Jason Koski/University Photography

The Bartels awardees, front row, from left to right: Marti Smith, Janet Lott, Michelle Clark, Gary Allen, Slavik Bindas and Penny Lockwood. Back row: Ben Kuo, Rob Osborn, Phil Bartels, Susan Bartels, Steve Devlen, Rick Jordan, Cindy Lockwood and Julie Parsons.

One has worked at Cornell for nearly 26 years, most of it in the College of Engineering. Another started her career 14 years ago, working as a Cornell temp. A third has worked second shift for the past eight years. These and three other custodial and housekeeping staff were recognized with the ninth annual Bartels Awards for Service Excellence Dec. 8 in Bartels Hall. Eight Bartels scholarships recipients also were recognized.

Traveling from his retirement home in Charlotte, North Carolina, former director of Building Care Rob Osborn thanked Phil Bartels ’71 and his wife, Susan, for endowing the award in 2009 and for establishing the Bartels Scholarship Program to encourage custodians and their children to take classes and further their education. He told more than 400 Building Care staff in attendance: “You are the finest group of employees that anyone could ever dream to work with. … You are in my thoughts very often, and I do miss you very much.” Award recipients received a certificate of recognition and a monetary award.

Recipients of the 2015 Bartels Award for Service Excellence:

• Gary Allen, who with his late wife, Evie, began working at Cornell in 1990. He has been a custodian for the College of Engineering for many years, and his supervisor says he has a “superior work ethic” and “generous team spirit.” Dedicated and loyal, Allen loves to train new custodians and is known for specializing in comprehensive floor care.
• Slavik Bindas, who works second shift and is known as a team player, a solid communicator and the person who volunteers when someone is out. He took on one of the most daunting floor-stripping and waxing projects on campus, 110 Olin Library. Bindas “has a great sense of humor and is fun to be around.” He also has an outstanding attendance record.
• Michelle Clark, who is known for coming in early and greeting her co-workers and customers with a “warm, heartfelt smile.” Clark has “impeccable customer service skills” and “gets the job done and done right,” her colleagues say. She is always willing to help out, including with such major campus events as inauguration, trustee dinners, Charter Day, athletics events and concerts.
• Penny Lockwood, who began as a temp working in West Campus in 2001. She has worked in the Cornell Child Care Center for the past six years, helping play a role in the center’s achieving national accreditation. Lockwood is noted for her engaging ways with teachers, children and parents, is detail-oriented and understands the importance of cleanliness and sanitation.
• Janet Lott, who “has been instrumental in coordinating the renovation cleanup and new building maintenance at Stocking Hall.” She is known for being good-natured, customer-oriented, cheerful and positive, and according to one of her colleagues, is “a wonderful, dedicated, dependable employee.” Her supervisor calls Lott “an excellent leader and mentor.”
• Marti Smith, who began her career at Cornell in 1996. She is known by her colleagues as “a team player with a reputation as a quiet, sensitive and empathetic employee.” She has served as an acting lead custodian, offering her insight and being willing to embrace change while upholding the department’s core values of truth, respect, excellence, teamwork and integrity.

Julie Parsons, event coordinator for Facilities Management, recognized eight scholarship recipients, all children of Building Care staff: Luke Babel (father, Ron Babel); Marissa Ferguson (Susan Ferguson); Jordan Hollenbeck (Lynn Hollenbeck); Hector Santa Jr. (Hector Santa Sr.); Taylor Schemerhorn (Patty Schemerhorn); Dan Schmitt (Kelley Schmitt); Kayla Stewart (Andrea Stewart); Troy Sutfin (Don Sutfin). She also thanked the Bartels family for their generosity and “for not only having the amazing idea to recognize our staff, but to put it into action.”

Phil Bartels said, “Simply stated, each year the award recipients have been amazing. To my wife and me, this award is indeed a confirmation of the truly fine quality of the Department of Building Care.”