It was only 2 in the afternoon, but the stars came out when UCOP recognized the winners of this year’s Innovation and Impact Awards and those who have reached service milestones of 10 years or more at the University of California.

“No matter what your job at OP, what you do plays an important part in making life better for our students, their families and all Californians,” said UC President Janet Napolitano in expressing her appreciation for the outstanding work of the honorees and of all OP employees.

Also on hand were Provost Aimée Dorr, Human Resources Vice President Dwaine Duckett and Chief Financial Officer Peter Taylor to entertain and acknowledge the 77 OP staffers being honored for their achievements at the April 8 event at Elihu Harris State Office Building.

This year there were 24 nominations for individual and team awards in three categories, representing a range of achievement across UCOP. The selection committee who chose the finalists was comprised of past winners and staff affinity group leaders.

Awardees included:

In the category of Commitment to OP Culture and Principles:

• Jeanie Urban (Local HR) was recognized for her leadership role on both the UCOP Staff Assembly and the Staff Engagement Initiative to bring “together [diverse] employees . . . to make UCOP a better place to work.”
• The team of Jocelyn Banaria (Institutional Research and Academic Planning), Angela Hom (Information Technology Services) and Lena Zentall (California Digital Library) was recognized for organizing the popular Conversations about Women in the Workplace series, based on the bestselling book Lean In.

In the category of Connecting with the Community, Jan Kehoe (Office of the Chief Investment Officer) was recognized for her work coordinating 66 American Red Cross blood drives at UCOP over the past 13 years.

In the category of Advancing the Mission:

• Miriam De Soto (Student Affairs) was recognized for her work with campus admissions staff in developing a new international exam page for the undergraduate application, resulting in significant improvement in the process for international applicants.
• The team of Reginald Hillmon (Education Partnerships), Sarah Fidelibus (Student Affairs) and Dante Noto (Education Partnerships) was recognized for designing an upper division course for students across disciplines to develop a novel college readiness web application to improve access to UC for underserved high school students.

Also recognized for service milestones were the following:

• 10 years: Aquilino Carino, Kristina Chow, Heather Christenson, Monica Coady, Angela Gilliard, Norval Hickman, Nadia Leal-Carillo, Aileen Liu, John Lohse, Charleen Mininfield, Vanessa Murua, Catherine O’Sullivan, Christina Rodriguez, Shaun Ruiz, Matthew St. Clair, Amena Warith Edres and Paul Weiss
• 15 years: Eddie Brown III, Nelson Chiu, Theodore Christen, Lesley Clark, Jeffrey Donahue, Roderick Farmer, Sandra Fried, Elizabeth Hart, Kirk Hastings, Justin Ilumin, Marylyn Judan, Nidamu Khuthaza, Cyndi Lukk, Charles L. Masten, Margaret Michel, Emily Montan, Suzanne Nakayama, Bradley Niess, Christine Olsen, Elaine Peters, Maria Shanle, Hugh West and Diana Yip
• 20 years: Cheryl Bennett, Normita Chan, Edgar DelosAngeles, Aliya Dibrell, Mitchel Foote, Max Holm, Doreen Lai and Shirley Trant
• 25 years: Beatriz Acosta, Kimyatta Dorsey, Ida Fong, Michelle Fraysse, Venus Kirk, Thuvan Le, Shirley Nakamura, Linda Pugliesi, Susan Witt and Yi Yin
• 30 years: Mark Esteban, Susan Ohye, Robert Tacconi, Karen Vecchi and Matthew Xavier
• 35 years: Fernan Gabato, Sharon Perry, Michael Thwaites and Ann Willoughby
• 40 years: Josephine Aguayo

The milestone recognitions are held twice yearly, with the second event held during Staff Appreciation Week in the fall. The Innovation Awards, now in their third year, are given annually to recognize OP staff for exemplary service.

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