IT Awards and Accolades
Classified Senate Award Winners | Atta Bear Recipients | Starfish Award Winners
Classified Senate Award Winners
Classified employees were honored in Grammy-style fashion at the Classified Senate's annual Classy Awards production in the Clarke Theater. They were often referred to as the "glue that holds the college together."
Rick Nguyen
2014 Award for Best Attitude
Rick Nguyen was honored at the 2014 Classy Ceremony with the award for Best Attitude. As the College's IT Specialist for Web and Portal Content, Rick provides technical support for the entire campus on developing and maintaining their web content. Rick's positive spirit and patient nature is appreciated by all who work with him. He routinely goes above and beyond for all campus constituents.
Rondell Schroeder
2014 Citizenship Award
Rondell Schroeder was honored at the 2014 Classy Ceremony with the Citizenship Award. She is the 'voice' of Mt. SAC as the College's operator and is frequently the first point of contact for many potential students and community members. The breadth and depth of her knowledge of the Mt. SAC campus is amazing. Rondell has always participated at Mt. SAC by being involved and supporting Classified Senate, CSEA 262 union, and Puttin' on the Hits annual student scholarship fund-raiser. Rondell truly exemplifies Mt. SAC's core values; especially positive spirit.
Kenneth Frank
2013 Award for Innovation and Creativity
Kenneth Frank joined the IT department in January 2012 and immediately took up the challenge to develop a mobile application for faculty, staff, and students. The MountieApp was solely developed by Kenneth and was released in June 2012. The MountieApp has since been downloaded over 10,000 times and provides an innovative resource for students, staff, and faculty.
Beverly Heasley
2013 Rookie of the Year
Beverly Heasley has gone above and beyond in her role as Training and Applications Specialist. She has completely transformed the position by creating user guides, developing dozens of documents in IT and working with end users throughout campus to resolve problems in Banner. She weekly holds 2 or 3 different classes for Professional and Organizational Development and has conducted over 50 classes so far. She should be recognized for her substantial contribution to the success of IT and collaboration with other units throughout the campus.
Betty Zhao
2013 Rookie of the Year Nominee
Betty Zhao joined the IT department in February 2012 and has been instrumental in improving all processes related to Finance. She recently developed customized scripts that support the Faculty Load and Compensation (FLAC) module in Banner. Betty also created a program to automatically generate and email Purchase Orders to each Buyer, further reducing the amount of paper printed on campus. Her efforts and expertise are truly appreciated at Mt. SAC!
CCPRO
Jeffrey B. George
CCPRO Award Winner
Jeffrey won the Charles Cropsey Photography Award for his panoramic photo of the College and was recognized for his accomplishment by the 2013 California Community College Public Relations Organization (CCPRO) Awards Committee. Jeffrey was also presented with a Certificate of Appreciation for his outstanding work creating the International Student website.
Recognizing exemplary employee dedication and service
Atta Bear is a hand carved wooden bear clad in Mountie maroon and is awarded monthly to a Mt. SAC employee, group, or department that demonstrates the Mt. SAC spirit, outstanding service to the college, and/or extraordinary teaching. The current Atta Bear recipient selects the following month’s recipient. In addition to the bear statue, each honoree receives a congratulatory message on the college marquee, a framed award, and other forms of recognition like this one.
Computer Services Coordinator Kate Morales was selected for the September Atta Bear by August recipient Senior Systems Analyst/Programmer Jean Su, who wrote: "Kate is the heart of Information Technology. She is loved and respected not only by her own department but by anyone with the privilege of working with her. Kate always finds the answers to our questions, takes care of our paperwork and finds resolutions to our requests. Kate always has good leads for information she doesn't know, while guiding us to find the appropriate resource. Kate tackles any problem given to her and makes sure it gets resolved, even after hours if need be. Thank you, Kate, for all you do."
August 2014 - Jean Su
Information Technology's Senior Systems Analyst/Programmer Jean Su was selected for the August Atta Bear by July recipient Athletic Eligibility Specialist Anisurei Escalera, who wrote: "Jean has made my job so much easier. We have been working together on a very important project for more than six months and throughout the process Jean has been patient and diligent in getting all of the pieces together. She is very friendly and working with her has been a joy. She has helped me every step of the way and the outcomes so far have been outstanding. We make a great team!"
January 2014 - IT Help Desk
Help Desk Staff Jacquelyn Grier, Raul Magdaleno and Tan Wilton were selected for the January Atta Bear by November recipient Database Administrator Werner Vorster, who wrote: "The IT Help Desk consists of a small group of individuals who provide a wide range of services to so many people. Whether it be a single user needing assistance or a campus wide registration issue, this team remains calm and professional while providing the much-needed support. For all their help and assistance, I thank and congratulate them."
November 2013 - Werner Vorster
Database Administrator Werner Vorster was selected for the November Atta Bear by October recipient Student Services Supervisor Maria Macedo, who wrote: "Werner Vorster provides outstanding service as a Database Administrator in the IT Department. His work ethic is impeccable, and he exhibits a positive attitude. He was instrumental in making the vision of ordering online transcripts in to a reality. And thanks to Werner, Mt. SAC students can now order transcripts from anywhere in the world. The constant testing, long work hours of modifications and implementation would not have been possible without his vision and commitment. I am thankful for the opportunity to work with him and am excited to honor Werner with the Atta Bear Award.
September 2013 - Marcell Galatiano
Telecom and Network Technician Marcell Galatiano was selected for the September Atta Bear by August recipients Maintenance Mechanics Brian Bishop and Troy Lyon, who write: “Marcel is always ‘Johnny on the spot.’ He is never too busy to help when help is needed. At the garage, we rely heavily on our phones and faxes to help identify and order proper parts from our suppliers. Though most of his work happens behind the scenes, all of us would not be able to do our everyday jobs without Marcel and the whole Telecom Team. Marcel is always willing to do what it takes to get the job done correctly in an efficient manner.”
August 2012 - Chris Schroeder
IT Network Administrator Christopher Schroeder has been selected for the August Atta Bear Award by July recipient Melissa Haro, who wrote: “Chris always goes above and beyond to help things run smoothly at the key counter. Whenever I run into a computer glitch with my key access control system, Chris is there in a jiffy and gets everything running again, always with a cheerful smile. He makes my job easier, which makes everything easier for the whole office. I’m very thankful for all his efforts. Well done, Chris!”
Starfish Award Winners
The Starfish Award is a monthly recognition of an employee who is "Making a Difference" in their day-to-day responsibilities at Mt. SAC.
February 2014 - Kenneth Frank
August 2013 - Darren Stahl
May 2013 - Beverly Heasley
