Kathy Dempsey - Student Development
Erin Fowles - Admissions & Records
Jorge Nieto - Educational Affairs
Theresa Gonzalez - Educational Affairs
Arlene Santos-George - Institutional Effectiveness Planning & Control
Heidi Ashley - Maroney - Business Services & Finance
Sylvia Najarro - Business Services & Finance
Christine Heilgeist - Human Resources
Jason Holman - Financial Aid
Kimberly Landmann - Financial Aid
Sonia Crosier - Professional Development Center
Scott Rial - Professional Development Center
Jay Meyer - Information Technology Services
Gregg Bradley - Information Technology Services
Roger Olson - Information Technology Services
Anne Parpan - Information Technology Services
Oleg Vakhovskiy - Information Technology Services
Mingming Zhang - Information Technology Services
Kamish Sangvhi - Information Technology Services
John Chan - Information Technoology Services

The people listed above are responsible for the College of Lake County's upgrade to PeopleSoft's version 9.0.  The work that it took to accomplish this task was extraordinary.  The timeline that needed to be met was an aggressive timeline that was accomplished through the hard work of each of these individuals. This was a team effort that required each person to be reliable and fully committed to the final goal. To meet the milestones and the final deadline, each person worked well beyond the normal hours of a typical work-week.  In the execution of this project, they responded to both the needs of the project and the needs each other. The project required that a team approach be taken due to the dependencies of each module in the PeopleSoft system. These individuals performed as a highly functional team and expressed empathy beyond their areas of responsibility to make this successful for the College.  Their knowledge and assurance proved successful in creating a smooth transition to the 9.0 environment.  Each individual excelled in creating an open environment of communication in order to get quick decisions to be made, they performed very detailed and labores testing to assure that the "bugs" were identified and worked out, they supported each other through collaboration, they showed respect for each other through the decision making processes, and they fostered a team environment that was critical in the execution of this project.  In the end, the project ended up being completed on time, within budget and with a stronger collaboration amongst departments as compared to going into the project.  Each individual proved to be a highly functioning leader.

My name is John Curtis and I am the Academic Technology Specialist for the college and I want to nominate Scott Ryan, Hector DeLeon, and Anthony Alberti for a SOAR award.

A project was initiated to install a new multimedia room in L032 for the new PDC training lab.  To save the school money, it was decided the room was to be assembled and installed with available materials.  I was assigned this task and would not have been able to complete this project without the help of Scott, Hector, and Tony.

Scott did not have to help assist on the project, he volunteered to help.  All of their initiative and responsiveness helped get the room completed in our allotted time frame which was the start of the semester.  With the time constraint we were not able to work on the room all at the same time.  I was able to rely on them to finish tasks in the room when I could not be there or in the case of Scott Ryan, he would work on the room on his spare time on the weekends and I had trust that they would complete tasks in my absence to assure a high level of quality.

Communication was kept through detailed emails noting how far along the project has been completed so that the next person in the room could pick up where the last one left off.  I was confident in their knowledge of skills specific to this task.  This was no small feat. 

They had to remove all the old equipment in the room.  Then they went to Building 12, and carefully went through all the table tops and unassembled parts separating the good from the bad.  I was particularly impressed by the extra effort put forth for the quality of the desks we needed to assemble.  They could have grabbed any desks, instead, they took the time to go through every desk top and find the best tops available. Many desk tops had been water damaged and stained.  Considering how grimy and dirty building 12 is, this was not a pleasant task.

They carted over the desk top, legs, and parts to L032 from Building 12, assembled, and thoroughly cleaned the desks. Next they ran the network cables through all the desks and put in power strips.  They assembled all the new computers in the room.

Specific skills were needed for this task including wiring, soldering, making cables, and assorted power tools. The pole bracket for the projector was removed inside the ceiling and meticulously installed in a different part of the room.  Video cables were run from the projector, through the ceiling, and down the walls.  Drywall had to be cut out for a faceplate and have the wires connected and soldered to the faceplate.  And finally the projector and speakers were installed in the room.

The Lakeshore Campus Administrative Support staff is being recognized for their outstanding service to the college and community.

The staff serves in multiple roles in the operation of the campus. The Lakeshore Campus has limited staffing, however, the support staff kicks in to do whatever is needed from grilling on Grill Day, to wait staff for the Conversation Café’s, to busing tables for the Trustee meetings to cooking breakfast for the Annual Administrative meeting.

In addition to that, they serve as translators, registrars, cashiers and Notary Public.  They assist students with classroom locations, parking and sometimes evening escorts.

The Lakeshore Campus has three facilities, our staff supports these facilities by delivering supplies and AV to the different locations even on wintry icy sidewalks.  This staff has never said “This not my job”, they say, “What else do you need?”  They are open to help any department or person coming to or utilizing the campus.

The staff has worked countless weekends to deliver community and extra curricular activities.  I feel this staff is the most empathetic I have ever known.  They demonstrate concern and care for each and every individual.  I have seen them counsel with people whose child was being deployed to Iraq; someone whose parent or spouse passed away, or the many women who Rose specifically has encouraged while going through breast cancer treatment.

This staff is more than a staff, they are community and they create a sense of community for all those who enter the campus.  Does this sound remarkable?   No, not if you get to know them.  They deserve this recognition, especially since I will not have another opportunity to recommend them.

Thank you for your consideration.

Eleanor Murkey, Dean
CLC Lakeshore Campus

Recently, the Business Division updated the keyboarding program for AOS. After reviewing many programs, the search was narrowed to a program from Cengage, Keyboarding Pro Deluxe Essentials. Cengage held two informational meetings with the AOS instructors, Granger Cook, Ben Roohani, and me. These sessions allowed us to learn aspects of the new program. Granger raised questions concerning the Web Reporter, software and installation issues, and internet compatibility. His input aided in the decision to choose this new program.

Upon receiving the new software, Granger found it was not formatted for easy installation on the classroom images, as well as installation at home for the instructors. He took the following steps in getting this new program off to a good start:

• Was in constant contact with Cengage to decipher the information needed.
• Created discs for the instructors.
• Wrote step by step directions for home installation.
• Installed the new program in the classrooms, lab, and LRC.
• Worked one on one with an AOS instructor to be sure elements of the new program worked properly.

Reliability:  Ms. Phelps has worked faithfully on numerous community partnerships helping to encourage education, training and employment for the past 9 years.  She is a founding member of the Coalition to Reduce Recidivism, and has also vounteered with  Career Services for Ex-offenders, Dare to Dream, Repatriate Demonstration Project, College Day at various houses of worship,  Ex-offender workshops, and as a Boys & Girls Club speaker.  

Responsiveness:  She has taken initiatives on several occasions and helped many with solutions that were painstakenly obvious and those that are more obscure.  I have personally referred a number of ex-offenders and have seen Bev encourage them in life skills that many people take for granted. She reaches out to those less fortunate both economically and educationally and instills hope.  One such individual I referred was from the streets of Chicago and was basically lost.  Due to Bev’s ongoing encouragement this woman is now completing her Associates Degree in June. This takes place using her goal-setting techniques manual she has written to calling as a reference to many seeking employment.

Her Assurance is evident in the fact that there is a Black Student Union at the College of Lake County that is active, positive and produces results. She has served as a co- advisor and for the past 2 years as the advisor. She has taken the initiative to take members of the BSU to Hisorical Black Colleges during spring break.  Nine times out of ten of the 20 students who do this tour, 2-3 will attend a historical black college.

One cannot work in the Career & Placement department without displaying empathy.  She has utilized her expertise at the Family-First Support Center of Lake County. She has also taken the initiative to link the work-study program to the Family First Support Center.

The knowledge that she has attained is passed on to others in need and to her peers.  Her volunteerism, dependability and unselfishness towards others is worthy of the SOAR Award.