The University of New Mexico’s Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs announced the winners of the annual awards to several staff members and an outstanding work group for outstanding service. The Provost’s Committee on Staff presented 2022 Outstanding Staff Awards to María C. Anchondo, Ana Lombard-Fletcher and Dee Dee Lopez, while the School of Engineering’s Center for Engineering Student Success was named the Outstanding Workgroup Award winner 2022.
Anchondo, a senior student success specialist in the College’s Special Enrichment and Outreach Programs and the Center for Educational Opportunity’s Special Programs, was cited for her “high degree of professionalism and integrity, always showing great respect for colleagues its, program participants and community partners”.
Lombard-Fletcher, a program specialist in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics in the College of Arts and Sciences, was praised as “warm, friendly, and extremely competent,” as well as “an extremely capable and efficient administrator, while still maintaining a commitment to extraordinary in helping each individual student, regardless of the size and weight of her other responsibilities.”
Lopez, senior planning coordinator in the English Department in the College of Arts and Sciences “made a real difference in the lives of our students. She listened as they explained their interests and described their goals; then, she offered a wealth of advice on how to successfully negotiate the bureaucracy that is UNM,” according to the PCS press release.
The 2022 Task Force Outstanding Award winner, Center for Engineering Student Success, consists of Elsa Castillo, Yadeeh Sawyer, Nada Abdel Hack, Anyssa Romero, Doug Williams, Toby Tafoya and Jenilee Jao.
Nominators praised the band, saying…
“… By some estimates, the group has helped reach several tens of thousands of students over the duration of the program. It has been cited as a textbook model of outreach and retention by NSF program managers and ERC leadership.
“The ESS Task Force has had significant impact on underrepresented communities, with strong recruitment and support efforts targeting ethnic minorities, racial minorities, sexual orientation minorities and women. There is also a lot of support from ESS for students who are from economically disadvantaged families”
“The ESS Center has connected my research group with many university students. Many of the students have achieved invaluable opportunities thanks to the research and networking experiences offered through the ESS Center. Support for students from underrepresented minority groups is essential to the success and sustained efforts to increase representation in STEM.
“There has been universal praise among our graduates for their experience with ESS while at UNM. Many of those alums volunteer to join ESS activities (even overseas) to help current students, share their experience and offer professional advice. The work ESS does and its impact on student success has been truly amazing.”
“The transition to a virtual environment is a perfect example of ESS’s outstanding services and commitment to the success of our students. They are one of the few UNM programs that have unanimously offered to forward all calls from their office to their personal cell phones. They have set up a 24/7 helpline to help our students in need as they don’t want students to feel isolated during this pandemic.”
A reception will be held to honor the winners, as well as the 2020, 2021 and 2022 scholarship recipients, as the 2020 and 2021 event was postponed due to the pandemic. Awardees will receive plaques and have already received cash prizes. Scholarship recipients will receive certificates. Another reception will be held for the 2022-2023 winners in the spring.
PCS is now issuing a call for applications for the Fall 2022 Academic Support Scholarship. Complete the online form.
These scholarships are designed to assist support staff using their tuition waiver benefit. UNM employees now have an opportunity to apply for a financial support scholarship to help cover the costs of academic books, course fees and other related course supplies. The scholarships are for UNM employees who are using the tuition waiver benefit to obtain a professional degree or certificate, as well as professional development classes. This scholarship will be awarded each semester and the recipients of this award will be selected by the members of PCS. In order to provide this opportunity to all staff, the scholarship will not be available to the same student in consecutive semesters.
For more information on applicant criteria and eligibility requirements, visit the PCS website.
