Outstanding Service Award

Past Winners:

Fall 2012

Diane Gustafson, Communications Coordinator, BMC

Diane Gustafson is a very special colleague whom I can always count on. Her interface with me is primarily through committee meetings and conferences. What impresses me the most is that she addresses the assignment immediately or tells me when she will have it completed. I do not have to follow-up with reminders - - - it is done. This entails a great degree of thoroughness and preparedness resulting in early morning hours or later-than-normal after hours. She consistently accomplishes this, not only most efficiently, but with a professional pleasantness that is seldom duplicated. She is indeed extraordinary and well deserving of this award. – John Ferber

Diane Gustafson's consistently outstanding achievements as Communications Coordinator for the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate (BMC or the Center) deserve SBA recognition both on a situational basis (event by event, publication by publication) as well as on a long-term, sustainable basis. Without reservation or qualification I strongly support Diane as a candidate for either award, but because her exceptional performance has been so consistently demonstrated I will urge that she be considered for the "Outstanding Service" award. Jeryldine Saville, the BMC's Communications Director and Diane's direct supervisor, with my full support delegates substantial operating flexibility to her because Diane has demonstrated her ability to work with minimal supervision, exercise consistently superior judgment, take pride in her work, and easily recruit all of the staff and student volunteers or other resources she needs to assure successful programs. Diane takes great pride in her work, as she should. Examples of her responsibilities include negotiating large and small contracts (from $100,000 to $500) for events large and small (700 to 25 registrants), seamlessly managing industry events for senior executives and assuring that guests have a problem-free/enjoyable experience to enhance their learning and networking goals. Diane operates on a highly visible stage where her performance does make a difference in outcomes and where her performance is valued and roundly applauded. She helps immensely to make Jeryldine's and my jobs worry-free so that we can focus on other initiatives and increase our own productivity. Diane also is involved intimately in the Center's communications initiatives, including responsibility for the BMC's web site and our monthly electronic newsletter (the Pipeline). She writes a substantial share of the content and handles the newsletter's production and distribution to more than 8,000 of the BMC's stakeholders, always on a timely and high quality basis. These are high profile communications vehicles whose effectiveness is important to us and to our stakeholders (senior executives in real estate and financial services). Diane Gustafson shines brightly as a delightful colleague, team player with leadership skills, and industry-oriented representative of USD, the SBA and the BMC. Her loyalty and dedication are extraordinary. She exercises multi-tasking ability flawlessly and effectively. I must admit that because Diane so consistently exceeds our expectations, at times I probably take her performance and hard work for granted. She never touts her achievements and happily shares the limelight when it is focused on her results. When I catch myself more or less taking her for granted I try to make it up by complimenting and thanking her publicly and privately. However, she deserves much more than my compliments, and that is why I strongly believe that Diane has earned the SBA's Outstanding Service recognition. – Mark Riedy

Diane Gustafson is a tremendous asset to the SBA. Her loyalty and dedication to her work and her colleagues is unfailing. Diane does whatever it takes to exceed performance objectives at all times. She begins work as early as 5 a.m. and ends it as late as 9 p.m. to prepare for, plan and staff events. She is an expert multi-tasker--oftentimes juggling half a dozen competing priorities. She is extremely conscientious and always rises to the occasion, routinely putting the Burnham-Moores Center's needs above her own. Diane is unquestionably reliable; she makes everyone in the BMC look good thanks to her thorough preparation, attention to detail and expert project management. None of us ever has to wonder whether something within Diane's purview will get done; she is rock-solid in her delivery. Regardless of what is thrown her way on any given day, Diane remains patient, poised and pleasant. I hope you will consider this nomination of a consistently extraordinary employee. – Jeryldine Saville

Nominees included:

Stephanie Kiesel, Director, MSGL

Stephanie Kiesel's service to our Student Veteran and Active-Duty population is unprecedented. I have been working with our military community for years and I've never seen anyone as passionate about Veteran issues, especially those issues pertaining to Veterans in higher education and their complete well-being. She is always available to our Vets and always gives them their undivided attention. As a Veteran, USD Alum, her colleague and friend, I don't think anyone is more deserving of the 'Outstanding Service' award. – Scott Handley

Deanna Walcott, Executive Assistant

Deanna is really helpful, she serves all faculty, not only ones from the departments that are assigned to her. Always a pleasure to talk with and is quick and reliable. – Marko Svetina

Spring 2012

Jewel Leonard, Assistant Director of Undergraduate Programs

Jewel has taken on a variety of projects without hesitation and without complaint. Examples of her projects include: 1.Organizing the Leadership initiative 2.Organizing the undergraduate assessment of learning efforts 3.Volunteering to represent the SBA in the WASC accreditation learning assessment efforts 4.She has taken on added responsibilities in solving special student problems over the last year. On all of these projects Jewel has given her full time, attention, and effort even though they are not specifically in her job description. These projects have required her to devote extra hours to USD and have caused her extra stress. But she is working on all of them willingly and without complaint.– Tom Dalton

Nominees included:

Jennifer Russell, Executive Assistant

Just a pleasure to work with and being around. Jennifer does her job efficiently and with a genuine joy. – Marko Svetina

Karolina Rzadkowolska, Executive Assistant, Associate Dean's Office

Karolina was assigned to help me with Finance faculty recruiting (Fall 2011) and did an outstanding job in logging in the over 200 applications received, following up with candidates who had incomplete supporting documents and then creating Resume Books for distribution to Finance faculty. She was very prompt in any request I had regarding the applications that were on file. We were successful in recruiting our top candidate, who will be joining in Fall 2012. Karolina's help was superb throughout. – Shreesh Deshpande

Elaine Tagliaferri, Budget and Operations Manager

Elaine is the foundation of the SBA. She has an incredible wealth of knowledge about USD policies and procedures and keeps us all afloat. I can't imagine what we'd do without Elaine! – Danielle Steiner

Myla Lorenzo-Wilson, Executive Assistant, BMC

Myla is never a black hole for the students or the many industry leaders who come and work with us at the BMC. She never steers students to other departments if she can find the answer to a problem and she goes beyond the call of duty to follow up with all external communications with reminders and carefully answered questions and makes them feel important. She has picked up bakery goods in LA for one industry professional we work with simply because she knows he likes Cuban baked goods and she knew of a great spot for them in LA. This kind of small kindness is typical of Myla. – Norm Miller

Fall 2011

Danielle Steiner, Assistant Director, Ahler's Center

Reading the description of someone “who always does their job to the best of their ability, who always has a smile on their face and is a tremendous asset to the SBA” I assumed this must have been written with Danielle Steiner in mind. Danielle always has a positive outlook, even when presented with some frustrating challenges. She focuses on solving the problem in a creative way while being supportive and kind to everyone with whom she interacts. She is just a delight to be around. She interacts with faculty, students, staff and the business community all very professionally creating a positive image for the Ahlers Center, the SBA, and USD. Not only does she do a job “to the best of her ability,” she does it to perfection. Literally. She is able to see the big picture while at the same time able to take care of the smallest details. These talents allow her to improve processes that result in efficiencies while at the same time providing great service to everyone. She is a tremendous asset to the SBA. In addition, Danielle has done great work this past semester in helping support the newly formed International Business club. She has helped all along the way in setting up this new student organization and supporting all the new officers and attending their events. She has been a very positive role model and asset helping connect our undergraduate students interested in international business. –Denise Dimon

Danielle Steiner shows exceptional ability in designing and implementing services and projects for our undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty. Her project oriented work is very valuable, as is her international work. She is highly reliable, very friendly, and a great asset to the Ahlers Center, Business School, and University. –Carsten Zimmerman

Danielle consistently provides outstanding service to both faculty and students in the study abroad programs. She is professional, dedicated and detail oriented; all of which make the study aboard experiences flow effortlessly for us! –Jo Hunsaker

Over the course of her employment, I have dealt with Danielle on many major and minor issues involving various study-abroad classes. Without fail, Danielle would not only resolve the issue but do so in a timely fashion. Additionally, I have gotten great feedback about Danielle from both students and administrators - most recently - those in Rome. Overall, Danielle is an asset to the University in general and to its International Programs in particular. –Cynthia Pavett.

Danielle is someone who has a great attitude and always seems to be willing to work hard. She is a good listener and seems to have a lot of energy and enthusiasm in the tasks that she performs in the normal course of her day. –Stephen Conroy

Danielle is highly professional, extremely conscientious, and thoroughly reliable. For example, I will be teaching a study-abroad class in Buenos Aires during Intersession. Administrative and logistical matters, while vitally important, are not my strong suit. With Danielle making sure all the planning is done correctly and all the right people are contacted at the right time, I do not have to give it a second thought -- Danielle just always seems to get it done and get it right! Better still, she does so with a smile; her warm and friendly personality makes her a pleasure to work with! –Craig Barkacs

Danielle is amazing! I do a lot of travel abroad and she is exceptional. She always makes sure we have exactly the room we want and she even negotiates a great price. Moreover, she is incredibly organized. I can always count on her. She really does provide "outstanding service." –Linda Barkacs

I have had the opportunity to interact with Danielle and firsthand experience the tremendous service she provides to USD and Ahlers Center in particular. She has coordinated several activities of the BIE grant, in which I partook in a faculty development trip to South America. Danielle supported the logistics, information to faculty, financial reporting for the grant during this trip. I was particularly amazed by how well planned the entire trip was, especially given that she had to facilitate some very major changes in our travel plans just a few days before we departed due to an earth quake in one of our planned destinations. I have also had the opportunity to interact with her as a member of the Ahlers Center Faculty Advisory Board. She is always very efficient and upbeat. Always looking for the positive and to find solutions, rather than focus on the negative. –Johan Perols

Knowledge based service. Anticipate needs and takes care of them in an impeccable way. Service attitude is simple excellent. Great team work behavior –Jaime Gomez

I've had the pleasure of working with Danielle in the last two years when teaching in the study abroad program. She was responsible for all the logistics and always made sure that everything went smoothly. When something unexpected happened, she responded immediately and took care of the issue right away. Danielle is not only highly efficient, but more importantly, enthusiastic about her work. She is always willing to help with a smile. I therefore strongly recommend her for the recognition of providing outstanding service. –Charles Tu

I have the opportunity to interact with Danielle many times in the last year due to my business with Ahler's center. She helped me with my research project funding as well the logistics for presenting my paper at an international conference. Besides that she has been working with me on the Ahler's center outreach to India for their international practicum. –Vivek Sah

Nominees included:

Adam Deich, Lead Desktop Technician

Adam is available always to help with computer queries and has super-quick response times. Once I called him and left a message and he stopped by in 2 minutes. He is reliable and the speed at which he resolves issues is amazing. –Rangapriya Kannan-Narasimhan

Janiece Kennedy, Executive Assistant

Jan has consistently gone out of her way to make sure everyone, including those outside the scope of her responsibilities, is cared for, in innumerable ways. There are way too many specific incidents to mention, but I'll be every one of us has one, if not many experiences to share. She is the go-to person for all of us, and I know we all appreciate her. It's rare to come across someone who is so dedicated to others, does it with such grace and humor, and yet she still manages to get her own work done. We are lucky to have Jan. When I grow up, I want to be just like her. –JoAnne Lavin

Jocelyn Kuykendall, Administrative Assistant

Jocelyn is a real gem. My office is just across the hallway from hers, so I get to see/hear a lot of what goes on there. She is always polite and courteous, as well as prompt and efficient. I can always count on her to pleasantly remind me (just a faculty member) to do the departmental tasks that I've been assigned. Her work is always delivered earlier than when I need it (as well as correctly done). If I seem to have forgotten to give her an assignment, she asks (in a pleasant way) when she can expect me to provide it. This year, I've been working closely with her on the engineering preceptorial events (two panel discussions and a robot competition) -- these events are for 70-110 people. Without prompting, Jocelyn has made arrangements for the rooms and has planned all the details of what we need to have successful events (food, audio system, attendance sheets for the students, etc.). She arrives early and stays late to make sure everything is good to go when we start and clean upon departure. Each even has gone unbelievably smoothly -- mostly because of her efforts. It's a real joy to work with her. She truly deserves special recognition. –Thomas Schubert

I would like to nominate Jocelyn Kuykendall from the Department of Engineering for an Outstanding Service award. Jocelyn has provided tremendous support to the engineering preceptorials and she provided this service in a professional and friendly manner. Jocelyn is highly reliable and always follows up on her work. While this describes her performance during this semester, it is equally true for previous interactions I had with her. In my view, Jocelyn is clearly deserving of the Outstanding Service award and I would like to thank the Committee for her consideration. –Frank Jacobitz

Myla Lorenzo-Wilson, Executive Assistant

When I temporarily left the BMC I was tempted to see if Myla would join me as she is the best assistant I have ever had in my over 35 years in academics. But the staff and faculty at the BMC threatened me with my life if I even dared to consider recruiting her to the dark side in the private market. That tells you something about how valued she is around here. Myla continues to be able to juggle many projects without ever getting flustered and the busier she is the happier she seems. She anticipates problems, is phenomenal at trouble shooting and coordinating communications and she is always keeping us out of trouble by dealing with whatever needs to be done from scheduling to student problems. She is never a black box with any student or faculty. She just solves the problem herself. I have seen this consistently now for a long time and just want her to know that we do appreciate it. –Norm Miller

Sarah Miksa, Administrative Director of MBA Programs

Sarah, from the very first moment of her arrival in 2009, has been a blessing to the students she serves, and the faculty and staff that she works with. She does what she does brilliantly, and with such seemingly effortless ease and infinite patience, that it becomes beguilingly tempting to forget the diligence and tremendous work that stand behind her achievements. Time and time again, I hear her praises from our students (which I don’t always relate back to her to prevent her husband from complaining that Sarah’s head maybe getting unusually large). She truly embodies the academic mission and spirit of our University. –Manzur Rahman

Deanna Walcott, Executive Assistant

Deanna always follows up on any assistance that you request of her. She is also very quick with her response times. –Rangapriya Kannan-Narasimhan