North Dakota State College of Science (NDSCS) honored numerous employees at the State of the College Address on September 21, 2021. Faculty and staff members were named recipients of the College’s Excellence in Teaching Award and Excellence in Service Award as well as the College’s LIFE and Steeple awards.
The Excellence in Teaching Award recognizes instructors who, among other outstanding characteristics, stimulate present and continuing interest in the subject matter, present courses so that the topics are clear, suitable and well-integrated, and demand rigorous thought and generate enthusiastic responses from the students while achieving course objectives. The honorees include:
- Vance Harthun: Associate Professor, Welding Technology
- Mike Redding: Associate Professor, Diesel Technology
- Amy Medhaug: Instructor, Nursing
- J. Whitmore: Instructor, Culinary Arts
The Excellence in Service Award recognizes employees who consistently go above and beyond every day and exemplify the College’s values of learning, integrity, flexibility and excellence. All NDSCS staff members are eligible to be nominated. The honorees include:
- Nick Kraft: HVAC Systems Lead, Facilities Management
- Dean Kappes: Building Services Technician, Facilities Management
- Rhonda Dehmlow: Dining Services Worker, Auxiliary Services
- Lisa Braun: Business Specialist, Information Technology Services
This year’s LIFE award recognized the NDSCS Human Resources department. The recipients included Sandi Gilbertson, Executive Director of Human Resources, Amy Keller, Human Resources Manager and Shirley Fox-Trydahl, Human Resource Administrative Assistant. The award stands for “Bringing LIFE to NDSCS” and is presented to an individual, employee group or committee that exemplifies the NDSCS LIFE (Leadership, Integrity, Flexibility and Excellence) values by demonstrating and practicing the NDSCS Quality Standards. This can be done with an event, project or activity that reflects these areas.
Gilbertson and her team had to exhibit a high level of flexibility in order to deal with the challenges of COVID-19, including multiple new human resource situations caused by the unprecedented COVID pandemic. The NDSCS Human Resources department effectively communicated college-wide essential information, while delivering remarkable customer service.
This year’s Steeple award was presented to staff within the NDSCS Facilities Management department. The recipients included Facilities Management staff Kari Hasbargen, Brenda Korinek and Dawn Jirak. The Steeple award stands for “Climbing New Heights” and is presented to an individual, employee group or committee for new and innovative methods to accomplish their role on campus. Hasbargen, Korinek and Jirak received this award for their involvement in three different projects: enhancement of employee on-boarding process, adoption of a simplified process for tool inventory, and identifying practices to effectively reduce warehouse inventory.