2011 Recipients of the "Recognizing Excellence in Staff Service" Awards

Nicole Fenech
Student Administrative Coordinator
Department of Biostatistics

Nicole has been a Student Administrative Coordinator in the Department of Biostatistics since 2006. Nicole is a superb colleague: totally dependable, exceptionally well organized and efficient, committed to outstanding quality work and to identifying and taking on important new tasks. Since recruiting and retaining the best possible students is a critical part of what makes a department great, Nicole's work is incredibly important, and the tasks she carries out are diverse and challenging. In all her roles, Nicole is superb, handling her very complex position with great skill and dedication, and with creativity, initiative, and willingness to take on new tasks. Her outstanding work, unbelievable patience, positive attitude, and total dependability allow faculty to focus on the aspects of the work that require their involvement. Nicole's focus and attention to detail guarantee that every minute faculty spend is time well spent, facilitating their work and productivity. This latter aspect is critical to getting the faculty to be active in the admissions process, a fundamental aspect of the department's success in recruiting the best possible student. The high quality of the students on every axis is a direct testimony to Nicole's superb work. Nicole is deeply committed to making Biostatistics a welcoming place. We are pleased to recognize Nicole's outstanding contributions to SPH with the Excellence in Staff Service Award.

Shelagh Saenz
Career Services Coordinator
Office of Academic Affairs

Shelagh has been the Career Services Coordinator in the Office of Academic Affairs since 2001. She is known for her commitment, work ethic, patience, innovation and positive attitude, and is always happy to pitch in where needed and support the professional success of SPH students and staff. Shelagh consistently goes above and beyond others' expectations as well as her own, by setting and exceeding her own personal and professional goals. Her talents speak for themselves in the vast expansion that Career Services has undergone in the time since Shelagh joined SPH. She is committed to offering practical, effective and current tools to help students and alumni make the most of their professional development. As a personal advocate of work/life balance, Shelagh helped start the UM SPH Wellness Committee, and has served as Captain for the Dean's Office ActiveU team. We are pleased to recognize Shelagh's outstanding contributions to SPH with the Excellence in Staff Service Award.

Susan Franzen
Research Area Specialist
Department of Health Behavior/Health Education

Susan has been a Research Area Specialist Intermediate in the Department of Health Behavior/Health Education since 2003. Susan is the primary local research staff person for research projects in the Prevention Research Center. Susan facilitates the success of the research team and has always been willing to pitch in when needed. She shows initiative and plays significant roles in problem solving. Susan is one the most dependable and hard working individuals, she never shirks responsibility, always has a positive attitude, and is loyal to the institution. Susan has continued to expand her talents and skill sets as she learned new ways to develop and manage data collection procedures and has mastered qualitative, quantitative, and geographic data analysis applications. She has become an excellent research writer as well and has not only supported the development of academic and other publications, but has been the lead writer on several of these products. We are pleased to recognize Susan's outstanding contributions to SPH with the Excellence in Staff Service Award.