Robert Barker/University Photography

Vice President for Student and Academic Services Susan Murphy, left, congratulates Saundra Anderson on winning the President's Award at the High Five Employee Recognition Awards.

With praise from eight professors in her nomination, Saundra Anderson, administrative assistant for the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior in the College of Arts and Sciences, received the President's Award May 19 at the High Five Employee Recognition Awards luncheon.

In presenting Anderson with the award, Vice President for Student and Academic Services Susan Murphy read from the professors’ nominations, which said Anderson always “goes above and beyond any expectations” and “her cheerfulness and friendliness make everything easy … she is a great role model for others.”

Known for teaching herself new skills, Anderson learned how to construct Web pages and plan large events. One professor said “Saundra is simply an invaluable asset to our department,” while another said she “lives Cornell values every day on and off campus, in all of her interactions.”

Also at the luncheon, two staff members received the Award for Individual Excellence: Jason Allen, assistant dean for fraternities, sororities and independent living, and Michelle Artibee, program manager for Career/Life Services in the Division of Human Resources and Safety Services.

Allen helps students learn how to create inclusive communities in Greek life organizations, with sensitivity to issues of difference, power and privilege. He co-founded Cornell’s MOVEMENT: Professional Development Institute, an initiative funded by Toward New Destinations to provide opportunities for ongoing learning to staff who serve underrepresented students. This program has assisted more than 60 staff members.

Artibee’s work supports Cornell families, new parents, the Cornell Child Care Center, student parents, workplace flexibility and underrepresented populations on campus, whom she helps navigate and balance complex work/life issues. Her achievements include creating lactation rooms across campus for working mothers; compiling resources and programming for new parents; and collaborating with senior leaders and ILR School faculty researchers on a multiyear remote work pilot program.

Marianne Marsh, administrative director for the Department of English in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Nancy Weislogel, executive director of online learning and collaborative programs for the associate dean for academic affairs in the School of Hotel Administration, received the 2015 Management Award.

Marsh, who has worked in the English department for 30 years, is known as an administrative problem-solver, finding solutions to funding challenges for grad students, serving undergrads through programs such as lunchtime faculty talks and effectively stewarding donors.

Her colleagues know her as a person who “works hard to help colleagues and students facing difficulties,” whose “tact and judgment in dealing with individuals is exemplary” and who is “ever-ready, ever focused and constructive,” Murphy said, in quoting from Marsh’s nomination letter.

Weislogel created a new department, the Office of Online Learning and Collaborative Programs (OLCP), setting up staffing, budgets and a long-term strategic plan. Her colleagues say that under Weislogel's leadership OLCP is thriving, with substantially increased annual revenues. “She creates a very comfortable, cheerful office atmosphere, making it a joy to come to work every day,” wrote one, while another wrote, “she is a visionary who deeply cares about how the work that she does in this office affects the university as a whole.”

The luncheon, held in the Statler Ballroom, was hosted by the Employee Recognition Team, Murphy and Vice President for Human Resources and Safety Services Mary Opperman. Nominees could invite a guest, their supervisor and their vice president or dean to attend.

The awards were developed by the Employee Recognition Team to integrate gratitude into Cornell’s daily life and culture, said Opperman. “It’s important for Cornell to foster a culture of gratitude – a habit of saying thanks, with sincerity and joy, to our colleagues whenever they do something well,” Opperman said. “These awards are one public expression of this gratitude, but I hope we can all carry out the culture of thanks throughout our work together,” she said.