High Fives are easy to give — simply click “Give a High Five” and fill out the form. Your message will be delivered straight to the recipient's inbox, and they will be acknowledged weekly in Campus News.

Click here to read about how the program began. Continue below to read about how your colleagues are going above and beyond to help the campus community.

(Note: Campus News edited comments only for misspellings and missing or incomplete words. They appear mostly as written for each employee.)

Works Above and Beyond

Laura Alcantar, Alumni Engagement and Annual Giving
Laura has been extremely helpful working with me regarding campus policies and procedures. She has gone above and beyond to answer my questions, train me and help troubleshoot any problems I might have regarding financials, budgets and the process of hiring students. I am extremely grateful for her!

Julie Kamana, Auxiliary Services
Julie truly is the best! She is hardworking and dedicated to her job. I can always count on her to assist, answer questions and provide a laugh when needed. Julie is a joy to have on campus.

Dawn Lewis, Kinesiology
Dawn is an exemplary leader in our college and has worked tirelessly on the college personnel committee for several years. She has been a great mentor to new people who come to this demanding committee, and she shows them the ropes willingly. She is patient, kind and keeps this difficult committee moving forward regardless of the curves she gets (last year during COVID, a whole new committee who had no experience, or a new digital review system that presented with glitches). She helps others grow in professionalism through modeling and is a master at organizing, creating meaningful and needed change and communicating in effective ways to problem solve. We are lucky to have her. Thanks Dawn!

Marcee Varela, Division of Research and Graduate Studies
Marcee is always available to answer my questions and provide support to the graduate program coordinators! I am very grateful for Marcee and the Graduate Studies Division. She is always quick to respond to questions related to graduate student timelines and helps to provide solutions. Marcee is so knowledgeable and is always willing to work through questions or situations that may arise. I appreciate her support and knowledge but also her dedication and kindness. Thank you for all you do to help our department/program!

Deborah Walker, Physical Therapy
Dr. Walker is an extraordinarily valued member of the physical therapy department who gives her students more than a 100%, all the time. Here is just one example: During the COVID period, our students had to move a chunk of their hands-on learning to Zoom; not optimal for the number of hands-on skills we teach. As students began to filter back to face-to-face labs, Dr. Walker was astute to watch for deficits. To address areas she identified, on her own, she designed a series of hands-on labs above and beyond her classes for which she offered to students to gain extra instruction and practice. When considering the amount of teaching load she already carries, because of her clinical expertise, doing something like this is more than going beyond, it’s a whole other level of commitment. We are so very lucky and blessed to have you Dr. Walker!

Saved My Bacon!

Ryan Sepulveda, Human Resources
Ryan helped us with rosters of student assistants when the HR-knowledgeable members of our team were unexpectedly out of the office. Such a fast turnaround and friendly, supportive service. Thank you.