April 30, 2012
Winners announced for the 2012 President's Award of Excellence for Unclassified Professionals
Four staff members are receiving the 2012 President’s Award of Excellence for Unclassified Professionals.
The purpose of these awards is to foster excellence in the workplace by rewarding and recognizing unclassified professional staff members who achieve excellence and/or make exemplary contributions to the mission and values of K-State through service as a team player, exceptional productivity, creativity or innovation, distinguished accomplishment, and/or leadership.
The winners are Sharon Brookshire, Division of Continuing Education; James Hodgson, department of chemistry; McArthur Hafen Jr., College of Veterinary Medicine; and Tim Sobering, Electronics Design Laboratory. Each winner receives a $1,000 award and recognition at a reception hosted by President Schulz. The accomplishments of each winner will be spotlighted over the next several days.
Sharon Brookshire, director of conferences and noncredit programs in the Division of Continuing Education, received the Team Building/Group Activity/Service to the University Award. She was nominated by Sue Maes, dean of the Division of Continuing Education.
Brookshire provides leadership and daily administration for staff supporting conferences held on and off campus, for local, state, national and international events. In fiscal year 2011 the unit coordinated 346 conference and noncredit programs.
Brookshire recently coordinated the first unit retreat for her staff, where she led discussions on big-picture direction, ways to make day-to-day tasks work more efficiently, how to improve unit communications, and ideas for new program development. Through Brookshire’s campus collaborations for new initiatives and proposal development, she is overseeing new hosted events in Manhattan, which brings more people to the city and campus and highlights what K-State can offer in terms of location and educational opportunities. Brookshire works to develop and maintain K-State’s reputation as a national leader in exceptional conference services that provide quality continuing education opportunities. Her role in directing the conferences and noncredit programs unit is a critical element in helping to advance the mission of K-State.