2022 Coleman Nominees
| Nominee: | Kim McManus-Carini |
| Position: | Operations & Finance Coordinator |
| Type: | Classified |
| Supervisor: | Kimberly Young |
| Nominating Employee: | Mary Becelia |
Kim, a double alum (MWC as an undergrad Business major, and UMW as a MBA) who has worked at UMW for many, many years*, in at least three different offices: Bookstore, Financial Aid and currently in the Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD). Her loyalty to UMW is immense–she has built her professional life here, using the foundation she received in her education here, earning not one, but two degrees and sharing her talents with several departments!
*I am not sure when she started, so this is an approximation, but she has absolutely been here far longer than five years.” “Kim joined the CCPD team a few short weeks before Covid 19 moved us online. During that brief time our team immediately got to know her well, thanks to a fortuitously scheduled off-campus retreat that lasted for three days. During those intense, but rewarding, sessions, we quickly realized that Kim was good listener, sensitive and attuned to others as well as a bright, cheerful person to have around.
When we went online, we continued to get to know her via Zoom and Teams, but it has really been in the past year that we’ve seen Kim go above and beyond in terms of her care and concern for her team as well as the student workers she supervises.
She always greets us with a smile, asks how we are doing, and takes the time to get to know the us and our student workers, not only as employees, but as individuals. She works closely with them until they are comfortable with their tasks, but also gives them the room and encouragement to grow. She is kind and caring to all, and takes the time to help or converse with the faculty who work part time in our office as well as with any visitors who come by.” “While Kim’s title is Operations & Finance Coordinator, she actually wears several hats. She does procurement for several departments outside the CCPD, which requires a great amount of time and attention to detail. She has also taken on additional duties within our department in the wake of several staff departures in the past year.
Kim never complains, never procrastinates, but works steadily until she gets her tasks done. She is the epitome of a team player, of a loyal and true UMW graduate/employee, and I hope UMW is lucky enough to have her in our “”family”” for many years to come!
| Nominee: | Betsy Southern |
| Position: | COVID Care Coordinator |
| Type: | Classified |
| Supervisor: | David Fleming |
| Nominating Employee: | Nancy Wang |
Betsy has gone above and beyond as the COVID care coordinator the past 2years. Her dedication to the university can be seen in the hours she put into her work as she had to be on call for any positive tests and self report and followed by contact tracing. During re-entry testing this semester, multiple positive results (>25) came back after 5 pm and she had to notify the positives in the evening and move them to isolation spaces. She has no hesitation in taking on more work and that shows her dedication to UMW. She may have started as the COVID care coordinator, she is also the contact tracer and coordinate testing of people exposed and surveillance testing. She has made this job her own. Not afraid to learn new things and juggle multiple hats at the same time.
Betsy is one of the most caring person at the university. She is incredibly compassionate in her care of the student in isolation and quarantine. She took them to see the doctor when they are sick. She took them outside for walks any games and brought them Chick-fil-A. She brought them things to do in quarantine like yarns and knitting needles. She goes above and beyond what is expected ; it’s what Jeff McClurken said ‘concierge care’.
As mentioned above. Betsy demonstrated a can do attitude. She never says no to anything requested of her. She always finds a way to do what is needed. She has a commonsense attitude that that help make things go more smoothly. She learns new concepts quickly.
| Nominee: | Brian Ogle |
| Position: | Associate Registrar |
| Type: | Classified |
| Supervisor: | Rita Dunston |
| Nominating Employee: | Rita Dunston |
Brian serves as the lead data administrator responsible for providing access to and ensuring the integrity of student academic data. What a large task! In my years of experience working in Registrar’s Office functions, Brian’s knowledge of working with the student information systems is unparalleled. He works countless hours behind the scenes without much recognition making him, in my opinion, an unsung hero.
Brian’s customer service skills are exemplary. He has become an encyclopedia of knowledge when it comes to the student information systems, Degree Works as well as other third- party interface systems. He willingly shares this knowledge within the UMW community and externally with other institutions, particularly Virginia four-years.. Although Brian is responsible for his own daily tasks, he can often be found assisting other coworkers with their tasks. He has a keen ability to communicate effectively with his colleagues, from an administrator’s level to hourly student workers. For example, countless department chairs and program directors have relied on Brian to analyze department enrollment capacities as well as seek solutions to assist their majors with degree completion. In each instance, he has remain consistent, competent and willing to go the distance. Further, staff from other departments across campus has noted that Brian is thorough and provides excellent care and concern.
Brian possesses the ultimate ‘can do’ attitude while performing all tasks. He completes assignments with a positive energy and smile. His upbeat personality and engaging personal style enables him to interact with students, faculty and staff. Consistently, he’s willing to change directions and focus on what can be done instead of what can’t be done. for example, there has been a multiplicity of changes and upgrades with the student information system coupled with ever changing demands within the institution. Reflecting on these challenges, Brian stays the course and allow his ‘Can’do’ attitude to shine brightly. As his supervisor, I appreciate his quality of work and willingness to go above and beyond his normal responsibilities to bring further success to UMW.
| Nominee: | Rosemarie Staggs |
| Position: | Office Manager |
| Type: | Classified |
| Supervisor: | Miriam Liss |
| Nominating Employee: | Miriam Liss |
Rosemarie has shown wonderful dedication to our department, and before that to Economics. She has been exceptionally supportive and helpful to me during my time as chair of this department. She was moved from Economics to our department and we were very lucky to get her. She is always available to answer questions and help out – even on weekends. She will text or email right away if I have a question or need something. She is always willing to go above and beyond and help out and has been such a valuable help as I have transitioned into my role as chair.
Rosemarie brings her smiling (masked) face to work and shows a real interest in the life and well being of the members of the faculty. She makes our department feel like home. She is a caring supervisor to our students and student aids and makes them feel as though they are part of the psychology family. She is often checking in on how people are doing and creates a loving and welcoming atmosphere in our department.
She is constantly reaching out to check in with what I need. She reminds me of deadlines and works collaboratively tasks. She is an absolute godsend when it comes to scheduling. She magically finds a way to accommodate everyone’s needs and fits them in the rooms where they need to go. This is often a huge balancing act as we need to negotiate 14 faculty schedules. She is an absolute wiz when it comes to purchasing, keeping track of the budget and helping faculty with travel reimbursements. She has a fantastic can-do attitude when organizing travel and helping faculty do their requests for overnight travel and get reimbursed. Rosemarie has a can do attitude about anything. Whether it is investigating the source of the mysterious beeping noises, getting a work order done to have art work hung, or creating and putting fliers all around Mercer to advertise events, she takes on tasks and gets them done!
| Nominee: | Leigh Penn |
| Position: | Accounts Payable Manager |
| Type: | Classified |
| Supervisor: | Julie Smith |
| Nominating Employee: | Julie Smith |
Leigh consistently performs her duties in an excellent manner and goes above and beyond as an effective member of UMW Finance and Accounts Payable. AP has faced a number of unique challenges over the past 2 years, and Leigh successfully led the team through them. While departments and employees around her transitioned to 100% telework, circumstances unique to AP didn’t allow that. Leigh made departmental changes and processing changes to at least allow hybrid telework arrangements while still processing vendor mail and invoices timely and maintaining the Commonwealth’s prompt pay standards and requirements. When Eagle Village was undergoing mold remediation on top of the pandemic issues, Leigh was forced to make additional changes to keep her staff safe and to keep UMW’s vendors paid on time. She temporarily relocated herself and her staff, along with necessary equipment, and continued getting checks in the mail and getting vendors paid on time.
Keeping her team and her co-workers safe and healthy during the pandemic and during the Eagle Village mold remediation project was top priority for Leigh. By alternating their time in-office and by vacating Eagle Village altogether and relocating elsewhere on campus, Leigh was able to mitigate risk.
In addition, Leigh is always helpful and supportive of department buyers. She’s always available to take their call and offers assistance. Leigh is also focused on our vendors, and she realizes the importance of getting them paid timely. She understands that cash flow is very important to the micro and small vendors UMW is required to use, and getting them paid on time is priority.
Leigh is kind, caring and conscientious. She leads with compassion and professionalism.” “In addition to the challenges presented by the pandemic and by the Eagle Village mold remediation project, staffing and budget cuts have been a challenge for Accounts Payable. Leigh collaborated quickly with her supervisor and other Finance staff to make adjustments to work loads and fill the gaps the best way possible. Leigh has also put in a tremendous amount of overtime hours to accomplish AP tasks and ensure important deadlines are met.
In the face of all of the challenges that came her way over the past 2 years, whether pandemic related, mold remediation related, or staffing and budget related, Leigh never gave up. She never said I can’t. She recognized the problems presented and made the adjustments necessary to solve them.
THANK YOU LEIGH!