Employee Recognition

Employee Recognition Awards

2024 Award recipients were announced at the seventh annual FP&M Employee Recognition celebration July 16 and 17. Watch all award videos in English (no captions), or with on-screen captions in: Español / Spanish  |  བོད་སྐད / Tibetan  |  Hmoob / Hmong  |  中文 / Chinese  |  नेपाली  / Nepali  | English.

Thank you for all of your nominations to recognize FP&M employees for their sustained efforts!

Watch Videos

New: Outstanding Campus Partner Award

An award just for FP&M campus partners was presented to Theresa Kim, Tamie Klumpyan and Tammy Starr from the UW-Madison Office of Human Resources’ Learning and Talent Development team in 2024!

FP&M employees can now nominate UW-Madison individuals or groups outside of the division for the FP&M Outstanding Campus Partner Award. This award recognizes those who have worked in partnership, collaboration or support of FP&M in the past year!

Nominate Partner for Award

icon: yellow star outline2025 Awards

Nominations will go toward the 2025 awards!

Nominate Employee for Award

hand clap icon

Send a Shout-Out

A shout-out is a way to give a brief  “thank you” and recognize someone in the moment, year-round! Send a Shout-out to make someone’s day brighter. It will be shared on this website and in the FP&M Employee Newsletter.

Send Shout-Out

Nominate

Please complete the nomination form.

Online Nomination Form

Nominate

Print Nomination Forms

English  |  Español / Spanish  |  Hmoob / Hmong  |  བོད་སྐད / Tibetan  |  नेपाली / Nepali  |  中文 / Chinese

Please send PDF forms to recognition@fpm.wisc.edu or mail printed forms the following address: FP&M Recognition Team c/o Karen Demick, 21 N. Park Street, Room 7251, Madison, WI 53715-1227

About

View the current recognition team members and see more about FP&M Employee Recognition below.

Select from tabs to learn about eligibility, award categories, tips for nominating and see past award recipients and videos!

Lee Bilke | Watch Video

Customer Service Award

Lee Bilke

Customer Service Representative | Transportation Services department

Nominated by Ji Young Yeo 

Watch Video (English audio) | available with captions in: Español / Spanish  |  བོད་སྐད / Tibetan | Hmoob / Hmong  |  中文 / Chinese  | नेपाली / Nepali  | English


two people standing outdoors on green lawn smiling and posing
Al Yingling and Megan Fry | Watch Video

Creative Solutions Award

Megan Fry and Al Yingling

Megan Fry: Mechanical Utilities Engineer | Physical Plant department
Al Yingling: Facilities Technician | Physical Plant
department

Nominated by Ryan Pingel

Watch Video (English audio) | available with captions in: Español / Spanish  |  བོད་སྐད / Tibetan | Hmoob / Hmong  |  中文 / Chinese  | नेपाली / Nepali  | English


person posing in checkered shirt outdoors with arms crossed
Aaron McCoy | Watch Video

Going Above and Beyond Award

Aaron McCoy

Asst. Chemical Hygiene Officer | Environment, Health & Safety department

Nominated by Christopher Strang  Jeff Zebrowski, Amy S. Riedemann, Chris Richards, Casey Wampler, Tim Dalby, Ann Hommer, Charles Myer, Barry Dobbs and Mike Marean 

Watch Video (English audio) available with captions in: Español / Spanish  |  བོད་སྐད / Tibetan | Hmoob / Hmong  |  中文 / Chinese  | नेपाली / Nepali  | English


person stands with arms crossed in courtyard outdoors with green trees and van in background on a sunny day
Timothy Akey | Watch Video

Unsung Individual Award

Timothy Akey

Facilities Technician I | Physical Plant department

Nominated by Sue Fritts

Watch Video (English audio) available with captions in: Español / Spanish  |  བོད་སྐད / Tibetan | Hmoob / Hmong  |  中文 / Chinese  | नेपाली / Nepali  | English


two people stand side by side outdoors, laughing
Dawn Ness and Kathy Bear | Watch Video

Teamwork Award

Kathy Bear and Dawn Ness

Kathy Bear: Administrative Manager, Dawn Ness: Chief Financial Officer | Office of the AVC department

Nominated by Jason Rusch

Watch Video (English audio) available with captions in: Español / Spanish  |  བོད་སྐད / Tibetan | Hmoob / Hmong  |  中文 / Chinese  | नेपाली / Nepali  | English


AVC Excellence Award

Chemistry Response Team

Watch Video (English audio) available with captions in: Español / Spanish  |  བོད་སྐད / Tibetan | Hmoob / Hmong  |  中文 / Chinese  | नेपाली / Nepali  | English

Various Titles and Departments

The Chemistry Response Team consisted of Ed Corcoran, Pete Dahl, Dave Goldade, Dale Kraus, Rob Kennedy, Mel Marecek, Silvie Marlette, Megan McBride, Aaron McCoy, Shannon O’Connell, Roger Parr, Craig Randles, Jeff Schiller, Pete Severson, Don Ties, Troy Vannieuwenhoven, Vitaliy Vasylyuk, Todd Yanke and Jeff Zebrowski

Nominated by AVC Cindy Torstveit


Nominate FP&M coworker or team!

person stands with arms folded against patterned tile/brick wall
Clay Eckstein | Watch Video

Customer Service Award

Clay Eckstein

Painter | Physical Plant

Nominated by Jana Valeo, Kerry O’Neill, and Robin Fisher

Watch Video |  available in English audio with captions in:  Español / Spanish  |  བོད་སྐད / Tibetan  |  Hmoob / Hmong  |  中文 / Chinese  |  नेपाली  / Nepali  |  English


person stands outdoors in a green wooded space near a parking lot with arms crossed, smiling, wearing a ball cap and crossing arms
Alex Pastena | Watch Video

Creative Solutions Award

Alex Pastena

PARCS IT Analyst – Senior | Transportation Services

Nominated by David Berland

Watch Video | available in English audio with captions in: Español / Spanish  |  བོད་སྐད / Tibetan  |  Hmoob / Hmong  |  中文 / Chinese  | नेपाली  / Nepali  |  English


Elizabeth Oseid | Watch Video

Going Above and Beyond Award

Elizabeth Oseid

Health Physicist | Environment, Health & Safety

Nominated by Jason Rusch

Watch Video | available in English audio with captions in: Español / Spanish  |  བོད་སྐད / Tibetan  |  Hmoob / Hmong  |  中文 / Chinese  | नेपाली  / Nepali  |  English


person stands outdoors in front of a brick-walled building and sidewalk where green trees and light blue sky fade in to the background
Megha Poudel | Watch Video

Unsung Individual Award

Megha Poudel

Custodian | Physical Plant

Nominated by Deb Jurmu

Watch Video | available in English audio with captions in:  Español / Spanish  |  བོད་སྐད / Tibetan  |  Hmoob / Hmong  |  中文 / Chinese  |  नेपाली  / Nepali  |  English


person poses outdoors in front of a windowed building at right and a tall building in the distance to the left. Behind person is a glowing, fading sunset in yellows, orange and pale blues
Frank Horton | Watch Video

Teamwork Award

Frank Horton & Kevin Steele*

Custodial Services Supervisors | Physical Plant

Nominated by Chris Bruns and multiple other co-workers

Watch Video | available in English audio with captions in:  Español / Spanish  |  བོད་སྐད / Tibetan  |  Hmoob / Hmong  |  中文 / Chinese  |  नेपाली  / Nepali  |  English

*Photo and video withheld on request


people gathered around a table
Space Management Team | Watch Video

AVC Excellence Award

Space Management Team

Nominated by FP&M leadership and multiple stakeholders

Watch Video | available in English audio with captions in:  Español / Spanish  |  བོད་སྐད / Tibetan  |  Hmoob / Hmong  |  中文 / Chinese  |  नेपाली  / Nepali  |  English

The following individuals from Space Management  have received awards: Abe Schrump, Billy Huang, Brent Lloyd, Chad Hinman, Derek Dombrowski, Ellie Wu, Jesse Luckey Winters, Kate Larsh, Liz Fredricks, Madeline Norton, Mari Lynn Haugh, Matt Alexander, Michael Wood, Patrick Wodzinski, Rob Shively, Tom Wise, and David Gerber*.

Abe Schrump
Billy Huang
Brent Lloyd
Chad Hinman
Derek Dombrowski
Ellie Wu
Kate Larsh
Liz Fredricks
Madeline Norton
Matt Alexander
Michael Wood
Mari Lynn Haugh
Patrick Wodzinski
Rob Shively
Tom Wise
Jesse Luckey Winters

 

*Not pictured by request

 

 

Nominate FP&M coworker or team!

Lakeshore Nature Preserve Team | Watch 2021 Awards Video

Teamwork Award

Lakeshore Nature Preserve Team

Gary Brown – Director
Laura Wyatt – Program Manager
Adam Gundlach – Field Projects Coordinator
Bryn Scriver – Volunteer & Outreach Coordinator
Connor Kotte – Natural Areas Technician; Lakeshore Nature Preserve 

Nominated by Sara Hotchkiss (Botany Professor)


Jeff Templin | Watch 2021 Awards Video

Creative Solutions Award

Jeff Templin

Waste & Recycling Manager, Physical Plant

Nominated by Travis Blomberg


Maddie Wojciuk | Watch 2021 Awards Video

Above and Beyond Award

Maddie Wojciuk

Environmental Health Specialist, Environment, Health & Safety

Nominated by Jim Morrison


Zhaleh Noubari | Watch 2021 Awards Video

Customer Service Award

Zhaleh Noubari

Sr. Facility Engineer, Physical Plant

Nominated by Kristine Peterson, David Downing, Randi Smith, Dana T. Wendt, Mark Wells


Hagos Beyra | Watch 2021 Awards Video

Unsung Individual Award

Hagos Beyra

Custodian, Physical Plant

Nominated by Tracker Dunn


Don Barrette | Watch 2021 Awards Video

AVC Excellence Award

Don Barrette

Gate Technician, Transportation Services

Nominated by Ben Rissman and Isaac Knoflicek


 

Teamwork Award

Custodial Crew 344

Photo of custodial crew working. Five headshot photos of smiling crew members. "Crew 344" lettering
Members of Crew 334 |Watch 2020 Awards Video

Juan Triana, Custodian, Physical Plant
Benito Monfil-Carballo, Custodian, Physical Plant
Hector Recoba, Custodian, Physical Plant
Juana Portugal, Custodian, Physical Plant
Todd Yaroch, Custodian, Physical Plant

Specialty Crew

Nominated by Sandie Bohne, FP&M


Creative Solutions Award

Kirstin Fosdal Selchow

photo: Kirstin Fosdal Selchow smiling, outdoors in front of a tree
Kirstin Fosdal Selchow | Watch 2020 Awards Video

Sr. Facilities Planning Specialist, Physical Plant

Nominated by Missy Nergard, FP&M

 

 

 

 

 


Above and Beyond Award

headshot photo
Scott Pollen | Watch 2020 Awards Video

Scott Pollen

Custodial Services Supervisor, Physical Plant 

Nominated by Karen Parrillo, UW–Madison Cultural and Linguistic Services

 

 

 

 


Customer Service Award

Sue Thalacker

Sue standing outdoors and smiling
Sue Thalacker | Watch 2020 Awards Video

Customer Service Supervisor, Transportation Services

Nominated by Gretchen Olson, UW–Madison SMPH Facilities

 

 

 

 

 


Unsung Individual Award

Photo: Mingur is walking into a classroom doorway while holding cleaning tools and wearing a face covering
Mingur Durjee | Watch 2020 Awards Video

Mingur Dorjee

Custodian, Physical Plant

Nominated by Chad Froh, FP&M

 


AVC Excellence Award

Stephen (Steve) Skinner

Stephen Skinner at work watering the wisconsin W in front of campus intersection
Steve Skinner | Watch 2020 Awards Video

Gardener, Physical Plant

Nominated by William Mann, Director of UW-Madison Conference Centers and Mail Services

 

 


Thank you for all that you do for FP&M and the university!

Customer Service Award

Stuart Statz
Physical Plant Plumber

Unsung Individual Award

Dale Kraus
Environment, Health & Safety

Going Above and Beyond Award

Maria Gutierrez
Physical Plant-Custodial Services

Team Work Award

Rosalino Chavez
Physical Plant-Custodial Services

Ernesto Cruz
Physical Plant-Custodial Services

Leonardo Orea
Physical Plant-Custodial Services

Roger Dote
Physical Plant-Custodial Services

Creative Solutions Award

Peter Armstrong
Transportation Services-Customer Service

AVC Excellence Award

Daniel Beechler
Environment, Health & Safety

Special Recognition Award

EF4 Polar Vortex Team:

Derick Babler
Physical Plant-Digital Controls

Nick Yaun
Physical Plant Electric Shop

Karl Trawicki
Physical Plant Steamfitting

Kevin Corcoran
Physical Plant Steamfitting

Congratulations and thank you for all you’ve done for FP&M!

Customer Service Award William R. Winner
Physical Plant– Paint Shop
Unsung Individual Award Lyle Jelle
Physical Plant– Waste and Recycling
Going Above and Beyond Award Gwen E. Freiberg
Physical Plant – Custodial Services
Team Work Award Abraham A. Schrump
Space Management Office
Thomas J Wise
Space Management Office
Creative Solutions Award Duane Marlette
Physical Plant– Stores and Customer Service
AVC Excellence Award Ernesto Cruz
Physical Plant – Custodial Services

Congratulations and thank you for all you’ve done for FP&M!

Eligibility

Who can receive an Employee Recognition Award?

All FP&M employees are eligible for the division-wide FP&M employee recognition awards, regardless of employee class or category. There is no minimum length of service required to be eligible for an award.

Individual employees, teams, and workgroups can be nominated for an award — even if they have been nominated in the past. You may choose to nominate someone from another FP&M department or your own.

  • Supervisors can nominate employees or fellow co-workers.
  • Employees can nominate fellow co-workers, teammates, or supervisors.
  • Self-nominations are not eligible to receive awards. (You cannot nominate yourself.)
  • Recognition team members are not eligible to receive awards.
  • Details are key. The more examples of great efforts you add to an award nomination, the better prepared the selection committee can be to select just five to receive an award out of the many nominated

You can help tell the story of great work through the lens of your unit!

Nominate

Icons with text from Left to Right: "Teamwork" below connected puzzle pieces icon; "customer service" below chat bubbles with a smiley mouth and eyes inside; "Going Above and Beyond" with a mountain icon with a flag at the peak; "Unsung Individual" sits below a spotlight with beam of light shining downward icon; "Creative Solutions" sits below a roll of paper, protractor, and pencil

Learn more about the five award categories: Teamwork, Customer Service, Going Above and Beyond, Unsung Individual, and Creative Solutions.

AWARD CATEGORIES

puzzle pieces iconTeamwork Award

Recognize people who work together to achieve a common goal. Nominate a coworker or team that:

  • Maintains effective working relationships with coworkers, supervisors, or customers
  • Encourages teamwork by recognizing and promoting employee strengths
  • Acknowledges the strengths of all employees and encourages teamwork
  • Collaborates and cooperates when solving problems
  • Supports UW–Madison values to achieve positive results together

Customer Service Award

Recognize a person who builds positive relationships and gives customers more than what they expect. Nominate someone who:

  • Uses personal expertise and customer feedback to solve problems
  • Handles customer concerns or customer requests quickly and effectively
  • Has a respectful and friendly attitude with all customers
  • Manages challenging customer service situations in a way that upholds UW–Madison values

Going Above and Beyond Award

Recognize a person for contributions beyond their job description. Nominate someone who:

  • Acts in a way that positively influences the entire group or energy
  • Does more than the job description requires (i.e., volunteering)
  • Takes initiative to respond to difficult or unexpected events
  • Exceeds goals and expectations
  • Promotes employee morale and integrity in the workplace

Unsung Individual Award

Recognize a person who has made significant everyday contributions to their workplace and UW-Madison. Nominate someone who:

  • Demonstrates integrity by being trustworthy, respectful, and accountable
  • Consistently works towards team success
  • Performs work accurately and follows professional standards
  • Promotes high standards for honesty, responsibility, and perseverance
  • Shares job-related knowledge and available resources with others
  • Follows through on commitments

Creative Solutions Award

Recognize a person who uses inventive solutions to improve ideas or processes. Nominate someone who:

  • Embraces change as an opportunity for improvement and continuous learning
  • Participates in collaborative problem-solving and comes up with practical solutions
  • Ensures a safe and healthy campus and work environment by following established procedures and protocols for their job functions at all times
  • Independently finds and uses sustainable, effective, and efficient resources

Also access a print version of the Award Categories.


For more information, or to nominate one of your colleagues, please visit https://inside.fpm.wisc.edu/employee-recognition/

Have questions? Need help? Email the Recognition Team at recognition@fpm.wisc.edu

Nomination pointers

Nominating someone for an Award is a great way to highlight all of an employee(s) contributions, accomplishments, and service to a unit or department!

Please provide a detailed description of the employee or team you wish to nominate. Include examples of their actions so that the selection committee can consider the nominee for one of five awards.

Those nominated become a part of our Honor Roll at the awards celebration and will later receive a copy of your nomination. Who doesn’t like a nice surprise?

IT’S ALWAYS A GOOD TIME FOR RECOGNITION

There are many ways to recognize our co-workers!

So, what’s the difference between a giving a Shout-Out and nominating someone for a Recognition Award?

SHOUT-OUT

Know someone who could use a quick thank-you?

A Shout-Out is an awesome way to give a brief “thank you” and recognize an FP&M employee in the moment. Shout-outs are also accepted year-round to be featured on Inside FP&M and in the FP&M Employee Newsletter regularly.

Share your appreciation and make someone’s day brighter!

Send a Shout-Out.

Recognition Award

Know someone who deserves to be recognized?

Nominating someone for a Recognition Award is an excellent way to highlight FP&M employees’ contributions, accomplishments, and service to a unit or department. This can be over time. The FP&M Employee Recognition Team accepts nominations on a year-round basis for the annual Recognition Awards celebration.

Recognize someone’s contributions and accomplishments! Fill out the Nomination Form to nominate someone.

About

Employee Recognition

Everyone wants to feel valued and appreciated for their hard work and dedication to the university. Recognizing employee contributions also helps solidify relationships and fosters employee engagement.

Acknowledging this, Facilities Planning & Management (FP&M) has developed and implemented both a formal recognition program and encouraged informal recognition opportunities in order to actively support our employees.

About the Awards

The FP&M Employee Recognition Awards are an opportunity for anyone to recognize FP&M employees, both as individuals and teams, for their outstanding contributions in providing excellence in facilities and services for our university community. These awards are supported by the Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration and Facilities Planning & Management.

The FP&M Employee Recognition Award program is the first initiative created by the Employee Recognition work team, based on their own recommendations. This collaborative effort took into account a wide range of perspectives in addition to EID survey results, including qualitative interviews and workplace best practices.

FP&M employee recognition awards fall into five categories, each of which focuses on a different aspect of excellence in facilities and services. Award recipients are recognized at the annual Recognition event and receive a monetary prize and framed award certificate.

For more information, check the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

Driven by Survey Results

FP&M participates in the Engagement, Inclusion & Diversity (EID) Survey every two years to provide employees with an opportunity to provide feedback about FP&M as a workplace. Recognition-related scores have improved since the first survey in 2012, but favorable ratings still hovered around 50 percent and the unfavorable ratings were some of the highest division-wide for the entire survey. These survey results prompted the FP&M EID Team to include Employee Recognition as a Key Action Item in the 2016-17 EID plan.

FP&M formed an Employee Recognition work team with representation from across the division to identify specific areas for improvement and make recommendations for initiatives aimed at recognizing FP&M employees for their contributions to the division and the university.

The Employee Recognition work team continues to lead FP&M’s employee recognition conversation to improve recognition across campus.

FP&M Divisional Recognition Team

Eduardo Fuerte-Espindola

Position title: Custodian Lead | Physical Plant

Karen Demick

Position title: Biosafety Protocol Advisor | Environment, Health & Safety

Lauren Hawley

Position title: Marketing Specialist | Transportation Services

Chad Hellenbrand

Position title: Plumbing Shop Supervisor | Physical Plant

Donovan Kron

Position title: Instructional Spaces Manager | Campus Planning & Design

John D. Lohrentz

Position title: Custodial Services Supervisor | Physical Plant

Louise Meske

Position title: Biosafety Specialist | Environment, Health & Safety

Kevin Steele

Position title: Custodial Services Supervisor - 2nd Shift
| Physical Plant

Alexandria Steinert

Position title: Citations/ Appeals Officer | Transportation Services

Photo/Video

See the 2023, 2022, 2021 and 2020 awards videos; and photos from the 2019 Awards.

See a list of all past award recipients in the tabbed section above.

Questions?

Contact the divisional FP&M Employee Recognition team at recognition@fpm.wisc.edu.

employees seated around tables giving applause