2024 Employee Recognition Ceremony

Jacquelyn Manicki (Applied English Center) - April 2023

Suzanne Kerich (Office of Research) - April 2023

Brandy Ernzen (Indigenous Studies) - May 2023

Kory Norman (DSH-Ekdahl Dining Commons) - May 2023

Holly Shriner (Graduate Admissions) - June 2023

Karen Roberts (Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center) - June 2023

Ali Wellinghoff (Business Administration) - July 2023

Madie Hanson (Jayhawk Academic Advising) - July 2023

Chris Rathmel (Custodial Services) - August 2023

Meredith Johanning (Audio Reader Program) - August 2023

Dan McCarthy (Jayhawk Academic Advising) - September 2023

Matthew Farrier (Facilities Maintenance Services) - September 2023

Maria Losito (Undergraduate Biology) - October 2023

Michael MacFarland (KU Dining) - October 2023

Carla Endacott (Custodial Services) - November 2023

Lori Gutsch (Financial Services) - November 2023

Angela Edwinson (Transportation Services) - December 2023

Jaclyn Carpenter (Sexual Assault & Prevention Center) - December 2023

Ray Buffalomeat (Information Technology) - January 2024

Scott Williams (Information Technology) - January 2024

Donna Burruss (Bureau of Child Research) - February 2024

Xizhi "Max" Jiang (Engineering Administration) - February 2024

Rachel Saalweachter (Office of Research) - March 2024

Allayne Thornton (History) - March 2024

Finance Administration TDX Support Team

The Finance TDX Support Team is tasked with implementing the Finance Service Portal by July 1, 2024. The portal is a ticketing application that will streamline the intake process for many finance-related activities, create transparency for campus stakeholders, capture meaningful metrics for data informed decisions, and reduce payment turnaround times. The team approaches their work with an open mindset in a creative and solution-focused manner, which allows them to build trust with stakeholders. They have shown flexibility in being able to adapt to increased project scope and have exhibited creativity in problem solving while coming up with systematic workflows to route tickets to the appropriate staff for processing. The team collaborates with a variety of stakeholders from several departments (Information Technology, Finance Shared Services, Procurement, and 10 Pilot Units) with competing priorities and deadlines to identify solutions and understand potential impacts to other units and campus at large. From ideation to implementation, the team values and relies on all voices to ensure the best product is developed.

Food Truck Wednesdays Team

The Food Truck Wednesdays Team was formed to bring alternative food service options to campus to help address needs and comments made by faculty, staff, students, and guests about the limited options available and to engage in an event that would build community, blend interactions, and hopefully provide a little bit of fun and modernization to campus. This cross-campus team includes people from eight departments (Human Resources, Purchasing, Jayhawks Elevate, Transportation Services, Public Affairs, Alumni Association, Provost Office, KU Memorial Unions), and the program contributes to two focus areas within Jayhawks Rising: Improved Health & Wellness and Increased Work Satisfaction. The pilot program was launched in April 2024, and the team’s work required a deep dive into university and affiliate policies, coordination amongst the various departments involved to achieve a common goal, and teamwork to overcome challenges encountered in logistics. This team has demonstrated the qualities that make us proud to be Jayhawks—hard work, cross-collaboration, accountability, and an eagerness to help others and for the program to be a success.

Office of Admissions Team

The Office of Admissions’ goal for the 2022-2023 recruitment cycle was to bring in a more diverse and larger freshman class, specifically 4,500 students. One of Jayhawks Rising's three main institutional priorities is Student Success. This priority describes how students are essential to everything the university does. The first object of this priority is to increase enrollment. It aims to “expand our diverse community of ambitious and talented students, increasing access to a world-class education for more first-time freshmen, new transfers, returning, and graduate students.” In addition to this priority, the Office of DEIB’s RISE framework consists of two criteria that focus on successfully recruiting undergraduate, graduate, and professional students from historically and systemically marginalized backgrounds. The University of Kansas is strongly committed to recruiting large, well-rounded, and diverse cohorts of students. The Office of Admissions’ final number of new students on the 20th day was 5,259 students, the largest freshman class on record. Their successful recruitment of the largest, most diverse class on record directly contributes to Jayhawk’s Rising and the DEIB RISE framework. They continue to work diligently on the next cohort of Jayhawks for fall 2024.

Spanish Language Program Coordinators Team

The Spanish Language Program Coordinators Team consists of four Academic Program Administrators who are responsible for the four courses that make up the Spanish Language Proficiency. In the spring of 2023, this team took on the special project of developing asynchronous, online versions of this course sequence to meet the needs of the growing number of KU students who are unable to attend classes in person. The goal was to provide access to online students while ensuring a comparable learning experience, which is challenging when developing linguistic proficiency without in-person interaction. This had a meaningful impact on the University in many ways. It supported CLAS’s initiative to increase the number of online courses that are offered. It has supported the Department of Spanish & Portuguese’s ability to support GTAs during the summer months. It has enabled students to take Spanish courses over the summer, decreasing the time to get their degree and increasing the possibility that they have room in their schedules to take more advanced Spanish classes. Finally, it has provided equitable access to meaningful Spanish language learning for KU students who otherwise would not be able to take classes in-person and would not be able to complete the degree of their choice.

Richelle Chaney (Enrollment Management) - Chair

Carol Rudolph (IT) - Vice Chair, Team Lead

Emily Eichler (Operations Business Office) - Team Lead

Phil Neuman (Student Conduct and Community Standards) - Team Lead

Kari Balthazor (Applied English Center) - Team Lead

Kimberly Grosse (Human Resources) - Advisor

Kim Glass (Achievement & Assessment Institute)

Kim Spencer (Lied Center)

John Mathews (Office of Research)

Stephanie Hull (Human Resources)

Angela Andres (Libraries)

Dave Moore (Parking & Transit)

Heidi Garcia (Health Education Resource)

Kaprelle McNeal (KS Union)

Kristina Glick (Business & Financial Planning)

Jessica Brown (Custodial)

Carrie Caine (Institute for Policy & Social Res)

Heather Campbell (Procurement)

Mary Dykmann (Edwards)

Anna King (Operations Business Office)