Outstanding Staff of 2022-23 Saluted

From personalized greetings for first-year engineering majors to a drive to secure a state grant promoting college readiness, San Diego State University staff and administrators demonstrated extraordinary dedication to students, fellow employees and the university community in 2022-23.

Seven individuals and a team of five were recognized with Presidential Staff Excellence Awards as part of an annual honor for outstanding contributions and efforts over the previous academic year. In addition, the third annual Staff Lifetime Achievement Award was bestowed upon Maureen Dotson, facility coordinator for the University Library, as part of the Aug. 10 in an evening reception with SDSU President Adela de la Torre at University House.

Staff members were nominated by their colleagues in seven categories: auxiliary support, community service, innovation and creativity, manager of the year, staff-to-staff mentoring, service to the university, and team effort. The lifetime achievement award is for employees with at least 15 years of service to SDSU. All awardees receive a statuette and honorarium.

Awardees will also be recognized during the All-University Convocation, Aug. 17.

“One of the five tenets of SDSU’s current strategic plan declares that SDSU places students at our core. Our purpose is in creating a future where all students are able to achieve their greatest potential,” de la Torre said. “In one way or another all of these awardees have contributed to that goal.”

Lifetime achievement
Maureen Dotson

Dotson is facility coordinator for the University Library. With an average 5,000 visitors daily it is the most heavily trafficked building at SDSU, operating 24 hours a day and seven days a week for most of the fall and spring semesters.

Dotson has been committed to making Love Library and its adjoining Library Addition a welcoming space for research, learning and collaboration. Directly and indirectly, she has had an impact on virtually every student who has been on campus over a period of more than 30 years, from the maps and signs that guide their way through the library to the furniture they sit upon and the lighting that falls upon their study materials.

Her projects over the past few years have included a new Africana Studies Collection space, an expanded and upgraded Chicana and Chicano Studies Collection, a complete renovation of the Library Computing Hub, and the renovation of the library elevators.

She currently is working on a project to repair and expand compact storage shelving, which will both expand its capacity and free up space in the quiet study floor for hundreds of additional seats.

This year’s Presidential Staff Excellence Award recipients are:

Auxiliary support
Lindsay Vance

Vance, senior director of instructional design for SDSU Global Campus, led the project team responsible for last year’s launch of my.SDSU, a modern Student Information System. From how-to guides and training sessions to direct assistance, Vance’s countless hours of support helped thousands of faculty, staff and students with access to a site that receives thousands of daily visits across the entire campus.

Manager of the year
Roseanne Pasenelli

Pasenelli has served students at SDSU for more than 30 years from her first days as a financial aid counselor to her current position as associate vice president of student financial resources, where she provides leadership for the basic needs department and the Economic Crisis Response Team assisting needy students. She is known for her fundamental value of advocacy for SDSU students and for the staff that serves them.

Team effort
Claudia Gavaldon, Sarah Hershberger, Leviticus Johnson, Zuzanna Lever and Juno Paláu

The College of Engineering undergraduate advising team collaborates with faculty, department chairs, the dean and others to help students progress through their major to graduation, and provide support for scholarships, internships and jobs. Last fall, each team member led a seminar course for first-year engineering students, and they all represented the college in March at the Science and Engineering Festival at Petco Park.

Community Service
Rosie Villafana-Hatcher

Villafana-Hatcher has supported student success at SDSU for more than 20 years, most recently as director of early assessment in the Center for Educational Partnerships, Outreach and Success. She has a strong record of success in applying for highly competitive grants, including a Community Partnership Initiative grant from California State University to support outreach that closes achievement gaps.

Innovation and Creativity
Aaron Brown

Brown is a health education specialist in the SDSU Well-Being and Health Promotion team. He was instrumental in creating the Narcan Upstander Distribution Program, which trains students who may need access to treatment for an opioid overdose. Since its inception in 2019, more than 600 students have completed this in-person and online training program for use to save lives, and it has become a model for other universities.

Staff-to-Staff Mentoring
Magaly Corro Flores
Bridget Frattalone

Corro Flores, assistant director of the Undocumented Resource Center, provided vital mentorship to a new but inexperienced program coordinator, helping her to navigate the structure of SDSU. She has also stepped up to acclimate employees of the university’s other cultural centers, and filled a vacancy at the Center for Transformative Justice as interim project manager, providing leadership and mentorship to its staff and students.

Frattalone is department coordinator for the Army ROTC program and a liaison with the U.S. Army. She works with representatives across campus to ensure that each year’s incoming and departing Cadre have a smooth transition. She also has a leadership role in SDSU’s annual 9/11 remembrance ceremony, fall and spring awards ceremonies for Cadets, and commissioning ceremonies held at the USS Midway Museum.

Service to the University
Alfredo (Jun) Dandan

Dandan is a longtime fixture of SDSU’s mail services department and a familiar face across campus, where his timely delivery of packages and mail is greatly appreciated. He is known for a strong work ethic, a friendly personality and ready smile, and taking care to ensure that perishable lab supplies are delivered directly to researchers and not left in an unoccupied office.

PHOTO

Back row left to right: Alfredo (Jun) Dandan, Rosie Villafana-Hatcher, Juno Paláu, Lindsay Vance, Zuzanna Lever, Claudia Gavaldon.

Front row left to right: Sarah Hershberger, Aaron Brown, Bridget Frattalone, Rose Pasenelli, President Adela de la Torre, Maureen Dotson, Leviticus Johnson. Not pictured: Magaly Corro Flores. (SDSU Photo)