Stellar staff honoured

Several retirees, a member of UVic's chemistry staff and an eight-member team were honoured at the president's holiday reception on Dec. 12 as winners of the 2007 President's Distinguished Service Awards.

UVic Vice-President Academic and Provost Jamie Cassels presented the awards on behalf of UVic President David Turpin. "We are grateful to these three wonderful individuals and the eight team members who have contributed so much with their special efforts over the years," says Cassels.

The awards were created in 2002 to recognize the contributions by staff members to the learning and working environment at UVic.

The uHire Development and Implementation Team won the Team Award for Innovation. Thanks to this team, hopeful candidates applying for a new job at UVic now have access to a state-of-the-art hiring program to help them build r&e#180;sum&e#180;s from start to finish and keep track electronically of postings and applications.

The three-year effort of these seven staff members-Judy Cryderman (retired, human resources), Adrian Fletcher (computing and systems services), Bonnie Hallett and Christine James (human resources), Sherri Puentes (NOVA), Michele McDonald (budget), John Foxgord (computing and systems services)-and one undergraduate co-op student-Janelle Heron (business)-will now save innumerable staff hours and mounds of paper for years to come.

The new program went live on May 1, 2007, and has already saved an estimated $100,000 in costs.

"From its inception, this team did their research in discovering what people wanted," says Charles McQuade, director of finance and operations for external relations. "It has been a pleasure to work with the uHire team," adds Jim Forbes, director of the UVic bookstore, "and the system itself meets the need for enhanced support services while also supporting sustainability through reduction of paper use."

Puentes is "proud of being part of an exceptional team whose contribution not only benefits the university, but our employees as well." Cryderman, who led the project with Fletcher and is now enjoying extended hours on the fairway since her retirement, agrees with Fletcher that "being a member of this very special team has been one of the most satisfying and rewarding experiences of my life at UVic."

Joanne Thomas is another UVic retiree receiving a President's Distinguished Service Award this year. She joined the university as a staff member in 1974, but her time here dates further back: to September 1964 when she started as a first-year student.

Over the span of four decades, Thomas has been a witness to much of our history. She remembers a time when "Finnerty Road ran through the campus near 'A' wing of the Clearihue building… and that wing was actually the only wing back then. I also remember one of my professors disapproving of women wearing slacks in his classroom-and this was a Saturday morning class, which, yes, we had back then too."

Over the years, Thomas became known as a dedicated and compassionate person representing the best in our community. "Her focus on student experience was unwavering," says Dr. Elizabeth Grove-White, former executive director of the Co-operative Education Program. "Her tactful, thoughtful advice and unobtrusive support served generations of students, academics and administrative managers, employers and members of the wider community."

At the time of her retirement in July 2007, Thomas was the manager of the Optional and Professional Programs in the Co-operative Education Program.

Her ability to showcase UVic to a larger community was magnetic. Dr. Evert Lindquist, director of UVic's School of Public Administration, remembers meeting Thomas in spring 1998 "at a professional development session for new university managers before I arrived from the University of Toronto. I was struck by her sense of humour, and when I first heard she would be retiring, I found it hard to imagine UVic and co-operative education without her humour, knowledge and integrity."

When Thomas joined co-op in 1984, there were about 300 co-op students. When she retired, there were approximately 3,000 participating students.

Going beyond campus, Thomas was recognized provincially, nationally, and internationally. In 2004, she received the Canadian Association for Co-operative Education's highest honour, the coveted Albert S. Barber Award, for outstanding contributions to the advancement of the philosophy and practice of co-operative education in Canada.

Her legacy continues to be noteworthy. Without doubt, Thomas's expertise and devotion have left a lasting mark on UVic's signature co-op program, one of the largest in Canada, and have helped enhance our reputation as one of the premier co-op universities in the world.

Christine Greenwood has also been busy leaving a unique imprint, in her case by helping to put molecules in their place in UVic's chemistry department. Greenwood manages the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) equipment - including tools for determining the structure of compounds and the progress of chemical reactions-which all chemists use sometime in their careers.

Greenwood joined the department nearly 40 years ago. Former chair Dr. Tom Fyles thinks "much of our success in grant competitions over the past 30 years is due to Chris's excellent administration of the NMR facilities and her strategic sense of what the next step ought to be."

Through careful manipulation, Greenwood has coaxed many years of research from the department's finely balanced instruments, worth several million dollars, and she was ready to help at any time. She gave chemistry graduate students her home phone number and came in during off hours to solve the odd problem.

Her daily focus on tiny molecular happenings has included all manner of popular experiments. While providing NMR demonstrations in previous years at chemistry open houses, she added lightness to each occasion by testing the strength of homemade beer for the enjoyment of her audience.

Chemistry professor Dr. Reg Mitchell (a.k.a. "Dr. Zonk") is someone else who knows how to put on a good show. He says, "I just hope she doesn't retire before I do! She'll be very hard to replace."

Peggy Faulds could easily be considered a propagator of higher learning. In October 2007, she retired from her position as program co-ordinator for the Arts and Science Program in the Division of Continuing Studies, and UVic lost a skilled administrator who could deftly nurture numerous programs into full bloom.

Faulds was responsible for organizing and supporting countless courses and collaborations such as the Gorge Restoration Project, the annual Medieval Studies weekend workshop and projects related to the Restoration of Natural Systems (RNS) certificate and diploma within UVic's School of Environmental Studies. The latter included securing funding for a number of distance-based RNS courses to ensure students from more remote communities such as Cranbrook, Castlegar and Neskonlith First Nations could complete their programs primarily from home. Due largely to her leadership, UVic received an Eco-Star Award for Environmental Education in 2005.

"Peggy quietly and effectively ensured the smooth operation of the RNS program since its inception in 1996," says Dr. Eric Higgs, director of the School of Environmental Studies. "Students knew her as the first point of contact for program advice, personal encouragement and as the person who attended to the myriad details that can make a program appear effortless."

Adult learners also benefited through Faulds' identification of the importance of engaging students by acknowledging the experience of self and different ways of knowing. UVic philosophy professor Dr. Jan Zwicky, who served as director of the Humanities Diploma Program from 2004-07, remembers Faulds as "one of the most compassionate and imaginative educators I've had the privilege to know."

Faulds did not restrict her careful tending of adult education to on-campus efforts, and was widely recognized by colleagues in the field of university continuing education as a knowledgeable advocate for adult learners. She increased exposure for UVic's programs by being involved in several external committees, and students enrolled in RNS courses from as far away as Finland and Spain.

Faulds was also a voice for the UVic community through her involvement with the Professional Employees Association. Lauren Charlton, associate registrar for Undergraduate Admissions and Records, remarked upon the "compelling desire for fairness" shown by Faulds.

For more than 20 years at UVic, wherever she applied her many skills, programs and people flourished.