Classified staff honors outstanding employees

Classified staff celebrated its accomplishments and dedicated members at the annual Classified Staff Council awards event April 6.

Outgoing CSC Chair Becky Paskvan told those gathered in the Lenhart Grand Ballroom that, whether an award winner or not, each classified staff member plays an important role in the success of BGSU.

Classified Staff Team Award
Winning the Outstanding Classified Staff Team Award were Jean Coffield, secretary, and Sue Bigaila, administrative assistant, in the School of Family and Consumer Sciences.

The team, wrote their nominator, contributes much to creating a positive environment, helping to unify and move the school forward. They contribute to an atmosphere of reason and collegiality and provide a stabilizing influence, characterized by sensitivity and respect for all.

A student nominator wrote that Coffield and Bigaila serve students in many ways: as advisers, confidants, friends and counselors. Described as “forward thinkers,” they have also innovated numerous improvements to administrative systems.

The two received $1,500 to share, a plaque, certificates and gifts from the University Bookstore and dining services.

President Ribeau congratulates Sue Bigaila (center) and Jean Coffield for winning the Classified Staff Team Award.

Outstanding Service Award
The Outstanding Service Award went to Linda Hammer, administrative assistant in recreational sports (intramural sports), likewise credited with creating a positive experience for all in her workplace. Her pleasant and upbeat personality and professional style foster a loyalty among employees that keeps them coming back to visit, her nominators wrote.

She has come to be depended upon for unbiased and frank opinions on work-related issues as well as suggestions for improvement. She has the ability to foresee potential problems and “stave off road bumps” by cooperating effectively with other offices.

Hammer “has taken it upon herself to learn the Perry Field House policies and procedures so when the need arises, she can help a patron when all other staff are occupied,” a. nominator wrote.

She takes up the challenge of improving the department’s processes and programs and tackles additional responsibilities head-on. She also works tirelessly to promote participation. In the department’s programs.

She received a check for $1,000, a reserved parking space for a year, a plaque and a certificate for the office.

Linda Hammer, recreational sports, shows off the plaque she received with the Outstanding Service Award.

President Ribeau addressed employees at the gathering, saying never in his nearly 30 years in higher education had he met another employee group as committed to the mission of the institution and to its core values.

“Back when we embarked on the Community Building initiative, classified staff was the first constituent group to give it serious consideration in its communications and publications. You epitomize the values of the institution.”

Ribeau added that, in spite of difficult economic times that have resulted in additional stress being put on workers, “you have achieved levels of excellence that are just extraordinary.” He added that when the current hiring freeze is lifted, he will “not forget the employee group that took the largest reductions.”

He also praised classified staff for giving its scholarship awards, which he said are “so desperately needed” in a time when state support is dwindling and “many working-and middle-class kids are not going to have the chance to go to a four-year institution.”

Council presented four scholarships to classified employees and 12 scholarships to dependents of employees. The employees winning scholarships were Coffield; Kerry Foster, administrative assistant in the Office of the Executive Vice President; Lee Ann Koenigbauer, a student services counselor in registration and records, and Pam Sautter, office manager in recreational sports.

Dependents who received scholarships were Holly Amos, Laura Bennett, Mark Chamberlain, Holly Houtz, Stacey Laubis, Todd Lentz, Laura Lindsley, Adam Snyder, Allison Sproul, Spencer Schmitz, Carrie Whitacre and Brian Wygant.

Special thanks went to Executive Vice President Linda Dobb for her unwavering support of classified staff.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, Paskvan passed the gavel to incoming Chair Kathy McBride, accounting and MIS, who said she wanted to impart her enthusiasm for networking to all classified staff. She challenged them to make it a goal to get to know others across campus, outside their department or office, especially “all those people whose names we see often but we don’t know.”