Last Wednesday NMC held their annual recognition celebration to honor this year’s retiree’s, service award recipients, and excellence award recipients. This year’s event was held virtually, with employees across the college gathering late in the afternoon.
NMC has thirteen employees who are retiring this year – seven of whom were awarded Emeritus for having over twenty years of service. These employees are greatly cherished for their contributions to NMC and will be greatly missed. We asked their colleagues to submit farewell videos for each retiree; compilations of these videos can be found on the 2021 Retirement Recognition page.
During the celebration, President Nick Nissley announced the annual Staff and Team Excellence Award winners. Each year, one employee at NMC is presented with The Staff Excellence award for exhibiting exemplary NMC values in their daily work while one department at NMC is selected for having gone above and beyond expectations to make a significant impact on the college in the past year.
This year, the Staff Excellence Award went to Lori Hodek (right), the Talent Development Coordinator at NMC. In her role, Lori focuses on what she can do for the employees at NMC, striving to make each and every one of us all better at our jobs. She maintained this focus even during the pandemic, re-imagining our October Conference and introducing Fed-Ex Day, an event that re-energized projects in every department on every campus. To quote some of the many nominations submitted on her behalf, Lori is “always willing to help bolster employee success.” She “is the oil for our squeaky joints. She helps things move smoothly so the rest of us can attend to our business.” She is self-motivated, “an organizational wizard”. On top of all that, she knows the name of every single one of her colleagues. She brings grace, warmth and friendliness to every interaction, qualities that were cited over and over again in the multiple nominations she received for this award.
Meanwhile, the Hagerty Center/Hawk Owl Cafe staff took the 2021 Team Excellence Award. Their work was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and since they were essential workers, they were among the small number of employees whose jobs require them to come to campus. Not only did they take on this challenge, they also shifted to a completely different campus. In addition to their work environment changing, the business model for this team also flipped. At the Hagerty Center, they focused on group service, whereas at their new location in the West Hall Innovation Center, it became individual service. They executed this transition seamlessly and in barely a month over the holiday period, updating the menu while making it more affordable for students, improved scheduling efficiency as well as digital signage. (Below, clockwise from left: Chad Shenkelberger, Lee Nelson, Crystal Bailey, Jo Gallegos, Lauren Marchany, Christine Arnold, Trisha Strahan, Scott Williams and Nancy Schaefer)
