2023 Coleman Nominees
| Nominee: | Sarah Appleby |
| Position: | Records Coordinator |
| Type: | Classified |
| Nominating Employee: | Angie Kemp |
Loyalty & Dedication
Sarah began working for the University of Mary Washington’s Simpson Library in 2016 and has been a dedicated colleague throughout her almost seven years of service. Her commitment to the University’s APSIRE values and creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for all shines through her work in both the Library and around campus. Sarah has served on University Staff Council since 2021, listening to and advocating for her colleagues across the University. She has been dedicated to supporting Mary Washington’s students, not only through her role in the Library, but also through activities like volunteering to help on move-in days and assisting the Gwen Hale Resource Closet. Sarah’s dedication to the community extends even beyond campus with service over the years to organizations like the Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank and the Fredericksburg SPCA.
Care and Concern for Others
Sarah is an incredibly thoughtful colleague who always finds a way to help others even when her own calendar is full. She cares very much that staff, faculty, and students succeed and will do all she can to help – whether it’s spending hours helping a researcher find what they need in the archives, or offering to take something off of a colleague’s plate so that they might feel a little less overwhelmed. Sarah is also a very considerate and perceptive coworker – often one doesn’t even need to ask, Sarah just notices a need and steps in. During some of the most challenging semesters of the pandemic, you could find Sarah throughout the Library – helping cover hours at Library service points, scanning materials for students who couldn’t access the building, and regularly sharing information about resources available in the community that could be helpful. In addition, we regularly have students who are interested in careers in the library and archives profession working with us in Special Collections, and Sarah is always happy to help them build skill sets and experience for their future endeavors.
Can Do Attitude
If there is a challenging or tough project coming up, Sarah is the perfect person to have on your team. She is always willing to help find a solution and even if it’s not something that she might personally be able to fix or solve, she connects people with others who can help and never gives up or steps away until a resolution is in sight. Additionally, in a profession where technology continuously impacts both what we preserve and how we preserve it, Sarah stays up to date on technical advances through continuing education and an excitement to bring new ideas to our work at UMW. Despite busy schedules, Sarah is always enthusiastic about the next new idea, and is constantly looking for ways to improve our workflows and services.
| Nominee: | Jennifer Buist |
| Position: | Office Manager, Modern Languages and Literatures AND Communication and Digital Studies |
| Type: | Wage |
| Nominating Employee: | Marcel Rotter |
Loyalty & Dedication
Jennifer Buist is one of those rare employees who are deeply loyal to the department(s) and UMW. Not only does she make sure that faculty has all the supplies they need, she is a true asset when it comes to designing flyers for events and our conversation hours, something that is not even in her job description. Jennifer is on top of room and catering reservations and knows how to make our budget work so that all faculty can teach, research, and provide service. She makes our work possible! Moreover, she stays longer than needed for department meetings, where she takes the minutes, and stays after hours to proctor our foreign language placement test four times per academic year.
Care and Concern for Others
Jennifer Buist is endlessly patient with students when they inquire about the results of the placement test (even though they could easily find it in Banner) and with faculty when it comes to reimbursements for travel, making purchases, or operating the copy machine. On the first day of each semester, she brings cookies for everyone to enjoy and does not even indicate that they are from her. She is a guide for our Language Coordinators (exchange students who provide conversation hours) through the intricacies of UMW bureaucracy and makes sure they have all ingredients for their cooking demonstrations.
Can Do Attitude
Jennifer is the epitome of “can do attitude.” When I need a general idea of the budget at the beginning of the fiscal year, she has it already broken down in categories. Need funding for a book or a new printer? – Jennifer knows what funds to us and how to make the purchase. Creative projects to advertise the department? Jennifer is on it. There is hardly any problem within our departments that she does not know how to solve. She has the numbers of the maintenance crew as well as the IT people. If something is broken, Jennifer makes sure it does not stay that way very long. When it comes to proctoring the placement test, she knows, in the meantime, more than me about Japanese keyboards and how to write Arabic essays. She is a true gem to our departments.
| Nominee: | Brian Strecker |
| Position: | Academic Advisor |
| Type: | Classified |
| Nominating Employee: | Wes Hillyard |
Loyalty & Dedication
Brian Strecker is a member of the Academic Services team and leads our academic advising efforts to support students with an underperforming GPA of less than 2.0. As a member of the team, Brian is extremely dedicated and works tirelessly to support our students as they work to return to good academic standing. Advising this student population is no easy task and involves a unique balance of compassion and concern with firm and clear expectations for what the student must do to rechart their course. Brian carries out this work extremely well and regularly receives positive feedback from students, faculty, staff, and parents. Not all academic advisors and administrators are cut out for this difficult work and Brian takes joy in helping students navigate challenging times and working with them to elevate their academic success and even their own confidence in themselves. At times, students on academic recovery may be very challenging to support day after day, yet Brian gets up each morning ready to work and – even when times are challenging – finds opportunities to help students realize their full potential. According to Dr. April Wynn, Faculty Director of the First-Year Experience, “Brian meets with and cares for this population of students by offering meetings and workshops for students on Academic Warning and Probation. He feels strongly that each student can perform here and that they are worthy of advocacy – and he is that advocate. Brian will research and plan paths of success for our students – many who credit their ability to continue at UMW in good standing with his intervention.”
Brian demonstrates loyalty and dedication each and every day to students, colleagues, and the university community.
Care and Concern for Others
Brian regularly goes out of his way to show care and concern to others including students, faculty, and staff. He regularly stops to speak with colleagues, attends student activities and athletics events, cheers on students from the commencement stage, and embraces the community that we work within. One way that Brian goes above and beyond to show care and concern for others is through his growing support of our our student athletes. Caitlin Moore, Associate Director of Athletics states that “Brian works with some of our most struggling students; some drowning in the transition from high school to college and others willfully neglecting those midterm warnings. I have watched again and again as Brian takes a thoughtful approach with each student, really offering the best of what UMW has to offer – time, patience and guidance with young people when they need it most…In a world that often feels rushed to “get to the next thing,” Brian does a phenomenal job of being intentional and present with students, usually at one of their most challenging times in life so far. He has the uncanny ability to uncover what the real struggle is, while offering firm guidance and encouragement. Students always leave knowing what their next step is, and he does a great job of following up when they are successful as well, making sure they know he is in their corner.” Further, Dr. Wynn shares that Brian “works in the intersection of academic policy, emotion and fear of failure/disappointment, and helplessness – meaning that he takes the humanity of each student situation, contextualizes it through a discussion of the academic policies, and alleviates helplessness by always providing a path forward for students.” Brian is truly one of the most caring and compassionate members of our community and many students benefit from connecting with him.
Can Do Attitude
Those who know Brian know that he does not like to be thrown a curve ball – he is a creature of habit and we joke in the office when we know Brian has hit IT challenge, is running late, or is even overdue for his morning toast and coffee; however, through it all Brian lives his life with a “can do” attitude. He never says “no” to an ask, is always willing to take on one additional student appointment, regularly responds to parent concern emails long beyond the 5pm hour, and – with some time to prepare and process – is always willing to take on a new idea or project. Brian is truly the model of the “can do” attitude and is someone who has assisted so many students and colleagues in a variety of ways. Some examples of times that Brian has stepped up includes leading our Academic Warning workshops that empower students and build connections with faculty, volunteering for afterhours events on campus, advising the Catholic Campus Ministry, providing advising to our athletics teams, and working with readmitted students who are returning to UMW with an underperforming departure GPA. Brian is ready to pitch in and support our students and the university wherever he can. We are extremely lucky that Brian is a member of the UMW team. His work ethic, positive attitude, and willingness to go above and beyond embody the spirit of the Charles Coleman Award. Without Brian, fewer students would find their successful path to graduation by overcoming academic obstacles in ways they never thought would be possible. Without Brian, we would miss a team member who is eager to step up for things because he truly wants to help. Without Brian, we would lose a presence on campus that can brighten someone’s day simply by giving of his time to chat, encourage, and support. Brian is the epitome of loyalty and dedication to our university and I can think of no person more worthy of this recognition.
| Nominee: | Rosemarie Staggs |
| Position: | Office Manager Department of Psychological Science |
| Type: | Classified |
| Nominating Employee: | Miriam Liss |
Loyalty & Dedication
As the chair of the department of Psychological Science, I would be lost without Rosemarie. She is constantly reaching out to check in with what I need. She reminds me of deadlines and works collaboratively on 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 12 faculty schedules. She is a kind supervisor of our student aids and helps our social media student aid to find and promote all of the great things our department does. She is an absolute wiz when it comes to purchasing, keeping track of the budget and helping faculty with travel reimbursements.
Care and Concern for Others
Rosemarie brings her smiling face to work and shows a real interest in the life and well being of the members of the faculty. She shows genuine concern for the well being of every member of the department and often stops to check in and see how everyone is doing. She makes our department feel like home.
Can Do Attitude
She has a fantastic can-do attitude when organizing travel and helping faculty do their requests for overnight travel and get reimbursed. She has recently had to go above and beyond the call of duty with reimbursing students for late season travel – including making special trips to the bank to make sure everyone got reimbursed when they needed to. Another example of her Can Do Attitude is all the time she spent over the summer helping the College of Education with reimbursements – this was out of her normal job description but she was happy to help!
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: | Kelly Eury |
| Position: | Executive Office Manager and Deputy Clerk of the Board |
| Type: | Classified |
| Nominating Employee: | Lauren Slater |
Loyalty & Dedication
I have seen Kelly go above and beyond working with her in her position as Deputy Clerk of the Board. Kelly works tirelessly to ensure that meetings run smoothly, her attention to detail and her communication skills show her loyalty to the University and her care for others.
Care and Concern for Others
Every interaction I have with Kelly is a positive one, she shows care for others through building relationships with her colleagues across campus. She is compassionate and always willing to go above and beyond to help others.
Can Do Attitude
In the past year I have seen Kelly take on a new role with many moving parts. She has learned it quickly, and with a positive attitude. I always enjoy working with Kelly because her knowledge and attitude inspire others and make UMW a better work environment.