{"id":183032,"date":"2022-03-14T07:00:08","date_gmt":"2022-03-14T11:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=183032"},"modified":"2022-03-12T09:06:58","modified_gmt":"2022-03-12T14:06:58","slug":"spirit-awards-once-again-recognize-deserving-uconn-employees-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2022\/03\/spirit-awards-once-again-recognize-deserving-uconn-employees-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Spirit Awards Once Again Recognize Deserving UConn Employees"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p>Honorees in the eighth annual UConn Spirit Awards, which celebrate exceptional employees at the University, were announced in a virtual ceremony for the University community on Wednesday, March 9, 2022.<\/p>\r\n<p>The ceremony recognizes the efforts of employees, especially staff, in building community and promoting civility. The Spirit Awards program was originally the result of a survey conducted by the Something&#8217;s Happening Committee, which found a significant correlation between supportive interactions among colleagues and productivity on the job.<\/p>\r\n<p>A total of 178 eligible nominations were received this year for the Spirit Awards, including 29 in the new &#8220;Behind the Scenes&#8221; category.<\/p>\r\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/totalwebcasting.com\/view\/?func=VOFF&amp;id=uconn&amp;date=2022-03-09&amp;seq=1\">CLICK HERE <\/a>to watch a replay of the ceremony.<\/p>\r\n<p>&#8220;Husky Spirit is something we have all learned a great deal about over the last two years,&#8221; says UConn assistant vice president and chief human resources officer Chris Delello. &#8220;The challenges that faced us at every level were ones that none us of could have imagined. And not only did we meet those challenges, we overcame them together, as a community.<\/p>\r\n<p>&#8220;The Spirit Awards are an opportunity to single out some of the outstanding staff members who demonstrate what it means to be a UConn Husky day in and day out. Our whole community is grateful to them always, but after the last two years that gratitude is even more profound.&#8221;<\/p>\r\n<p>This year&#8217;s winners and finalists are:<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Rising Star Award<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Winner:<\/strong> Carly Koebel, Political Science<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Finalist:<\/strong> Mikala Kane, School of Nursing\/University Communications<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Finalist:<\/strong> Lianne Lussier-Smith, Social Work Instruction and Research<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Unsung Hero Award<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Winner:<\/strong> Mary Margaret Smith, Animal Science<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Finalist:<\/strong> Jessica Baker, School of Business, Graduate Programs<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Finalist:<\/strong> Christin Donnelly, Geosciences<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>University Citizen Award<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Winner:<\/strong> Cody Ryann, First Year Programs and Learning Communities<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Finalist:<\/strong> Renee Constant, Student Health and Wellness<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Finalist:<\/strong> Tracy Rittenhouse, Natural Resources and the Environment<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Team Award<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Winner:<\/strong> Custodial Employees &#8211; All Campuses<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Finalist:<\/strong> CLAS Shared Services Facilities Teams<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Finalist:<\/strong> The Dodd Center for Human Rights Dedication Event Team<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Finalist:<\/strong> SHaW Administrative Team<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Inclusive Excellence Award<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Winner:<\/strong> Lara Chiaverini, Computer Science and Engineering<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Finalist:<\/strong> Yudelka Nunez-Gonzalez, Financial Aid<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Finalist:<\/strong> Bidya Ranjeet, Center for Academic Programs<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Behind the Scenes Award<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Winner:<\/strong> Kathy Koji, School of Pharmacy<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Finalist:<\/strong> Mark Davis, Facilities Mechanical and Plumbing Services<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Finalist:<\/strong> Lorraine St. Clair, Department of Extension, New Haven County<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The awards celebrate extraordinary contributions by UConn staff members<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":182999,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2235,2234,2233],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2113],"class_list":["post-183032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-homepage","category-university-life","category-university-news"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-05 19:15:46","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183032"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":183035,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183032\/revisions\/183035"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/182999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183032"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=183032"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=183032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}