COMMENCEMENT: Staff Members of the Year Named at SUU

Published: May 06, 2004 | Author: Renee Ballenger | Read Time: 3 minutes

Every year the staff of Southern Utah University nominate two of their colleagues, one male and one female, as the Staff Members of the Year. The criteria they consider in making this choice include professionalism, job knowledge and efficiency, service to students, and frankly, the degree of pleasure experienced while working with the individuals. The endorsement is echoed and supported by administration as well.

The Female Staff Member for 2003-04, at SUU, is Jeanette Ormond.

Jeanette has played a key role in making the immense transition to the Banner project over the past 18 months. She finds herself at the center of attention and has been a beacon of light for not only her fellow employees across campus, but also to colleagues at many higher education institutions in the state of Utah. As the Director of the Administrative Systems and Information Technology, Jeanette has what can be one of the most stress-inducing positions on campus, yet she never lets anyone working with her see any effects of the pressure. She is one of the most enthusiastic and intelligent employees on campus and shares her expertise with a great disposition. She has a strong background in computer programming, software implementation, and hardware management. In the past two years she has finished her MBA degree and become an Oracle Certified professional. Jeanette has been working at SUU since 1987 and has faced many great challenges during that time, but none greater than the transition the entire campus is making to a new administrative software package—the Banner project. Jeanette has taken on an increased workload while experiencing a high turnover rate among her staff and meeting the new demands of the Banner system, and she has done it all with amazing attention to detail and success. She receives compliments almost daily from people she helps on campus and the many who seek her advice across the state of Utah. One co-worker says, “She is always willing to help, extremely witty, amazingly talented, and such a great lady. We are lucky to have someone of Jeanette’s caliber working at our Institution.” She is always looking, and thinking of ways that will help the end users of the financial and student systems to do their jobs better. It is really quite easy to sum up Jeanette’s value to Southern Utah University: The computer system on campus would fall apart without her. Jeanette sets a new standard for doing more than her job description defines.


The SUU Male Staff Member for 2003-04 is Matt Vandenberghe.

Some people just make life seem a little brighter for everyone. Matt Vandenberghe is one of those people. As an Electrician Supervisor in the Plant Operations of SUU, Matt is literally responsible for making sure the lights are on, along with many other electrical devices, in hundreds of rooms around campus. Matt is one of those employees who takes pleasure in doing his job behind the scenes without any recognition. Matt has been serving his co-workers and the students at SUU since 1985. He recently completed a special project so well that he not only saved the University substantial money for the future, he earned SUU a large check. As the leader of a team of skilled electricians, Matt had high efficiency equipment installed across campus, replacing older and inefficient lighting systems. This project also created additional work for students looking for valuable hands-on experience. He not only did it for one-third the cost of having a contractor come in and do it, but also, the work resulted in Pacificorp presenting a check for more than $23,000 to the campus as a reward for energy saving activities. The account manager for Pacificorp said, “SUU is miles ahead of typical businesses” in the efficiency of its power systems. Matt’s work is a real beacon for his colleagues to follow and appreciated by the entire campus community.

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