Last week, the University System of Georgia honored employees all over the state for excellence in their work, and several Georgia Tech employees made that list.  

The Chancellor’s Service Excellence Awards recognize USG employees for high levels of performance, highlight service projects and process improvements, and honor a commitment to customer service excellence. The 2015 awards, which recognize work from July 2014 through June 2015, were presented on Wednesday, Oct. 21, at Georgia Perimeter College’s Clarkston campus. 

Ever-Increasing Efficiency

Adam Smith and the Compliance and Controls System Improvements Team earned the Bronze Chancellor’s Service Excellence Effectiveness and Efficiency Improvement Initiative Team Award. Smith, an IT support professional, was nominated for his work with the Legal Affairs and Risk Management team in building new Web tools and resources for the Compliance Partners Group, a new group of around 40 mid-level compliance partners on campus.

“Adam will stay up all night figuring out the backend of a process in order for the front end to appear clear, crisp, and beautiful when it is sent out to Georgia Tech users,” said Mia Reini, director of Enterprise Risk Management who nominated Smith for the award. “Adam has the true entrepreneurial spirit that we value at Georgia Tech.”

For Smith, the award confirms the importance of the work he and his team do every day. 

“This award is very much a validation of the effort that I’ve put into our projects but also that of my colleagues,” he said. “Furthermore, I find this award to be a recognition of the importance of compliance and controls systems to the Institute and the University System. I am very grateful and honored by this recognition and look forward to making further contributions to taking our systems to the next level.”

Rising Up to Lead

Kim Harrington, interim chief human resources officer, was honored with the Gold Service Excellence Leadership Award. 

Harrington, who began her career at Tech in 2001 and previously served as director of the Student Center, was nominated for her leadership in both departments. She took up the interim role with Human Resources at the end of 2014. 

“From creating a space for communal sharing of best practices and experiences, to soliciting expertise on problems of the day, Kim has transformed the relationships Human Resources has with its colleagues and, by proxy, employees of the Institute,” said Myra Oviatt, communications manager for Human Resources and a contributor to Harrington’s nomination. “In six short months, she completely transformed the nature of information flow to and from Human Resources.”

Harrington was in shock to learn she had won. She did not know she’d been nominated, and initially thought the award notification was in reference to another group she had nominated for an award.

“I really want to credit the Institute and Paul Strouts for giving me the opportunity,” she said. “I’m overwhelmed, honored, proud, and just fortunate enough to be in situations where I’m surrounded by dedicated, knowledgeable, competent, hardworking people. The award does nothing but energize me and motivate me to keep doing my best at Georgia Tech.”

Creating a VOICE

The VOICE initiative earned the Silver Outstanding Process Improvement: Increase Service to Students Award. VOICE is a collaborative initiative of the Women’s Resource Center, Greek Affairs, and Health Promotion focused on sexual violence prevention and education. 

The group has worked over the past year to broaden its reach to students, faculty, and staff by presenting at local conferences, initiating a peer education program for students, and developing an on-call victim advocate program to support students who have experienced sexual violence.  

“This means the world to us and the work we have been doing on campus,” said Colleen Riggle, director of the Women’s Resource Center and part of VOICE. “It highlights the great initiatives that VOICE has been working on for many years, and the great work of Lee Helmken and Melanie DeMaeyer in providing prevention programs and advocacy.” 

The winning group was made up of Riggle, Helmken, DeMaeyer, and Vladimir Oge.