SDSU Staff Receive Presidential Staff Excellence Awards

The Presidential Staff Excellence Awards recognize outstanding contributions and efforts made by San Diego State University staff in support of the university, fellow employees and the community.
During an awards ceremony on Aug. 1, President Adela de la Torre recognized staff members in six categories. Candidates were nominated by their colleagues, and the finalists were selected from more than 150 entries.

Auxiliary Support

Janet Harry Allam Omar Gage Pollard
Harry, Omar and Pollard launched My Research Foundation (MyRF), which provides more than 1,500 principal investigators, staff and all levels of administration direct access to individualized, detailed financial data, processes and workflows associated with SDSU Research Foundation funds. It employs a user-friendly, intuitive and functional  design that meets the  needs of the diverse consumers of SDSURF data across campus. 

Innovation

Candra Young, graduate programs assistant in the Department of Geography.
In a short time, Young has helped to increase majors within the Department of Geography as well as funding and alumni engagement. Young is a member of the committee for Geography Awareness Week and helped to develop and deploy  a new GPS campus search game, a mapping contest and a photo contest. 

Manager of the Year

Tom Karlo, general manager of KPBS.   Under Karlo’s leadership, KPBS has had 10 years of growth in financials, staff, audience and membership. He has led KPBS from one television and radio station to now four television channels, two radio stations and a producer and digital distributor of original and national content. A successful fundraising capital campaign has positioned KPBS to begin a large scale remodel of facilities that will benefit SDSU and the community into the future. 

Service to the University

Nicole Brokaw, administrative support coordinator for the Department of Civil Construction and Environmental Engineering.
In a position with responsibilities formerly shared by two people, Brokaw assists faculty and students without a missing a beat. Colleagues describe her as dependable, reliable, proactive, responsive, passionate and supportive and committed to students, organizations and the department.

Staff-to-Staff Mentoring

Leesa Brockman, Administration, Rehabilitation and Postsecondary Education department coordinator.
Replacing a 35-year academic coordinator, Brockman quickly learned and adapted to new systems while mentoring the new employee who assumed her  previous position. Additionally, Brockman works to mentor most of the new academic coordinators in various departments across the College of Education, taking the initiative in helping others understand program logistics and university processes and introducing them to people across campus who are essential in meeting the needs of students and faculty.

Team Effort

Simone Hidds-Monroe Koko Nishi Michael Juan Michelle Cadena Danny Oliveira
This is the team behind the partnership between the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) and Counseling and Psychological Services to provide augmented supported and services to Guardian Scholars (GS) Program students. This team works to provide  academic, personal, career and non-traditional counseling support to GS students with the goal of addressing social, emotional and mental health needs, while helping to retain and graduate students.