Ganger was nominated by two individuals, and he is being recognized for his timely and professional assistance with the successful start of the new Computer Forensics program and its continued improvement, and also for his service to students with disabilities concerning their technology needs.

As you know, starting a new program requires careful planning, preparation and a lot of hard work. In the case of the Computer Forensics program, technology issues added more challenges. For example, two of the courses use at least 15 different software tools and sometimes more. Configuring these various tools and keeping them current is a time-consuming and tedious task.

His nominator wrote, "Granger has been instrumental in making sure that the hard drive image is up-to-date and more importantly, reliable. Due to his diligent ongoing work in maintaining the lab and computers, I have been able to focus my attention on developing the curriculum for these new courses. Granger has played a pivotal role in creating a great learning experience for students in this program."

Granger is also recognized for his service to and care for students with disabilities to ensure they have access to the technology they need to succeed.

For example, his nominator wrote, "this semester, Granger, along with Gary Homer, worked hard to make one of our software programs available to students at home. Some of CLC's students with disabilities can now borrow software to use at home to help them read their books. Now students who need textbooks in an alternate format have greater access to their books; and they can read them at home.

Her nominator described Terese as "everything an employer would want in an employee: honest, dependable, kind, considerate, hard working, competent, professional, organized, and always has a great physical appearance."

That pretty much sums up the reasons why Terese is being recognized with the SOAR award.

Whether it is greeting visitors into the department, helping students with issues, working with other staff members or instructors with paperwork and transactions, providing orientation to new office staff on office procedures and college policies, Terese has the unique capability of doing them well, while maintaining a delightful demeanor.

According to her nominator, Terese is always willing to help and take on extra work and more responsibility. For example, when the person who enters all the class information into PeopleSoft was ill, Terese stepped up, learned to use the system, and entered all the classes.

On another occasion, Terese helped to create a PowerPoint presentation for the part-time teacher orientation even though she was already busy with many other tasks related to the orientation.

Terese is truly committed to her work and helping students, staff and faculty in her department.

Darryl is being recognized for his outstanding service to the Lakeshore Campus community in Waukegan .

Darryl is the only campus safety staff member at Lakeshore and as such, he is responsible for law enforcement, community services like vehicle assistance and escorts, parking permit management, community safety/security presentations to the college community, to name a few.

Most recently, in addition to the north and south buildings of Lakeshore, Officer Harlan has taken on the security of the One Genesee Street building, where the Dental Hygiene program is housed. According to his nominator, this extra responsibility has stretched Officer Harlan, but he has taken it on without missing a step.

In addition to Officer Harlan's work activities, he has taken advantage of the tuition re-imbursement program and completed his Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice and is currently working on a Master's degree.

Over the past five years, there has only been an average of three reports of criminal activity at Lakeshore. This is a true reflection of his presence and effectiveness as a Campus Safety Officer. Also, the Campus Safety department implemented a Satisfaction Survey program 2 ½ years ago, and Officer Harlan has received eight excellent service ratings over that time. These numbers are a testament to Officer Darryl Harlan's hard work, reliability and dedication to the Lakeshore Campus.

According to her nominator, Denise "truly is grace under pressure!" She is described as caring, dependable, accurate, and always professional and kind.

"Even during the busiest times such as the first days of the semester, we can count on Denise for a smile, a kind approach, and persistence in solving every problem that arises."

"Denise keeps the Business Division running efficiently by keeping track of all the paperwork, listening to people's needs, following up on every request, and helping students and faculty."

Denise is always willing to help and take initiative. For example, she was instrumental in planning a successful reception for the Paralegal Studies program graduates.

Her nominator wrote, "Denise came up with the most practical way to do the reception. She, along with our receptionist, arranged for everything and shopped, organized, decorated and presented such a lovely buffet on a shoestring budget that students and guests are still talking about it!"

Cindy is being recognized for her outstanding work in planning and organizing activities to enrich the lives of students.

Her nominator wrote, "Cindy listens to students, seeks their input and models the best practices. Campus life at CLC is interesting and enriched by the tremendous effort she puts forth in events such as Welcome Week, Winter Carnival, and live music in Lancers, to name a few. She is a superb planner and not only organizes the activities but also pitches in to do any job that the situation requires."

"If Cindy is charged with a project or responsibility, you can count on having it done, and done well. She has established networks inside and out of the college so that things run smoothly. Cindy could have done an excellent job without a lot of additional professional development, but she pursued and achieved a Master's degree in Adult Education through Northern Illinois University . She is capable, confident, and caring."

According to his nominator, Pedro is an exemplary employee who takes pride in his job, and his dedication to work truly goes beyond his responsibilities. Some of the examples are as follows:

When the third shift custodians and facilities staff needed computer training during their work hours, Pedro stayed after his normal working hours to provide support.

Likewise, during the State Ethics Training, Pedro again agreed to stay late after his normal working hours to help the third shift custodians and facilities staff.

Pedro can also be counted on to provide coverage at the Help Desk and also to provide evening desktop support in emergency situations. Recently, while Pedro was on vacation, ITS needed someone to cover the evening shift. When Pedro found out about it, he agreed to rearrange his family activities and come to work. His willingness to change his personal and family time and make himself available shows his dedication and loyalty to the CLC community.

Dave is described by his nominator as a "cornerstone to the Biology division."

"His behind-the-scenes work ensures that our lab courses run smoothly so that faculty can focus their energy on teaching and providing our students the best education possible."

Dave is responsible for preparing the biology labs for nearly all of the courses taught at Grayslake, Lakeshore and Southlake. To give a perspective, this semester, Dave is responsible for set-up and take down for 50 lab sections, with each lab's prep generally changing twice a week.

His nominator wrote, "Dave's organizational skills are second to none. I have never seen a lab that wasn't properly set-up, maintained, or stocked with the necessary supplies."

Recently Dave prepared a list of every single item used in each Environmental Biology and General Biology lab so that the new Southlake labs would be properly equipped. He also created binders that provide step-by-step instructions for preparation of all labs in the event that someone needs a reference.

Dave also takes classes to stay informed about the biology field since lab techniques and technology are continually changing.

His nominator noted, "Dave's work has contributed to the education of so many students."

The adult education staff members are being recognized for their excellent work in achieving record enrollment increases in the spring semester. They accomplished this at a time of department reorganizations and severe shortage of staff.

The staff implemented a number of initiatives that contributed to enrollment increase. I will mention just a few of them.

They developed a new computer-based high school completion program adding 27 new courses at Warren Township High School ,

They opened a family literacy program for pregnant mothers who are ESL students,

They added classes at Wauconda, Round Lake , Antioch , and Waukegan ,

and They set up new sites at Waukegan Welcome Center , Holy Family Church , and Lake Villa Community Center .

Those efforts led to a 5 percent increase in headcount, 20 percent increase in FTE, and 20 percent increase in student semester hours.

According to the nominator, "Each member of the department has willingly taken up the work of the staff who had resigned during the year. Never once did I hear a complaint or criticism as more work came their way. Instead of complaining, they worked late, worked weekends, worked hard and still cheerfully answered phones, helping people in English, Spanish, and Russian!"

"These individuals have done an excellent, accurate job, meeting all deadlines, and successfully completing end-of-year audits."

The Health Center staff members are being recognized for their excellent service to students and staff.

Their nominator wrote, "Communicating up-to-date information, possessing in-depth knowledge of health issues, demonstrating compassion and approachability to its clients, and ensuring competence in the health care field, all make the work of CLC's Health Center staff worthy of the SOAR Award."

"Health topics are undoubtedly serious in nature, but the Health Center staff adds an element of fun and humor.  This is seen both in the demeanor of the staff and in the general atmosphere of the center through wall hangings and health materials. 

The times I have had to utilize their services individually, the attention provided to me has been one of caring and genuine concern.  You get a warm welcome upon entering, and the nurses are always upbeat, empathetic and willing to share advice." 

The Southlake staff members are being recognized for their tireless efforts in helping students and faculty during the opening of the spring semester classes in the new classroom building.

The college had planned to open the new Southlake building on January 16. However, because of a building permit issue, it had to be postponed until January 29. Because of the delay, the Southlake staff had the enormous challenge of redirecting all the students and instructors during the first two weeks of the spring semester to temporary rooms in the old building.

The staff worked long hours and additional shifts setting up welcomes areas, greeting students and faculty, creating and posting signs -as much as five times each day, and personally assisting them in finding classrooms.

When the new building opened on January 29, students who were in temporary rooms had to be moved again to the originally scheduled rooms. Computer rooms not only had to be equipped but moved from one building to the next in a very short time frame.

The nominator wrote, "As faculty encountered technical problems, all staff members made themselves available, communicating about the changes and finding solutions to support teaching and learning. Every person, including new temporary facilities and office staff, worked as a team, acquired knowledge and applied skills across the spectrum to help instructors start teaching and students begin learning."

"Daily initiatives by individuals and by Southlake office staff, alongside Facilities and IT staff assigned to Southlake resulted in not one but two successful starts to the semester."