CVM Staff Members Recognized with 2017 Awards for Excellence

The 2017 Awards for Excellence, the highest awards presented to non-faculty staff members at NC State, were presented on Thursday, April 13, at a ceremony in the Wolves Den Cafe of the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM). There were 14 nominees for the prestigious recognition, four of whom were selected as recipients. Their names will all be placed in consideration for the University-wide Award for Excellence.  Each CVM winner will receive eight hours of paid time off and a $250 check.  Recipients will also be honored at the NC State University Awards for Excellence ceremony.

In presenting nominees and the four award winners, CVM Dean Paul Lunn pointed out that this recognition is particularly meaningful because the nominations come from colleagues.

This year’s recipients are:

EHRA:

Chris Eichman, Director of Computing Resources

Nominated for both Efficiency and Innovation and Customer Service, the nomination reads in part “He works to build the college’s IT strengths and eliminate weaknesses. He supports professional development for his staff and genuinely cares for them as professionals and as individuals. CVM researchers were struggling with data storage issues, Chris, working with Amazon Web Services, came up with an option that’s easy to use, reliable, safe and reasonably priced. Chris is now working with campus IT personnel to determine if this could be an alternative that might serve the needs of other University big data users.”

SHRA:

Ami Gilkey, Anesthesia Technician

In her nomination in the category of Efficiency and Innovation, it says that Ami “has demonstrated exceptional standards of work for her job, her patients, and her colleagues. She has developed training items and documents that have greatly improved our service to the students we train and the patients we care for including: a technician training program for both large and small animal anesthesia, a training program for our anesthesia assistant, an anesthesia patient work-up form with vital patient information included in a logical, easy-to- follow format, which is now part of the patient’s medical record. … Ami embodies not only efficiency and innovation, but also the strong, hard-working ethic and high standards that make NC State a great university.”

Shelby Hedgepeth, Clinical Technician, Theriogenology

Nominated in the Customer Service category, Shelby is recognized “for the hours she puts in, the difficult client calls she navigates, her problem solving and patience with all of them. She is the sole technician in our specialty service; she is the singular and omnipresent glue that binds the three rotating clinicians and two house officers together. Shelby is the rare employee who stays until the job is completed, rather than when her shift ends. On multiple occasions, it has been absolutely necessary to call her when she is off the clock. Shelby will answer a call or text message simply to be helpful. What makes her an outstanding employee is the fact that she combines these traits with an altruistic dedication to the success of the service and the whole CVM.”

Elizabeth Welch, Medical Support Technician

In her nomination for Efficiency and Innovation, Elizabeth is described as a “huge advocate for improving the VH Pharmacy’s inventory management and structure while reducing the cost of medications for clients. She spearheads projects, implemented improvements with Pharmacy’s inventory by setting up Inpatient and Outpatient codes for the same drugs to build a parent to child inventory connection. This has streamlined the process and reduced inventory shrinkage. She assisted with developing a barcode system to improve efficiencies with the inventory by ensuring all items had the appropriate shelf barcode that lists the drug name, strength, UVIS number, and inventory par levels. Elizabeth stepped into cover when the Pharmacy Buyer position was vacant for three months plus assisted with reception duties. She has been an integral part of improving efficiencies and innovative methods within the Veterinary Hospital (VH) Pharmacy.”

Here is a complete list of 2017 CVM nominees:

• Janice Cofield – Customer Service
• Theresa Critcher – Efficiency and Innovation
• John Freund – Efficiency and Innovation
• Ami Gilkey – Efficiency and Innovation
• Shelby Hedgepeth – Customer Service
• Heather Hopkinson – Spirit of North Carolina and Customer Service
• Mindi James – Spirit of North Carolina
• Michelle Plantier – Customer Service and Human Relations
• Scarlett Robinson – Customer Service
• ​Elizabeth Welch – Efficiency and Innovation​
• ​Chris Eichman​ – Efficiency and Innovation and Customer Service
• ​Jenna Hartwell – Efficiency and Innovation​
• ​Jeneal Leone – Customer Service
• Betsy Taylor – ​Customer Service