Fourteen CISL staff were selected to receive 2015 Special Recognition Awards. Given annually as part of the UCAR Employee Recognition process, these awards acknowledge extraordinary work performed such as:
- Services of outstanding quality or of unusual importance to the execution of UCAR's programs
- Commitment to activities or demonstrated outstanding skill or effort above and beyond prescribed duties and workload
- Significant savings of time or money
- Excellent level of performance during an organizational emergency or period of high stress
- Great ingenuity or perseverance
These awards are not for sustained excellence in assigned duties or sustained performance of duties not included in the employee's job description, as such efforts are recognized in other ways.
Silvia Gentile performed at an outstanding level of skill and effort to take ownership of the SIParCS program only weeks before the arrival of the near-record class of 17 interns. She quickly handled all associated processes with professionalism, coordinated the interns, mentors, and support staff, provided transportation, and arranged for offices and computers, all in advance of the first day. Finally, she used her creativity to organize social events for the interns to welcome them to the CISL community.
A core team of nine Network Engineering and Telecommunications Section staff members received awards for their coordinated actions to replace 20 network backbone switches across all UCAR campuses in an emergency situation. UCAR networking depends on these 1-gigabit-per-second Power over Ethernet switches for offices, conference rooms, public spaces, and VoIP telephones at all locations including the NWSC. Team members identified the appropriate replacement equipment, negotiated a 68% discount, planned the work to minimize service disruptions, and completed the work on a very aggressive schedule. This technical and managerial achievement averted a much more complicated and costly multi-year solution.
The Google Apps for Government Project Team performed at an excellent level of leadership and customer service during the challenging and stressful time of transitioning UCAR's wide variety of business applications to the Google platform. The team ensured that all stakeholders' needs were identified, communicated, and addressed, transitioned user accounts, and phased out legacy email systems while avoiding service interruptions. They also synchronized UCAR authentication systems with Google and determined returns on investment and cost benefits.
