2020 Outstanding Performance Award Recipients

The Outstanding Performance Awards recognize classified and professional/administrative staff for their outstanding performance and commitment to service.

The Supervisor of the Year Award recognizes staff and faculty supervisors who provide leadership in creating work environments that facilitate work/life balance, professional development and performance management.


Outstanding Performance

Name
Title
Department

 Shari Barrow has been awarded a 2020 Outstanding Performance Award in the category of Professional/Administrative. Shari serves as the Coordinator for the Office of Institutional Research and Planning and has been in the department since 2007. Through her role, she is responsible for assigning all projects to be completed by the Office of Institutional Research and Planning staff. Since assuming the management of the IRP project queue in 2015, IRP's project completion time increased from around 65% to almost 99%. Shari is also responsible for the administration of all course evaluations with over 200 course ending dates, and ensuring that approximately 187,000 course evaluations are released every academic year. She has exhibited her commitment to students, the general public and university colleagues through her efforts to insure that all data requests of IRP a received on time and accurately, as well as ensuring the course evaluations are released on time for all courses. Shari has enhanced the university's image by representing UofL and presenting at numerous conferences including the Association of Institutional Research as well as the Bluenotes Global conferences.

 Brittany Blake is the Assistant Director of Advising in the Office of Student Success at the JB Speed School of Engineering. She earned her M.Ed. in Counseling and Personnel Services with a concentration in College Student Personnel from the University of Louisville in 2011. She has previously worked in First Year Initiatives at UofL and in academic advising at the University of Texas at Dallas. In her role at Speed School, Brittany supervises the academic counseling team and oversees advising operations for 2,000+ engineering students. Brittany and her husband Josh (who also works at UofL) are avid Cards fans. When they’re not cheering on our Cards, they enjoy bourbon tasting and hanging out with their two dogs.

 T. Vernon Foster has been awarded a 2020 Outstanding Performance Award in the category of Professional/Administrative. Vernon is the Senior Executive Director in the College of Business. He has responsibility over the largest portion of the staff in the College of Business: Graduate Admissions & Recruitment, Ulmer Career Center, Marketing, Graduate Internships & Student Services, in addition to providing support for the Family Business Center. Vernon has demonstrated remarkable service over many years in managing, providing guidance, and building high performance teams in each of these areas. Due to his leadership in these critical areas, the College of Business has significantly grown graduate admissions, initiated international student recruiting initiatives, launched and sustained an innovative internship program for Full-Time MBA and MSBA students, supported students while they are completing their degrees, and strengthened students' and alumni's career opportunities across their full careers as he delivers on the College of Business's "Lifetime Career Support" promise. Vernon is a champion for professional development for his staff, identifying and sponsoring multiple opportunities for them to engage in professional development and networking events and grow in their careers. Vernon is also highly connected to the community--nurturing business relationships with companies seeking interns and new recruits and representing the COB in various community organizations and keeping the COB connected to MBA/MSBA/MAC alumni. Vernon delivers on all three areas of making UofL a great place to learn, work, and invest.

 Megan is the Patient Simulation Specialist at the University Of Louisville, School Of Nursing. She has been with the University for six years. As the Patient Simulation Specialist, Megan assists Nursing faculty with the technical aspects of running the simulation lab, scheduling and ensuring faculty have the supplies needed to enhance simulation and lab experiences. Megan enjoys working with simulation because it allows her to use her creative talent while working with the Nursing faculty make their instructions come to life. She loves being part of a team that is dedicated to student education. Before joining the School of Nursing, Megan was a Certified Nursing Assistant at the former Jewish Hospital. In Megan’s free time, she likes to go RV camping with her family, husband Matt and daughter Kaelin. In the camping off-season she can be found in her craft room making something or capturing pictures. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice.

 Kevin Lush has been awarded a 2020 Outstanding Performance Award in the category of Skilled Craft/Service Workers. Kevin is the Maintenance Carpenter Foreman in the Physical Plant and has been with university for 23 years. He runs the day to day operations of the Facilities Carpentry Maintenance Department and is responsible the maintenance and upkeep of all carpentry related issues for 84 buildings the Belknap campus, as well as responsible to respond to all emergences within and outside of normal work hours. Kevin's supervisor states, "Kevin's commitment to the University has never wavered in his 23 years on staff. He has a genuine sense of pride in all the work he and his crew provide for the University. Students, parents, faculty, and staff are always extremely pleased with the response time and workmanship that Kevin provides."

 Kathy Meyer has been awarded a 2020 Outstanding Performance Award in the category of Professional/Administrative. Kathy is the Assistant Director, for Student Leadership in the Office of Student Involvement. Her supervisor describes her as, "Prolific in her work and the quality is regularly beyond expectations." She has demonstrated her commitment to the students, the University of Louisville and the general public through a number of initiatives, one example being the Cardinal Cupboard. Aiming to stay abreast of issues impacting students, Kathy became interested in the ever increasing food insecurity among students. Through her efforts in taking the lead to pull together students and collogues from around campus the Cardinal Cupboard was established, which provides fresh produce and frozen proteins, through donations, which are available to students at UofL. Kathy serves on numerous boards and advises the Engage Lead Serve Board. She has guided the Engage Lead Serve Board to improving their structure, focusing their programming and expanding their view of serving the entire UofL student population.

 Robin Newlon has been awarded a 2020 Outstanding Performance Award in the category of Office Support Professional. Robin serves as the Administrative Assistant for the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health and has served the department for 7 years. Her main job duties revolve around managing and distributing information within the department and the school. Robin's coworkers describe her as "an ever-present rock of stability in turbulent and changing times - always cheerful, always helpful, and always going the extra mile to make sure that departmental activities come off without a hitch."

 Jason Polete is the IT Project Lead Sr. for the Metropolitan College partnership. He holds an Associate degree in Information Technology from Jefferson Community and Technical College and a Bachelor and Master of Science in Education from the University of Louisville School of Education. Jason leverages the intersection of his knowledge and experience in both technology and education to develop solutions that enable people to work smarter and more efficiently. He has designed and built web and mobile solutions for numerous organizations over the years, including the University of Louisville, UPS, the Kentucky Bar Foundation, the Kentucky Council on Economic Education, and the Louisville Story Program. Recently, he launched a new startup - Yrdstick.com - an online pre- and post-testing platform to help people better measure learning outcomes.

 

 

Supervisor of the Year

Name
Title
Department

 Robert (Bob) Goldstein serves as the Vice Provost for Institutional Research, Effectiveness and Analytics. As vice provost, he leads the Office of Academic Planning and Accountability (OAPA), which consists of three reporting units: Institutional Research and Planning (IRP), Institutional Effectiveness (IE), and Accreditation and Academic Planning (AAP).

His direct responsibilities support several key university-wide functions, including institutional research, data analytics and visualization, strategic planning, and institutional effectiveness (i.e. student learning outcomes, survey research and design, retention management and research). Together with the SACSCOC liaison, Bob is also responsible for all matters concerning institutional accreditation (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission of Colleges [SACSCOC]), program-level accreditation, academic program approval and review, educational affiliations, centers and institutes, tuition reciprocity, and the academic common market.

Bob joined UofL in 2003 as the Director of Institutional Research & Planning, Now, with nearly 17 years of professional experience working in the institutional research, institutional effectiveness, and survey research and design, he continues to lead the effort to re-vision institutional research and institutional effectiveness by creating a combined service-oriented unit that serves senior leadership, academic units and key constituent groups with their efforts that support the university’s strategic plan. Prior to working at UofL, Bob served as the Director of Epidemiology and Immunization at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health where he provided oversight, direction and coordination to all programmatic, fiscal and administrative aspects of the Division, which includes the Epidemiology, Immunization, Surveillance and IT programs.

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