University announces summer, fall 2024 Employees of the Month

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas has announced Employees of the Month for the summer and fall months of 2024. These staff members have made outstanding contributions to the KU Lawrence community.

Winners of the Employee of the Month awards receive the following:

• A surprise visit from the provost or her designee
• A certificate of award
• A biography featured in KU Today
• A $750 gross monetary award.

Nominate an employee for this award by completing and submitting the online or paper Employee of the Month nomination form and returning it to HRM by email or fax to 785-864-5790. More information is available here.

October 2024

Name: Brian Fife

Title: IT technology coordinator

Brian Fife has worked for Information Technology for a little over seven years. His job duties include daily support of the technology in both classroom environments and the workstation and productivity environment for the School of Business, managing IT staff and student IT staff at Capitol Federal Hall, and participating in enterprise-level technology initiatives for both KU IT and the School of Business. Fife enjoys being a facilitator between campus stakeholders and available technology; he works to understand in high detail the needs of faculty, staff, students and researchers, and he tries to find the right way to get people what they need for their classes, programs and research.

Fife is said to go the extra mile for both the schools of Business and Law for programs and special events, meeting well in advance with stakeholders, working through scheduling and technical needs for event support on evenings and weekends when it’s required, and always modeling care and enthusiasm for the staff he supervises. He will always volunteer when he knows that it’s an important aspect of a school’s activities or curriculum. Fife is known to make exceptional contributions on a regular basis, but he recently helped in the daunting task of a buildingwide upgrade in classroom technology at Capitol Federal Hall this past summer. His nominator feels Fife responded to these demands with an incredible degree of capability and dedication that deserves to be singled out.

Fife director describes him as having “one of the highest combinations of energy, interaction and customer service that I’ve seen at KU IT. He works hard every day to maintain a level of support and trust and models that to the team he manages. When he’s faced with a challenge or setback, he takes it all in, then finds ways to tackle it and move forward. He has been a boon to the schools of Business and Law, and those schools and communities have gone out of their way to make sure to make it known that he is appreciated, trusted and respected for what he helps them achieve every day.”

Name: Dannah Hartley

Title: Associate director of Jayhawk Academic Advising

Dannah Hartley has almost 12 years of experience at KU in various full-time advising and leadership roles and prior to that experience in advising offices as a graduate assistant and student worker going back to 2001. She supervises assistant directors who lead advising teams of 8-12 people, including advising at Edwards Campus, leads advising efforts for new students attending KU Orientation, supervises advising for exploratory students who have not yet chosen a major, and liaises with several other offices. Hartley is the JAA representative to the Support and Care Referral Team (SCRT), where she is heavily involved in student care. She is known for giving exceptional orientation presentations to parents, setting the tone for how students fare in their first and most significant university experience.

Hartley is committed to KU being a place for students to thrive, and the orientations she conducts are said to be a daily feat of positivity for parents and students alike. She is known for being engaging and funny, setting parents at ease, and helping them understand what really matters in the life of a new student, so much so that every day, multiple parents stop by the Help Room to thank her for her presentation. Parents talk about how she made them think, how she helped them relax and try to support their student, and not overrun their student’s enrollment experience. Hartley is also said to lead in such a manner that she focuses on development, not blame, helping the team focus on what is right and best and move past any obstacles. She teaches teams that the student experience drives the work, that the students are as much a part of the team as their colleagues, and she makes sure every adviser knows exactly what a student should experience in their first-ever KU advising session.

A parent who had attended one of Dannah’s orientations said of her, “…[She] met parents where we were emotionally, helped us prepare to shoulder the role — and only that role — we can uniquely play in this liminal period between senior and freshman years, and provided essential wisdom upon which we can draw as we navigate the uncertainties to come. I thought about your orientation experience often last night, laughed a bit about it with my own kid … and took great comfort in your guidance about what really matters … and all the things we not only can but should let go of. As a parent, I was comforted. As a Jayhawk, I was inspired.”

September 2024

Name: Michelle Albertson

Title: Office manager, Operations Business Office

Michelle Albertson has worked for KU for more than 23 years in a variety of roles, such as accountant and storeroom supervisor, and in many departments such as Facilities Services, Procurement Services and KU Operations. In her role as office manager, she currently provides Maximo support to all Operations units by assisting with purchase order, service request and work order processing, training and answering questions that may arise. Albertson is able to provide training and support that is based on how each person works rather than how the system works. One of her nominators described this as a unique yet powerful difference. “She is adept at putting herself in our shoes and explaining things in a respectful yet highly effective way.”

Albertson is described by one of her colleagues as “tireless, gracious, supportive, [and] demanding, all in one. She provides a powerful example of an employee/co-worker that cares, is dedicated and highly proficient, yet understanding and patient.” She is known to help with any problem but still allows her peers that are seeking assistance to retain ownership to empower them to learn from experience and have the tools to solve another such problem going forward. Her peer said, “She is also gracious in uniting others in her network (usually superstars, too) that she collaborates with and unites you with them. She shares her expertise and energy readily. She is not close-handed with her resources. She also allows you to get some of her light.”

Albertson’s colleagues agree that she is a special employee in a demanding position that will go out of her way to help someone. She “exhibits mastery, grace and compassion for those she works with.” Her supervisor said that Albertson “consistently provides excellent support to our Operations team as well as to our SSC Finance partners and the campus community at large. She is helpful and knowledgeable and always willing to share her expertise.” 

Name: Tyler Bergeron

Title: Custodian, Custodial Services Department

Tyler Bergeron works in the Custodial Services Department at KU in Blake Hall, where his nominator observed his exceptional work. He has been in this position for almost five years now. Bergeron takes out trash and recycling, cleans bathrooms, sweeps and mops floors, and vacuums any carpet in the building, along with performing other custodial duties. He is said to be great at his job, taking personal satisfaction in his work, wanting a clean environment for everyone, and always being willing to help when asked.

Bergeron is said to have a very positive attitude and that his efforts make it obvious that he wants to do a good job and is proud of his work. His nominator gave the following anecdote to explain how Bergeron has exhibited qualities and behaviors that have made him an exceptional team player: “After waxing the floors on the first floor, he was so excited to show me his work. It now shines. He does such an excellent job! I have submitted work requests to him, and he is very good about letting me know if it will take him a little longer to get to it with his other tasks assigned to him…I love having Tyler in Blake Hall.”

Bergeron’s supervisor noted that he “is an exemplary employee, and I'm glad that his efforts are being noticed by the people that he works around. From what I've seen on campus, even though Blake isn't that big of a building, its first two floors are as busy as anywhere on campus, and Tyler is able to keep the building looking as good as I've ever seen it. He recently learned how to top scrub and wax floors, and now he has been doing what he can to be more proactive in his maintenance by protecting the tile floors instead of just reactive and cleaning them. As time goes by, you should start seeing some more of those results. He genuinely appreciates working in Blake and has said on more than one occasion how much he enjoys working with the building users.” 

August 2024

Name: Linda Melton LaPierre

Title: Administrative associate, Department of Special Education

Linda Melton LaPierre is a KU alumna with a master’s degree in higher education administration and has been working in the Department of Special Education for about seven years. She has been working for the university for approximately 26 years in total in a variety of positions and departments prior to her current role. Her job responsibilities are multifaceted, and her extensive professional knowledge of KU and various policies and procedures is greatly valued by those in her department. LaPierre oversees and processes graduate admissions applications, provides support to program coordinators, principal investigators, and faculty, schedules and monitors student milestones for master’s and doctoral students, and provides focused academic advisement to students.

LaPierre has successfully established positive relations with students, faculty, staff and community agencies, and she serves as a liaison to campus and community resources. This helps her to offer sound advice to faculty when situations arise with extenuating circumstances. LaPierre’s door is almost always open, providing a welcoming and accessible space for students to seek her assistance. Her commitment to the doctoral students in the department is said to go above and beyond the typical expectations of her role, as she provides them with academic advice, direction and mentorship. LaPierre’s insights and guidance help students navigate the unique challenges that come with pursuing advanced academic degrees. She takes the time to understand unique needs and aspirations for which to tailor her assistance, making her commitment to enhancing the student experience evident.

LaPierre’s nominator offered the following quote to describe her: “The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.” They said LaPierre consistently offers that little extra, and that “she is knowledgeable, dependable, competent and trustworthy. But she is also kind and encouraging, and offers wisdom and insight into policy, procedures, etc.…(Linda) has a way to make people feel good about what they do and why they are at KU. She truly represents the best of us.”

Name: Kay Walden

Title: Accountant, Financial Services

Kay Walden has had an accounting role, initially in the Comptroller’s Office and later in Financial Services, for almost 11 years, having worked at KU for almost 13 years in total. She is responsible for third-party sponsorships and nonresident alien student award taxation, and she oversees the Glacier process, working with international students and international payments. Each semester, Walden is instrumental in helping process a variety of financial assistance requirements relative to the military officer commissioning program Seaman to Admiral (STA-21), Naval ROTC recipients of Naval Education and Training Command, and the Employee Tuition Assistance program. She also creates KU invoices — with many custom invoices for students that clearly illustrate the breakdown of charges owed — and handles electronic submission of the payment processing.

Walden’s work is extremely important for KU students to receive aid on time and have a positive experience with what can be a complex, daunting process. She is said to have great intellect and tremendous patience each semester with the evolving requirements related to all her duties, and consistently thinks outside the box, always seeking out new ways to solve problems and overcome technological hurdles.

 Along with providing praise for the quality and accuracy of her work, Walden’s peers noted that she has an exceptional ability to interact and work well with others. Her nominator wrote, “Kay responds to each of her thousands of customers as if they are her one and only customer … Without fail, her communications with co-workers, students, visitors and supervisors are consistently helpful, positive and uplifting.” She also works with international students across potential language barriers and invests the time needed to ensure that they understand all the documentation and processes required, boosting student confidence in the process and ensuring timely receipt of possible financial awards.

Walden is said to be diligent, thoughtful and resourceful. Her nominator wrote, “Kay provides a very special and unique service to fellow employees, the university community and to other individuals…[she] is an exceptionally valuable asset to the University of Kansas, worth and deserving of absolutely the highest recognition and praise.”

July 2024

Name: Michael Brown

Title: General repair technician, Facilities Maintenance Services

Michael Brown has been working for the university for almost 22 years, most recently being promoted to his current role in 2022. He is responsible for painting and performing work relating to building and grounds maintenance. Earlier in 2024 he was repairing and repainting all the interior walls and ceilings of a student housing building, and his attention to detail is said to have “really brought the building ‘renewed life.’”

Brown goes above and beyond to make peers feel comfortable and welcome, is always helpful, and provides knowledge to ensure that everyone succeeds at doing the best job they can. He not only makes the staff feel welcome, but he also does the same for the students, their parents and any guests of KU. Brown’s nominator states that he is a “person that leads by example. His hard work inspires. He is the Bill Self of his craft.” Several stories were offered in his nomination where Brown had completed painting and maintenance jobs in half of the expected timeframe while doing exceptional work. His supervisor said that Brown has done “some of the best painting I’ve seen in my 10 years here. I was blown away.”

Housing now specifically asks for Brown when a pressing situation arises because they are certain that the final product will be exceptional. His supervisor says that when a top-notch paint job is needed, “We’ll give it the Mike Brown treatment.” Brown is a truly dedicated worker, and his colleagues were more than happy to support the recognition of his work. 

Name: Ricardo Gonzalez Colin

Title: Maintenance manager for the KU Edwards Campus

Ricardo Gonzalez Colin has worked at KU for about 10 years. Colin is responsible for working directly with vendors, managing Maximo requests for the Edwards campus, and scheduling all inspections and preventive maintenance plans. He also does the ordering for the facilities and custodial teams at KU Edwards Campus.

Colin is said to be an exceptional colleague and truly cares about the people at the Edwards Campus. He is known for his persistence to fix things and for being a strong teammate who stands up for his co-workers. Colin takes responsibility for monitoring, troubleshooting and staying on top of issues. Colin’s nominator said, “Ricardo is great to work with because he is really good at looking at the big picture. He always is concerned with the impact on the facilities team and how it will help the campus in the future.”

Colin has a desire to do his best work and broaden his skills. He goes above and beyond while assisting with office moves, checking in on staff, interacting with vendors and more. The nominator said, “At least once a month he has done something — that I typically find out from someone else — where he has gone above and beyond to help out our campus to be better. He sees it as doing the job he was hired to do. Everyone else appreciates him going above and beyond.”

Colin’s co-worker spoke of the many ways he positively contributes to the work environment at the Edwards Campus. “When Ricardo comes into your building, he comes in super happy and loving life and his job. He is excited and is quick to excite everyone else around him.”