Each year, the President's Awards for Service Excellence recognize individuals and teams throughout the University of Lethbridge who epitomize the exceptional service and personalized approach that is a hallmark of the U of L experience.
The awards are presented annually to a member of the APO group, AUPE, and a recognized team. The winners for 2015 are as follows.
President’s Award for Service Excellence – AUPE: John Kometz
For the last 15 years, John Kometz has played a pivotal role in enhancing teaching and learning at the University of Lethbridge through the use of innovative technology. As an educational consultant with the Teaching Centre, he provides superior educational technology support to faculty and staff at the U of L.
Using his considerable technical and pedagogical expertise and experience, he has helped faculty members leverage a variety of technological tools, including Moodle, the University’s learning management system, as well as WebCT and Blackboard. Thanks to his support and advice, faculty members have been able to improve the quality and intensity of their courses by increasing the breadth and depth of material they can cover, and by more effectively assessing the abilities of their students. Exceedingly knowledgeable in the technical aspects of learning technologies, he is consistently able to solve problems and devise new solutions that enhance the learning experience in the classroom.
Kometz and his team support over 600 courses in Moodle each semester, and he consistently displays a high level of professionalism in these interactions. He approaches all questions or requests with incredible responsiveness, and always provides carefully considered solutions. This indicates that his extensive technical acumen is matched by considerable compassion and remarkable people skills. Many people know John for his exceptional commitment to the Pronghorn Paddlers Dragon Boat team in addition to being widely acknowledged by University staff as a helpful and knowledgeable resource who provides indispensable technological and pedagogical guidance.
President’s Award for Service Excellence – APO: Isabelle Gauthier
As veterinarian and head of Animal Care Services at the University of Lethbridge, Isabelle Gauthier has done an outstanding job of optimizing the University’s approach to animal research and laboratory animal care. Thanks to her stewardship, the University boasts a highly professional animal-care facility, and comprehensive protocols for ensuring animal research is conducted in an ethical and systematic way.
Gauthier has developed and implemented robust new guidelines to protect the health and safety of research animals. She has instituted an electronic animal-tracking program that enables researchers to see every animal in their research programs. She has helped develop a new course that deals with the ethics of animal handling. She has also developed a training program for all new incoming personnel at the facility to ensure its operations run smoothly.
Through her involvement in the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience’s safety committee, Gauthier strives to achieve a safe work environment for her team. On the University’s health guidelines subcommittee, she has helped develop strategies to improve the health of University staff. She has also shared her expertise in laboratory animal care to help develop the animal facility for the future science and academic building as part of the Destination Project.
Isabelle Gauthier is a skilled research facilitator whose bright ideas and problem-solving skills help improve the quality of animal research.
President’s Award for Service Excellence – Team: ChiChi Cameron, Linda Gilbert and Kim Skura
Comprising the Faculty of Arts & Science’s powerhouse team of administrative professionals, ChiChi Cameron, Linda Gilbert and Kim Skura consistently perform above and beyond our expectations, providing unfailingly exceptional service to the University faculty, staff and students as well as the external community.
Cameron, Gilbert and Skura serve one of the largest and busiest Faculties on campus – the Faculty of Arts & Science, which has more than 300 instructors, professors and staff at three campuses, and serves 6,000 students annually – and they consistently perform their work with promptness, skill and efficiency. They excel at carrying out their essential duties, including organizing timetables for the faculty, conducting graduation and prerequisite checks for all Arts & Science majors, staffing committees and managing Salary, Tenure and Promotion requirements, not to mention keeping three Associate Deans and the Dean of Arts & Science organized.
In addition to their considerable talent and effort, Cameron, Gilbert and Skura also maintain an upbeat and productive attitude. They always provide warm and friendly service to students, faculty, staff, alumni and the general public. They never fail to make visitors or callers feel welcome, and always make time to assist individuals seeking information or needing to meet with the Dean. As the faculty has grown and evolved over the years, they have shown remarkable resilience in how they adapt to new situations, roles and responsibilities.
ChiChi Cameron, Linda Gilbert and Kim Skura also bring the same dedication and enthusiasm to their respective community volunteer commitments, actively sharing their time with various organizations.