she does and gives 110% as her norm. I enjoy working with Shoni and appreciate her enthusiasm for Student Affairs and our students!
Nicole Kalmbach
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Tim Strunk
Tim is the backbone of our division! He works tirelessly on making sure our IT systems are talking to each other and he connects us to other departments across campus. Most people don't know, but Tim spends very late nights making sure our servers are up to par and running smoothly so we can be an effective and successful division. I have enjoyed getting to work more closely with Tim over the past year. Tim never complains and he is truly an advocate for our division. He is a quiet strength in our division and I appreciate his hard work and dedication. Tim, I salute you, sir.
Shoni Porter
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Jeremy Ynclan
Jeremy has endured the ups and downs in our department throughout these challenging times and has done so with an extremely positive outlook and attitude. If there is one person in our department i can count on to be an ongoing smiling face and bring a smile to others it is Jeremy. I know that his attitude and approach are not only valued by me but by the whole department. Thank you Jeremy for being YOU!
Steve Palmer
December 2021
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Jess Brownell and Kerrilynn Wabbeke
These two are the hub and heart of the counseling services department. Both Jess and Kerrilynn possess just the right mix of warmth and patience to be the perfect people for to work the reception area. They put students, many of whom call or present in distress, at immediate ease. Jess and Kerrilynn also provide invaluable support to the counselors who depend upon them for administrative support of all types, from schedule changes to IT glitches. I am grateful to work with them!
Sue Kohlert
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Bonnie Pfingst and Ben Zblewski
I have been SO impressed with the work that Bonnie and Ben have been able to create since my arrival at WMU just two months ago. I have a habit of dropping by offices saying 'do we have X or Y here?' And in this instance, I was looking for thank you cards and electronic letterhead. Both Bonnie and Ben were so gracious and kind, and said 'let me see what I can do'. Today, I am looking at a brand new stack of Thank You and Kudos cards, and generated a letter on my fancy electronic letterhead, thanks to the two of them. Talk about impressive service. Thanks to each of you for all you do. We are SO fortunate to have you.
Barry Olson
November 2021
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Mike (Berd) Berdowski and Jordan Olson
It is long overdue to thank these two guys for their commitment to students and our programs. We currently have a vacancy with the Asst. Director of intramural Sports position. This was a terrible time to try to find a replacement so the two agreed to help cover the position until we could hire during spring. The two have mentored a few students to help with some of the daily tasks. We all know what a difficult year this has been with mask polices and extra steps in their current roles. I can't express how appreciative I am of their teamwork and care for the students. True leadership!
Amy Seth
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Andrew Francisco
I have worked with Andrew in the same office for 4 1/2 of the last 5 1/2 years, and have been impressed by him since day one! He is always cheerfully willing to tackle any task, no matter how many other items are on his to-do list. Speaking of lists, he is an expert at keeping track of every detail that may otherwise be overlooked. He often comes up with ideas for procedures to help streamline or clarify. His friendly and knowledgeable manner of talking with full-time employees, student employees, fellow managers and dining guests is great. One focus of Andrew and assistant manager Paige Winkler is the hiring and orienting of our student employee staff, and following through with feedback, training and discipline. At any given time, we have between 250 and 300 student employees and it is a constant process, since of course students come and go! Andrew's culinary skills are top-notch too, and he often has wonderful ideas for both preparation and presentation to make our meals even more delicious. This year (and last) has presented many challenges to our dining unit, including staffing, supply chain and health related, and Andrew tackles these with a tireless energy and is a great asset to our associate director. With seemingly endless interruptions each day, Andrew is still able to answer questions, solve problems, "put out fires" and still attend to the day-to-day logistics of running a unit that serves around 75,000 meals a month. He also finds time to write notes of encouragement and praise to his fellow employees. I could go on with so many examples of Andrew and his management, leadership and culinary skills, but I hope this gives you an idea of what a valuable employee he is to both Dining Services and Western Michigan University.
Stacey Clancy
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Laura Darrah
I wanted to give a shout out to Laura Darrah, Assistant Director for Housing and Residence Life. Laura has been so helpful in helping me to better understand our living and learning communities, and has most recently done some amazingly quick work to help us potentially stand up a new living and learning community for the fall. Her attention to detail, attitude, and warmth truly makes partnering a dream. Laura, thanks for all your hard work and dedication!
Barry Olson
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Molly DePew
Ecstatic to have Molly as the newest member of our Housing and Residence Life team. She has hit the ground running in an admirable fashion and her positive attitude and daily smile make me excited to come into work every day. Thank you Molly for joining our team!
Steve Palmer
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Connor Kirkpatrick
There are so many reasons why Connor is a stellar employee and rock star (great student employee supervisor, excellent relationship with other departments, will go above and beyond to ensure student success, excellent facility ops mind, and on and on). Today I want to announce and recognize that Connor has been chosen as the FYE Instructor of the Year! And, after his first time as an FYE instructor! Connor has made an impactful and positive impression on his FYE students and this is a great recognition or his ability to teach and connect with first year student. Congratulations Connor!
Paul Terzino
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Karen Lamons
What would we do without Karen?? I don't care to think about it. Karen is an integral part of our Housing and Residence Life Team! As is true of many others, she has picked up extra duties as we have had to downsize and has done so in an admirable and positive way. Thank you!
Steve Palmer
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Andrea Mellendorf
Thank goodness for Andrea! The pandemic has brought many highs and lows for Andrea. One of the highs for me during this time was having the ability and opportunity to hire Andrea back into the Housing and Residence Life family to oversee the Apartments. I am more than happy to have Andrea leading the way in this area and providing care and guidance to our apartments residents and her staff. Thank you for all you do!
Steve Palmer
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Tracie Sams
Tracie is one of two people in Housing and Residence Life who has been here longer than me. With that, Tracie has positively endured changing from working solely for Apartments to all of Housing and Residence Life, staff reductions, changes in responsibility, and many other things. Tracie has done all that with a smile on her face and a willingness to change. Thank you Tracie!
Steve Palmer
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Veronica Thomas
Veronica is one of two people in Housing and Residence Life who has been here longer than me. With that, Veronica has worked with more supervisors than i care to count, changes in job responsibilities, changing offices, and any number of things during the pandemic. Veronica is truly valued and appreciated. Thank you!
Steve Palmer
October 2021
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Michelle Adams
Michelle has worked tirelessly and relentlessly in taking on the responsibilities of all Student Concern Forms. I appreciate her dedication and thoroughness in doing this work. I want to recognize her in particular for leading the search of the Case Manager. We could not have done it without her stepping into very big shoes in my humble opinion. Awesome job, Michelle!
Reetha Raveendran
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Mark Broeckel
Mark has been integral in the "behind the scenes" work on the creation, implementation and monitoring of the mandatory testing process. He has provided staff with top notch support and information with his prompt, thoughtful responses and guidance. His efforts go beyond the programming and implementation of this process, as his work is reflective of his genuine intent to ensure the process is flexible enough to meet the unique needs and circumstances of our students. We're so thankful to have Mark as part of our Student Affairs team!
Michelle Adams
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Paul Choker
With little notice, Chef Paul took the lead on the dining department. Many of the processes are new to him and he has prevailed in a high stress environment with CONSTANT needs. Chef Paul is doing his best, and we can see that. Not only is Chef Paul reacting to the pandemic, acting as the interim director, and learning the position, but he is also pushing forward with the new student center planning. Thank You Chef Paul!
Andrew Francisco
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Stacey Clancy
Stacey has been a huge asset to the Valley Dining Center. She completes payroll for around 300 people many, of which need to be hand entered at the start of the semester. She pays bills that never seem to stop, answers frequent calls effectively, answers questions constantly, trains new administrative assistants, completes money handling & deposits, she also keeps track of so many useful things around the office, and maintains a delightful attitude. Stacey is also very aware about campus in general, which makes her very helpful to many people. Thank You Stacey!!
Andrew Francisco
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Katie DeCamp
Katie has worked so hard at the Valley Dining Center this year. She has typically worked 10-12 hours daily since welcome week including some weekends. She has been in a high stress environment constantly and is managing day to day operation while helping plan and lead many processes that will contribute to the future of dining services. Katie's upbeat personality has kept the staff morale in a decent place ( better than anyone else would be able to given the circumstances ). I am so thankful to support and work with Katie on a daily basis. Thank You Katie!
Andrew J Francisco
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Larry Flynn
Larry has done a great job at starting his position as the associate director of procurement in dining services. He started this challenging position as the pandemic took hold. Larry has been crucial to ordering PPE, managing funds, helping Chef Paul, and finding weekly ingredient substitutions with over a dozen vendors, this has helped keep the student customer experience positive. Larry has done well, been financially responsible, and helpful- always with a quick turnaround time when you ask him for something. Thank You Larry!
Andrew Francisco
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Jennifer French
Not only is Jennifer a dependable and hardworking cook, she has also taken it upon herself to recognize every employee at the Valley Dining Center with a token of appreciation. The office staff all received "back to school" pencil cases filled with all sorts of treats. The other cooks received small gifts as "random acts of kindness". This week she has prepared thank you notes for each of our student employees which included a raffle ticket that they could exchange for a gift. Jennifer and her co-workers have gathered all sorts of things... mittens, flashlights, calendars, small tools and other items as the prizes. EVERY single student gets one. Their excitement is fun to see. Jennifer has boosted the morale of over 300 employees during a very challenging semester. Jennifer, thank you so much!
Stacey Clancy
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Housing and Residence Life Central Office Staff
The ladies in Housing have done an amazing job working with students, parents, staff, and faculty with navigating all of the changes that have come our way. I have seen Tracie, Karen and Veronica be on the front lines of some difficult conversations and high emotional situations and they roll with the punches and charge on to make sure the students are our top priority. They effortlessly continue to rise to any challenge they are faced with and should be recognized and appreciated. What a great group of ladies to work alongside!
Roshona Porter
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Jackie Miller
Jackie is awesome!! IN addition to picking up numerous extra responsibilities Jackie has maintained, thrived, and persevered while we have been short an Assistant Director and has been key in assisting our new Assistant Director transition in and I'm sure will continue to do so. Great job! You are appreciated!
Steven Palmer
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Pete Poggione
I have so much gratitude for Pete's approach to his work. He is service oriented and takes the time to think through the best possible path to reach any given outcome. In every meeting I am in with Pete, he is consistently encouraging those around him to think about resources at scale to best meet everyone's needs. Thanks for all that you do Pete!
Ciji Ann Heiser
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Kristen Wieferich
Kristen has been awesome (for more than a decade but we'll just talk about the here and now)! She has directly supervised Hall Directors while we conducted our Assistant Director search, has worked diligently with our budget, and goes above and beyond on a regular basis. We could not survive without her. THANK YOU!
Steven Palmer
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Paige Winkler
Paige has been an asset at the he very start of her employment. I often forget that she is a newer employee since she is so proficient as an assistant manager. Paige has a reduced FTE due to the pandemic. Paige has maintained a good helpful attitude despite this change. She has found another position for the summer when she is off. She still attended virtual meetings while she was not here over the summer to stay up to date. Personally Paige helps me every day with student scheduling, hiring, orientation, and planning for the new student center. This fall we have had more student openings than any other year in my last six years at WMU. Paige has helped hire over 100 new students, and has helped to train and develop them to be our next group of student leaders. I am relieved knowing that Paige is there to rely on and feel there is nobody in the department with her dedication and abilities to manage and interact with student employees. Thank You Paige!!!
Andrew Francisco
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Ben Zblewski
Ben has gone out of his way to make Student Affairs look good. Using his creative skills and technical knowledge, he puts his heart into every project - and the outcome is always stellar. He is the teammate that everyone wishes they could have. Happy Birthday, Ben!
Bonnie Pfingst
