USU's Top Employees Honored

Utah State University’s top employees were honored at the Employee Recognition Luncheon April 9. Three individuals were recognized for outstanding accomplishments in their individual employee categories — classified, professional and faculty. The luncheon also honored USU employees marking 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 years of service, and beyond.

Two hundred-seventy-four employees were honored for years of service, including 70 employees in the 10 year category, 79 in the 15 year, 48 in the 20 year, 39 in the 25 year, 19 in the 30 year, 13 in the 35 year and three employees in the 40 year and 45 year categories.

 

Serving 45 years are Larry Cannon (professor, Mathematics and Stateistics), Al P. Moser (professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering) and M. Kay Jeppesen (vice president for Information Technology).

 

Those with 40 years of service include Martyn Caldwell (professor, Wildland Resources), Craig Johnson (professor, Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning) and Kenneth Lyons (professor, Economics).

 

The employees who took top honors were evaluated on contributions to the university and the community. Service, excellence and personal traits that reflect well upon their departments and the university are also considered. Two finalists are recognized in each category and a third is named outstanding employee of the year.

 

Top honors went to Carol Hatch Nicholas, Noelle A. Call and Helga Van Miegroet.

 

Nicholas received the Outstanding Employee Award in the Non-Exempt Classified category.

 

Nicholas is a staff assistant III in the Interior Design program and was recognized as the glue that holds the program together. “Her warm and open personality makes her an essential part of Interior Design,” her citation said. She was recognized for multiple skills.

 

“Not only does she manage the business and budgeting duties for Interior Design, she is extremely knowledgeable about the accreditation requirements for the Council for Interior Design Accreditation,” the citation stated. “These requirements are complex and involved — not even the faculty know the requirements as well as Carol does.”

 

The two finalists in the Classified Employee area were Ann Marie Wallace, coordinator III in the University Inn, and Deborah L. Tidwell, staff assistant IV in the Health, Physical Education and Recreation Department.

 

Call, director of the Retention and First Year Experience program, is the Outstanding Employee in the Exempt Professional Employee category.

 

Call began her career at USU in 1988 as the reading/learning specialist for Student Support Services. She served 12 years as director of the Academic Resource Center before assuming her current position in the newly created program.

 

“Noelle embodies the spirit of service to the students of Utah State University,” her citation reads. “Her concern for the students of this institution are on display every day, whether advocating for new programs or policies that will result in a more positive experience for students, working to improve the programs she directly oversees or meeting with students individually.”

 

Call’s community involvement ranges from a community reading program to a quilting project. She has served as a CAPSA board member and for the past 10 years has coordinated the successful annual fundraising Christmas gift wrap booth that has raised more than $75,000 for victims of domestic violence.

 

The two finalists in the Professional Employee category included Leislie I. Brown, writer/editor in the Department of English, and Robert William Mace, research associate in the Department of Plant, Soils and Biometeorology.

 

Executive Vice President and Provost Raymond T. Coward announced the Outstanding Faculty recipient Helga Van Miegroet, an associate professor of wildland soils and biogeochemistry in the departments of Wildland Resources and Watershed Sciences.

 

“Helga consistently contributes to Utah State University by her exceptional achievements in teaching, research, professional service, university service and community services,” her citation said. “She is admired for her unfailing dedication to her profession, students, colleagues and community.”

 

Van Miegroet has a national and international reputation for research excellence in forest soils and biogeochemistry and is well known for her work on nitrogen dynamics and nutrient cycling in forest soils and ecosystems.

 

Van Miegroet’s community service extends to several non-profit organizations that promote the arts, health, education and the environment in Cache Valley.

 

The two faculty finalists were Martha Dever, interim department head in the Secondary Education Department, and Paul A. Wheeler, associate professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.