May 23, 2008
See Complete List of Winners
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| From left: Lynn Kimsey, chair of the Department of Entomology; administrative assistant Jeanette Martin; Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef; and account managers Yoke Dellenback and Susan Padgett. Not pictured: researcher Zain Syed. (Photos by Kathy Keatley Garvey) |
DAVIS--A two-member administrative team from the UC Davis Department of Entomology received a coveted distinguished service award at the UC Davis Staff Assembly's Citation for Excellence ceremony, held May 22 at the home of Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef.
Account managers Susan Padgett and Yoke Dellenback received the honor. They first were presented with citations for excellence in the team division, general contributions category, and then were singled out for the distinguished team award in that category. Their names will be engraved on a plaque at the Walter A. Buehler Alumni and Visitors' Center. The outstanding individuals also will be recognized systemwide by the Council of UC Staff Assemblies.
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| Zain Syed received a citation for excellence. |
Two others from the Department of Entomology received individual citations for excellence: Jeanette Martin, then administrative assistant in the Bruce Hammock laboratory; and Zainulabeuddin “Zain” Syed, researcher in the Walter Leal lab. Dellenback is now business office manager for Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, College of Engineering, and Martin is an administrative assistant with Surgical and Radiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine.
Staff Assembly president Lin King and Citation for Excellence coordinator Peter Blando presented the awards, as Chancellor Vanderhoef congratulated the winners. Lynn Kimsey, chair of the Department of Entomology and director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, and nominator Kathy Keatley Garvey, communications specialist, Department of Entomology, attended the event.
Staff Assembly annually sponsors citations for excellence to honor the exemplary work done by staff. Individual and team awards are presented in three categories:
General contributions: Nominations should be based on abilities such as creating and maintaining high morale, providing service to students and the general campus, maintaining a positive attitude, providing notable contributions to department, or creative and original engagement in research and/or teaching.
Campus service: Nominations should be based on activities of individual (s) which contribute to the well-being and interests of students, staff and the general campus at large.
Supervision: Nomination should be based on abilities such as creating and maintaining high morale, acknowledge and recognition of each employee's efforts and encouragement of employee's career growth, etc.
The names of the top winners in each category will be engraved on the Alumni Center plaque.
Team of Susan Padgett and Yoke Dellenback
Susan Padgett and Yoke Dellenback were praised for their exceptional work during a critical administrative period in the department, with the loss of the management services officer and the executive assistant to the chair. They "willingly stepped up to perform the additional duties and responsibilities," the nomination letter said. "Dividing the workload, they met frequently to iron out any problems and suggested solutions before approaching the chair. Their leadership, knowledge, camaraderie, cheerfulness, helpfulness and attention to detail seamlessly smoothed the transition." Numerous accomplishments were listed. "Teamwork, enthusiasm, dedication and commitment: that's what it's all about," the nominees said. "They are winners in every sense of the word."
Susan Padgett, a UC Davis employee since April 1995, began her career in Vet Med Anatomy, Physiology and Cell Biology, working there until July of 2000. In 2000 she accepted a position as the workstudy coordinator in Student Employment, and in April 2002 joined the Department of Entomology as an account manager.
Yoke Dellenback joined the UC Davis workforce in September 2004 as an accounting representative with the Center for Health and the Environment, working with contract grants and payroll. She accepted a position with the Department of Entomology in November 2006 and with the College of Engineering in April 2008.
Jeanette Martin
Jeanette Martin was praised as "efficient, effective and enthusiastic. Her always-cheerful attitude brightens not only the busy lab where she works but the entire department. She works for a dynamic professor with 55 undergraduates, graduates, postdoctorals and staff, and they keep her busy with research proposals, funded grants, collaborations, publications, visiting scientists, immigration forms, travel accounts, purchasing document and yes, "problems," which she sees as opportunities to help.
"Her efficiency is equaled only by her desire to make the workplace a fun and positive experience. She annually organizes and coordinates welcome parties, the winter holiday party, scores of birthday parties and the friendly water balloon battle. One of her biggest delights is to see faculty, staff and students succeed, to see their bench-to-bedside research take hold to help mankind."
Martin began her UC Davis career in March 1992 with the Purchasing Department. She worked nine years (1994-2003) as an administrative assistant with Thomas Cahill, Crocker Nuclear Laboratory. In 2003, Martin accepted a position with the Bruce Hammock lab, where she enjoyed working with Hammock, staff and “a dynamic and cutting edge group of scientists from all over the world." She accepted her current position with the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine in April.
Zain Syed
Zain Syed was praised as an exemplary scientist who works in the field of insect sensory physiology. "It's the passion of discovery and innovation that drives him, but it's his caring and friendly attitude that defines him," wrote the nominees. "He takes a keen interest in all the ongoing projects in the lab and enthusiastically offers his assistance to graduate and undergraduate students...He supports the work of the department by attending seminars and lectures and eagerly shares his knowledge and expertise.”
Syed, a native of India, was educated and trained in India, Germany and the United States. He is active in departmental events and in the Entomological Society of America (ESA). He delivered a scientific research lecture on “Maxillary Palps Are Broad Spectrum Odorant Detectors in Culex quinquefasciatus” on Dec. 10, 2007 at ESA’s international meeting in San Diego.
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--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
