2023 Award for Administrative Excellence

Lisa Halmes, Cook Honors College

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Lisa Halmes, Administrative Assistant for the Cook Honors College at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, has been selected as the winner of the 2023 NCHC Award for Administrative Excellence. Halmes was nominated by Chauna Craig, Director of the Cook Honors College, for her consistent enthusiasm and passion for their educational mission.

The Award for Administrative Excellence is given by the National Collegiate Honors Council in honor of Administrative Professionals Day. Each year, members of the NCHC are invited to nominate the administrative professionals that support and sustain their honors programs and colleges. Nominees are reviewed by a panel of former award recipients, as well as the coordinators of NCHC’s Professional Staff in Honors programming. Many staff members dedicate years of hard work and experience to the success of honors education at their institution, and their collective efforts make a difference to hundreds of thousands of honors students across the nation.

In her nomination, Craig stated that, "what sets Lisa apart is how she has recreated the job to live her own brand of genuine student-centeredness, earning campus-wide respect for her work.”

Lisa has served the Cook Honors College for 15 years under three directors, and Craig adds, "she has held us together through everykind of crisis. She set her mind to making our honors college an academic, residential, and emotional home for our students. Lisa is a humble person, known for starting sentences with “I’m just a secretary, but…” just before some smart, insightful observation or new idea follows. She is not ambitious for herself but for our students and our program, and Lisa regularly moves forward on initiatives before others even think of it. For example, when the pandemic sent students home in March of 2020 and prevented us from giving recruitment tours at a crucial time in our recruitment cycle, Lisa immediately created a virtual tour with her iPhone and uploaded it to YouTube for prospectives."

In addition, Halmes is a tireless advocate for students. "When administrative decisions impact us in ways Lisa perceives as harmful, such as relocating our residential living community, she is not afraid to speak out, though she is “just a secretary.” She has earned respect from all quarters for her genuine student-centeredness and, as a result, is repeatedly asked to serve on significant university-wide committees. The co-chairs of the University Strategic Planning Committee asked her to join and help train others in her highly effective student success practices, and the university president personally asked her to be on the search committee for a new provost, trusting Lisa’s judgment and ability to speak to the honors college’s value and needs."

Halmes is know as resourceful, kind, positive, and as Craig reiterates, "one of the reasons I look forward to going to my own job everyday." She is so much more than “just a secretary,” and the NCHC is proud to present the 2023 Award for Administrative Excellence to her for her accomplishments. Halmes will receive recognition on NCHC’s website, and will also be invited to attend the NCHC’s 2023 Annual Conference in Chicago, Illinois this November to receive her award at the annual Awards Ceremony.

2023 Honorable Mentions

Dawn Button, University of North Florida

“UNF has labyrinthine and laborious processes, but Dawn figures out how to cut through the red tape and gets virtually everything that we want done—usually in record time. When we dream things up, she makes them happen, even when there seems to be no path to getting them done. She comes up with unique solutions.”

“Dawn anticipates what we need before we are aware of it, often having things scheduled and in place before we think about it. Despite being extremely busy, she starts planning our Fall first-year student retreat in March or April (while we are still thinking of activities for the current semester), ordering materials, booking rooms, etc., before it is even on our radar screen.”

Jeff Chamberlain – University of North Florida

Rebekah Caldwell, University of Tennesse at Chattanooga

“Rebekah’s particular skill set—topped by her ridiculous work ethic—is foundational to what we do. The UTC Honors College is absolutely privileged to be able to provide extensive travel opportunities to our students, students who themselves typically do NOT enjoy such privilege. While she is a steadfast employee who manages all parts of her job with dexterity and authority, Rebekah’s excellence stems directly from her vast knowledge and understanding of the University of Tennessee’s system policies and her always upstanding, but highly innovative ability to work with all things having to do with these exhaustively tedious details.”

“While vital skills for someone like me to be able to rely upon, abilities that are truly remarkable in their own light, the kind of logistical expertise Rebekah exhibits may not sound as meaningful as what she does every day in her office: help students. Of course, Rebekah helps students with every contract, timesheet, and scholarship she processes, but she also does this one-on-one with the student assistant directors, or SADs as we call them, that she hires and supervises.”

Julia Youssef - University of Tennessee of Chattanooga
Dawn Ford - University of Tennessee of Chattanooga
Linda Frost - University of Tennessee of Chattanooga

Kira Castle, University of Denver

"Kira’s ability to dream big is matched only by her attention to detail and her willingness to get into the weeds on extremely complex processes and procedures. We inherited an office whose systems were all still based on hard-copy paper. She singlehandedly brought us into the 21st century with digital forms and processes. Her publicity materials, weekly newsletter, events flyers, and program documentation are consistently beautifully designed and professional – again, a stark change from the lengthy word-documents that we inherited. She is a Banner guru and knows all of the institution’s resource planning and learning management systems inside and out.

In just 2 years in the program, Kira has fully transformed it for the better and has been a dream to work with and the best colleague I could imagine."

Katherine Tennis – University of Denver

Kathay Johnson, Fort Hays State University

"From the very first moment that I began working with Kathay in the summer of 2019, I have seen her go far above and beyond the call of duty. She displays complete professionalism, thoughtful attention to detail, thorough understanding of our institutional mission, and – first and foremost – selfless dedication to the success and well-being of our students. She is tireless in assisting our current students in any way she can, and she is indispensable to our recruiting and retention mission. In our Honors College, for which she and I constitute the entire professional staff, she challenges herself – despite her much humbler job title –to perform as if she were our Assistant Director, and she succeeds.

The heart of Kathay’s success is found in the way she models the values of Honors education spontaneously, genuinely, and with deep conviction. The heart of our Honors mission is engagement with the life of the university and the community through service. Every day, Kathay shows our students and colleagues firsthand this kind of engaged leadership from a position in which such dedication is not in the job description – or the compensation package. She isn’t simply a consummate administrative professional; she models the goals we set for Honors education every day. She is indispensable to me, to the Honors College, to our students, and to FHSU.

Kevin Amidon – Fort Hayes State University

Luke Mackey, Elizabethtwon College

"Luke took the initiative to streamline our Honors Program applications for academic grants and the Honors Professor- and Student-Contracted courses. He took the initiative to adopt a software that the College uses (Starfish) for Honors advising, which is working exceptionally thanks to his dedication and hard work. Luke is very quick at learning new technologies. Another great example of his technology savviness is that he prepared an excellent home page for the Honors Program on SharePoint to disseminate information about the Honors Program to our internal audiences at the College, which in turn helped recruit more faculty members teaching at the Honors Program.

Luke does an immaculate job on all his extensive responsibilities for our programs. He devotedly serves the mission of the Honors Program, which is Learn, Serve, and Lead, and has profoundly impacted our campus community with his kindness, his impeccable work ethic, and outstanding interpersonal communication skills."

Oya Durson-Ozkanca – Elizabethtown College

Laura Murphy, Elmhurst University

"Laura’s computer skills are amazing—in truth, she is a former computer programmer in industry who is woefully underemployed with us, but she loves working flexibly, part-time, near home, and in the invigorating, every shifting, world of higher education. Her skills have enabled us to create many more streamlined and efficient systems for our program eliminating lots of paper chasing and archaic systems. Working with our head IT EU programmer, Laura was able to get a section added to each student’s online records that tracks their Honors Program progress, clearly outlining for them and us exactly what remaining courses, research requirements, etc. they need to meet their graduation goals.

Beyond her technical skills, Laura’s strong critical thinking and written communication skills enable her to listen to my sometimes rambling, brainstorming-aloud approach in my English -professor narrative manner and quickly distill and translate the major points, then efficiently perform any necessary tasks such as sending clear, concise emails or generating user-friendly Excel spreadsheets or creating user guides for procedural directions, etc."

Mary Kay Mulvaney, Elmhurst University

Jan Pinkston, William Paterson University of New Jersey

"Through the years, she has been promoted to the title of Associate Director of the Honors College. She is an adept administrator, organizing every aspect of students’ four-year, co-curricular Honors experience. She is the lead organizer of the Honors Research Week, during which, this year more than 130 seniors will present their Honors thesis work. She is lead organizer of the university-wide Student Academic Awards Ceremony each May. She drives the Honors College mission of guiding students along the path of leading an enriched, accomplished, and compassionate life.

Jan is dependable in every situation and reliably performs with excellence. She is always ready to do whatever it takes to get the work done – and done well. She is an excellent coach and mentor to our student workers. She teaches a section of our orientation course and is loved by the students; she has been mentioned more than once in NSSE reports. Jan is a creative problem solver who develops effective student programming. She is a highly engaged staff member who executes her role with diplomacy and grace.

Barbara Andrew – William Paterson University of New Jersey

Marquette Rusell, NC State University

"For the past 16 years, Ms. Russell has been a fixture within the University Honors Program (UHP) at NC State University. She persistently demonstrates a desire to create a positive and welcoming environment for students, staff, faculty, guests, and other community members. She consistently aims to provide the best customer service while also offering clarification when necessary and maximizing resources for programming and UHP efforts. Further demonstrated in her role as Building Liaison for Clark Hall, where she serves as a resource for all University Offices housed within the building, not just our own program, she shares pertinent information and serves as a liaison for all campus partners. Ms. Russell also takes part in training and professional development experiences that benefit our entire program. Her arranger, responsibility, ideation, adaptability, and strategic strengths were highlighted by Clifton Strengths, and we see those strengths in action as she partners with others and takes on her daily contributions to our program."

Sean Cassidy – NC State University

“I have been lucky to know Ms. Russell for the last year and a half working for the University's Honors Program. From day one she has been positive, caring, and helpful. There is not a day that she doesn't greet you with cheerfulness in her voice and a smile. She always does her all to make sure everyone around her is being helped and getting whatever they may need. She cares about her work and the students she works with.”

Yosi Esquivel Alcantara, student Office Assistant, NC State University Honors Program

Shelly Schauer, Oklahoma State University

"In the current academic year, Shelley has made particular contributions during a time of significant transition for our college. Our college dean of seven years took an interim position with the college of arts and sciences this year, and I have stepped in as interim dean until he returns. There were a number of challenges that I needed immediate help with, and Shelley stepped in to assist in invaluable ways. First, she has been indispensable in all matters financial and budgetary within the college. I have relied on her not only for help with the logistics of managing expenditures, but in understanding the budget and our fiscal management in a larger sense. I consult with Shelley regularly to get her insight and advice on how we manage our fiscal resources; she is always ready to assist, very knowledgeable and detailed in providing information, and insightful about how we can make the best use of our financial resources. Secondly, Shelley has taken on the complex challenge of class scheduling for the college. Although she had limited experience, she took on the challenge willingly and on very short notice! Within a few weeks’ time, she had come to terms with the byzantine university system and had produced a draft schedule for the college. The subsequent steps, including student priority enrollment, when off without a hitch. Shelley is now preparing to help pilot a new classroom scheduling management system for the registrar, and we will soon help lead the university in implementing it, thanks to Shelley.

As I hope these comments illustrate, Shelley has always been a highly valued member of our honors team, but she really has distinguished herself this year, going above and beyond to ensure the smoothest of transitions for students, faculty, and staff during this interim period."

Richard Frohock – Oklahoma State University

Mia Smith, Norfolk State University

"Mrs. Smith is efficient, effective, consistent, competent and compatible with whomever she works with inside and beyond the RCN Honors College. She works with current and prospective students; she works with faculty; she works with staff assisting us to navigate through the often complex bureaucratic processes and practices of our institution. She is patient and kind, yet firm and honest. It is not rare for a former student to reach out to her to share their achievements or to share how she was a positive light for them while at NSU. It is also common for a former and/or current student to seek her sage as they navigate collegiate life as a graduate or while matriculating. Faculty and staff too, call on her because of her work ethic, integrity, honesty and talents. Even the former founding dean of the Honors College continues to call on Mrs. Smith, bring her gifts and share with me what a treasure she is a part of the team in the RCN Honors College.

This is not about personality, yet it is. She has a personality that is required in order for an office, program, and administrator’s office to run well. In her role, she encompasses the requisite energy to move an office in the many directions necessary to support students, faculty and the dean. She is trustworthy and reliable, proficient and humble. Mrs. Mia Smith uses her years of experience to positively impact NSU Honors. I can honestly attest I would not be able to engage in the day-to-day operations of our Honors College, never the less to build the various programmatic, budgetary and administrative tasks, projects, activities and goals."

Khadijah Miller – Norfolk State University

Kate Stevenson, Western Washington University

“As the program manager of the Honors College, she keeps everything running smoothly and efficiently. It's with no exaggeration to say our department would crumble without her. Kate is an excellent team player, she often takes charge and guides our team with an abundance of institutional knowledge from her decades of service. She is a jack of all trades: tech setup/take down, event planning (this alone includes so much), spreadsheet extraordinaire, mentor to her peers and students, fitness guru, and so much more. I know that I can go to her with any question and she will either answer it or quickly direct me to someone who can. She cares for her coworkers (in and out of the Honors community) and the students she interacts with.”

“’I’ve had the privilege to work alongside Kate as a fellow dancer/artistic collaborator over the past 15 years. Her work in the performing arts is impactful to viewers and the community members she collaborates with. Throughout all the projects, Kate consistently brings commitment, compassion, and creativity. She also has the fantastic ability to create a space where people working together feel connected and comfortable. I think these attributes can be seen and felt throughout the campus community as well – her fitness classes are a great example! Kate’s ability to connect people through movement is a wonderful gift to Western.”

Scott Linneman – Western Washington University
(with Tristan Goldman, Vanessa Daines, Ed Love, Meagan Bryson, Chris Roselli, Marc Geiser, Kiersten Horton, Julie Dugger, Darcie Hill, George Mariz, Tom Moore, Ronna Biggs, and Hannah Saleeb)