What began as a “bold idea” in the 2017 Bold Ideas Challenge has now come to fruition in Fresno State’s newest employee recognition program — High Five. Click here to read about how the program began.

High Fives are easy to give — simply go to the High Five website on the Organizational Excellence webpage, click “Give a High Five” and fill out the form to send kudos to anyone on campus. Your message will be delivered straight to their inbox, and recipients will be acknowledged weekly in Campus News.

Read below 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.)

Above & Beyond

Kathleen Scott - Office of the Vice President for the Division of Administration and Finance
Kathleen Scott is such a valuable resource for the campus. In addition to being an excellent facilitator and expert in professional development, she is always willing to lend a hand or point me in the right direction. I know her days are packed but she always makes time to provide assistance whenever asked.

Sarah McDaniel - Library – Administrative Offices
Sarah goes above and beyond to make others feel heard and supported and is committed to making positive change.

Beatriz Vasquez - Technology Services
Sometimes you are not sure who you need to contact to get help with an issue or are not sure what type of work order to put in. Beatriz does not put up any borders and will assist in getting the issue resolved by directing you to the right process or person if she can not resolve it herself. And she always does this with a great attitude.

Maiku Vang - Admissions
I feel Maiku is quick on her feet and always is thinking of better ways to help our area improve in procedures to better assist students and staff.

Kelly Marvailla - OSP
Kelly is constantly finding ways to get involved in campus committees and events. Anything and everything she can get her hands on to serve and support others is proven through her kind spirit and hard work ethic. She is such a GO-getter!

Lian Vang - Admissions and Recruitment
Lian helped with the coordination of Journey To Success. The event attracted about 1,000 students and parents on Saturday, Jan. 18. Along with three other staff, she was one of the main catalysts for making this event successful. She coordinated workshops, rooms, assignments, managed check-in, programs and oversaw logistics for the event.

Martin Alvarado - Admissions and Recruitment
Martin helped with the coordination of Journey To Success. The event attracted about 1,000 students and parents on Saturday, Jan. 18. Along with three other staff, he was one of the main catalysts for making this event successful. He coordinated support with all our student ambassadors and volunteers. He made sure that all workshops had proper technology. He assisted with the logistics for the event.

Angie Iribe - Outreach and Special Programs
Angie helped with the coordination of Journey To Success. The event attracted about 1,000 students and parents on Saturday, Jan. 18. Along with three other staff, she was one of the main catalysts for making this event successful. She coordinated workshops, rooms, assignments, managed check-in, programs and oversaw logistics for the event. She was instrumental in making sure all our facilities were scheduled to accommodate the needs of this
conference. She supervised student staff to make sure that the event went smoothly.

Selina Pichardo - Department of Psychology
Selina is always so kind when we speak via phone. She is always helpful with all of the questions that I have. I have personally seen her go above and beyond for other staff and faculty to get their questions answered. She leads with empathy and helps any student in her path regardless of what struggle they may be enduring at any moment. She is a valuable asset to the psychology department and a fantastic colleague to have on campus.

Shimel Her Saychou - Cross Cultural Gender Center
Shimel helped with the coordination of Journey To Success. The event attracted about 1,000 students and parents on Saturday, Jan. She coordinated workshops, rooms, assignments, managed check-in, programs and oversaw logistics for the event. Shimel was particularly in charge of activities and signage for this event. She made everything look professional for students, parents and our partners.

Sophie Karas - Student Involvement
Sophie works tirelessly to help students and connect with them on a personal level to help them succeed.

Jerry Gomez - Student Involvement
Jerry puts in the time and effort to help build out new programs on campus. You can see him working many late hours trying to make sure the campus is putting its best foot forward through his programs and he always does this with such positivity.

Isela Reza-Rogers - Financial Aid and Scholarships
Isela has worked tirelessly to learn and improve our office's systems and processing. She essentially had to teach herself how to manage and run financial aid IT processes. She works very long hours in the office and at home to make sure processes are accurate and timely. We all depend on her skills and knowledge to keep our office running smoothly.

Denise Pearcy - Printing Services
Denise and her team consistently makes sure that our print jobs are excellent. If we send something over, they do not just run it as is. If they question the quality, they will circle back to us with options to improve our product. In addition, during high volume printing time e.g. graduation ... they come through every time. #grateful

Deni Dukic - University Business Center
Deni is incredibly conscientious and intelligent. He always come through and really goes out of his way to do more than is expected of him.

Marcus Crawford - Social Work Education
Innovative classroom instructor that always puts students first.

Dheeshana Jayasundara - Social Work Education
Always makes student success the highest priority!

Sue Chapman - Facilities and Events
Sue is always willing to help and shares her knowledge.

Jason Cappadoro - Athletics Business Office
Jason is so supportive. Even if he is telling you no, he always makes you feel heard and validated.

Josh Tolbert - Technology Services
While Josh is the one I am singling out, it was really the entire Field Ops group. Being tasked to rerun cables for two new classrooms that were not on our radar just two days before, Josh lead the crew in disconnecting, separating and rerouting all of the networking infrastructure for the installation of a new network closet to bring the newly remodeled wing up to standards. Along the way taking input and changing direction in order to bring the classroom that was scheduled to have classes in it the next day in service first so that the other TS groups could be productive instead of waiting.

Although this is the "Works Above and Beyond" category, it could just as easily be the "Saved my Bacon" as I am one of the members of the other groups who got their work done in a timely manner to allow two new classrooms to open for the start of classes. Thanks again to the entire team and to Josh for going above and beyond!

Rachael Freeman - Key Control
Rachael has done a great job taking over from someone that was here a long time. She is knowledgeable regarding all the lock components we have in the music building. When I've had issues with our swipe mechanisms, she responds quickly by sending us help. I appreciate the job all the locksmiths do, but Rachael has been awesome.

Phong Yang - Admissions and Recruitment
Phong holds the utmost integrity in the work he does. I've had the opportunity to work alongside Phong on major events that benefit our campus community as well as our greater community at large. Phong's work ethics, intricate details and organizational expertise played a tremendous role in hosting two successful Journey to Success conferences. He goes above and beyond to assure effective and quality work for our students, future students, their parents and the community. I am truly humbled and honored to have Phong as a colleague. Phong, thank you for everything you do, always going above and beyond to assure access and success for our students.

Anselmo Tejeda - Plant Operations
He treated the floors in a 30-year-old building (Graduate Laboratory) and they now look great!

Maci Steinhauer - Associated Students Inc.
She not only works hard as a director, but still has the time to help every student that comes into the ASI office.

Kathleen Scott - Organizational Excellence
Kathleen has been such a positive influence at Fresno State. She is always upbeat, professional and prepared. She helps lift up everyone around her and I'm grateful that she's here.

Luis Sepulveda - Associated Students Inc.
He always makes sure ASI events are planned and executed for the students. He makes last minute event ideas happen. He is sometimes here working 12 hour days for early morning events handing out donuts to students or late events such as tailgates or the 24 hour library during finals week. He is always collaborating with other departments and the surrounding Fresno State community to create opportunities for students and to fulfill ASI's mission.

Vicki Taylor - Cross Cultural and Gender Center
Vicki goes above and beyond everyday to not only support her colleagues, but our student staff. I appreciate Vicki and her willingness to help each time. She gives you her full, undivided attention with a smile. Most recent, Vicki helped me with a project that had a demanding timeline. She went above and beyond to support me in assuring I had all the tools I needed to be successful. This is just one instance of how she goes above and beyond to support her colleagues. Her knowledge and expertise contributes to the creation of a collective and safe environment for the staff and the students. Vicki models the Principles of Community daily in how she treats everyone. I am truly appreciative of her. If I were to select three words to describe Vicki, they would be genuine, brilliant and creative. Vicki, thank you so much for all you do. I appreciate you and am so humbled and lucky to have the opportunity to work and learn from you.

Alexandra Nottbohm - Office of Institutional Effectiveness
Alexandra is amazing! I was short on time to obtain some data for a large federal grant — a grant that is very important to the submitting faculty member. I had not given her much time, so as you can likely deduce ... I requested some information from Alexandra and it turned out that the data I needed couldn't just be extracted from Tableau, but required Alexandra to make a third party request which could take a few extra days. As a stopgap, Alexandra started data mining to manually calculate the information for me. This was above and beyond my expectations and I am truly grateful.

Cory Cowan - Office of Institutional Effectiveness
Cory has proven her superior skills in data analysis, critical thinking and dashboard creation. She's only been with OIE for a couple of years and yet her data analysis/visualization work is outstanding.

Andrew Esguerra - Student Involvement
I want to take the time to acknowledge Andrew for everything he does in our department. His great attitude and amazing work ethic makes a huge impact on our campus. I personally appreciate all the support he has given me as I transition into my new role. We are truly blessed and value having a colleague like Andrew on our team!

Nicole Traverso - Alumni Engagement and Annual Giving
Nicole is a coworker who is more than willing to help anyone who reaches out to her. Her insights and keen eye into program and event management, together with her extremely organized work ethics has been crucial in what we do in the engagement team and the many events we host for our alumni community.

Geoff King - Technology Services
Responds quickly at any time of the day and provides needed assistance without hesitation every time I need his help with some website issue.

Jeremiah Sturgill - Technology Services
Jeremiah is very intelligent and does the job well and in timely manner. He is very kind, supportive, positive and he is always willing to help. He goes above and beyond to keep his knowledge up to date and to do his job effectively.

Sue Delcroix - EES

Brenda Valladolid - Outreach and Special Programs

Excellent Customer Service

Geoff King - Technology Services
Nice and pleasant to deal with on the phone (I've only met Geoff in person once, at some meeting) and gives good explanations and advice over emails.

Jeremiah Sturgill - Technology Services
Jeremiah is always pleasant to talk to, friendly and down to earth and patient with people who are not as technology savvy. His demeanor is very even and while we were on the same team, it was great to work alongside of him.

Kris Westcott - Division of Administration and Finance
Kris always has such a positive attitude. Even on the phone, you can hear his smile. I appreciate his cheery disposition and willingness to help.

Beatriz Vasquez - Technology Services
When those really unusual issues crop up that don't fit in any category, she is always there to put you on the right track or find out what is the best way to get the job done.

Christina Martinez - Catering
Christina is always very accommodating and helpful. She has been very gracious when I have had to changed the catering order multiple times for an event. She responds to my many emails and phone calls promptly. Christina has assisted me by forwarding the appropriate forms I need to use or answering my questions about a room. Thanks for being so helpful Christina.

Maiku Vang - Admissions
Maiku always is humble to students on the phone and in person. She makes sure that the information students are receiving is 100% accurate.

Rhonda Beaver - Student Health Center
Rhonda always goes above and beyond to make sure our students get the services they need at times that fit in their schedules. She stays in good communication with our Health Center staff which makes our job much smoother too.

Lian Vang - Admissions and Recruitment
Lian collaborated with community organizations to make this event happen. This was a 6-month-long project and she worked diligently with three off-campus teams to bring this conference to Fresno State.

Martin Alvarado - Admissions and Recruitment
Martin collaborated with three other off-campus organizations in the coordination of this event. He worked with them for the past several months to make sure that everything was in order for this event.

Angie Iribe - Outreach and Special Programs
Angie had to collaborate with off-campus organizations in coordinating this event. She responded to their requests, the request of presenters and vendors. She assisted with logistics for this event and made it successful.

Shimel Her Saychou - CCGC
Shimel worked with off-campus organizations to plan this event. She also worked with other on-campus departments. She was very involved in making this event successful. She was instrumental with the logistics of the event.

Jerry Gomez - Student Involvement
Jerry is not afraid to do any job or task with a smile to help our customers (students) get the support or information they need to be successful.

Isela Reza-Rogers - Financial Aid and Scholarships
She consistently makes sure disbursements go out on time. Students get millions of dollars of financial aid because of her outstanding programming and processing efforts. In addition, she goes out of her way to improve office morale with activities, games, parties, decorating, food, support to student assistants, etc.

Denise Pearcy - Printing Services
Always gracious. Always kind. Always generous and understanding.

Carrie Moore - Management
Carrie goes above and beyond for our students. Most recently she helped a student realize they made an error and was missing one class to graduate. Her attention to detail when assisting students is really amazing. She is helpful and always cheerful even when things are very stressful.

Dave Bezinque - Physics
Dave motorized the dome for the Campus Observatory, which is on the lawn of the Downing Planetarium. Some students used to have trouble pulling the dome open because they didn't have enough upper-body strength: I like my students to have free access to scientific equipment, so this was a problem. Thanks to Dave, the dome can now be opened and closed effortlessly with an electric motor. It uses parts from a garage-door opener and cost about $250. It sure beats the motor the dome manufacturer tried to sell me for $20,000. Dave also runs an excellent shop class and is very good with the students, mostly physics majors.

Anselmo Tejda - Plant Operations
He is always very helpful and keeps the Graduate Laboratory very clean!

Adrian Ramirez - Career Services
Adrian came to my class and gave a great overview of resources that students can access via Fresno State. It's great that we never have to reach out to him or ask him to come to class. He offers every semester and seems to really enjoy helping our students to plan for their future.

Luis Sepulveda - ASI
He makes every student feel welcomed and all ideas possible.

Chris Hernandez - OIE
Chris has helped the Career Development Center on a number of projects from qualtrix surveys, to tableau pages to finding CIP codes. He is always available and delivers what we ask for very quickly. We appreciate his smile and can do attitude.

Alexandra Nottbohm - OIE
Alexandra provided excellent customer service by clearly communicating the status of the data pull and providing regular updates (without me even having to follow up). She was succinct in her responses and informative, professional and courteous. She explained the process and time frames - it was reassuring to have someone communicate all of the details and keep the expectations realistic. She asked great questions based on limited information that I had provided so that she could get to the "source" of my need and solve my problem.

Luis Flores - TRiO – Student Success Services
Luis and his team were recently under pressure as the deadline to submit their grant renewal approached. It was a high stress time for Luis. I noticed that even though it was a high stress time, Luis still met with his students during the first week of school and gave them the attention and customer service they deserve. It takes a strong person to be able to set aside their stress to attend to the needs of students, and make them feel they are the only important thing in that moment. Great job Luis! (And his team.)

Margarita Adona - University Brand Strategy and Marketing

Will Tubbs - Technology Services

Matthew Schulz - Alumni Engagement and Annual Giving

Saved My Bacon!

Nicole Traverso - Alumni Engagement and Annual Giving
I've worked under Nicole as a support for a year before transitioning into a role where I oversee my own events for the first time. If it weren't for her, I would have missed important details and wouldn't have taken into consideration logistics that could have messed up my events! Nicole definitely saved my bacon and continues to provide invaluable insights!

Geoff King - Technology Services
Geoff helped me multiple times with the website issues, on a short notice. The last incident was when the FSN website crashed. Geoff was able to resolve the problem very quickly, during our phone conversation.

Jeremiah Sturgill - Technology Services
We had to contact him many times since our departments got separated, mainly because we didn't know who else would be able to help and, unless it would jeopardize his main deadlines, he was always willing to assist us, either with fixing our issues or with a good advice.

Brittany Clason - Kinesiology
When I was unexpectedly unable to attend an important meeting, Brittany and another colleague stepped in to make sure the meeting was able to go on as scheduled.

Scott Sailor - Kinesiology
When I was unexpectedly unable to attend an important meeting, Scott and another colleague stepped in to make sure the meeting was able to go on as scheduled.

Alejandra Prado - Student Involvement
Alejandra consistently demonstrates that she is incredibly knowledgeable (and thinks on her feet) in her role with USU Productions in terms of organization and leadership which have helped me and other members of our team in our roles.

Kelly Mills - Auxiliary Accounting
Kelly caught an error on a deposit I made. It was my very first time doing deposits, but she understood and was so helpful in aiding me to correct the mistake.

Isela Reza-Rogers - Financial Aid and Scholarships
Isela knows financial aid backwards and forwards. She literally knows more about financial aid than ANYONE on our campus. She has provided guidance and answers to very difficult and technical questions for our staff for many years, and she continues to learn about new regulations and processes. She has helped our office comply with federal and state regulations and is a valuable resource for auditing and accountability purposes. Isela is truly a joy to work with!

Denise Pearcy - Printing Services
Let me count the ways! I so appreciate the support when we have a short turnaround time.

Annette Gallegos - Scheduling
Annette has been a lifesaver to me. She has gone out of her way to train me on scheduling, answered my gazillion questions, and is my primary resource for everything associated with scheduling as well as other tasks. This week, I had a faculty member ask me on the first day of classes if there "was any way" I could find her a different classroom. Annette helped me by verifying a room that I had researched was available and cleared the way for me to move the
class. She not only saves my bacon but serves it with a smile!

Rachael Freeman - Key Control
When the system changed and our old swipe locks were no longer supported by the University, she contacted me so I could take action. Thinking ahead is what helps to make things flow and avoid conflict. When we changed from key to swipe she helped to make the transition and now after a couple of years she's learned to help me avoid problems. I appreciate her help, bringing the music department into the new century and always with a kind word. Thank you.

Patrick Talbot - Physics
Patrick took care of the driving to PSCI 21 (Elementary Astronomy) labs at Fresno State's San Joaquin Experimental Range during fall 2019. The range is half an hour north of campus and belongs to the Department of Agriculture, who graciously permits us to use it: it's where we take students for astronomy labs because of the dark sky. Four of the PSCI 21 lab instructors had never been lab instructors before. At least one didn't even have a valid drivers license, and so couldn't drive to range labs. Patrick saved my bacon: he took the initiative to borrow the vehicles (both from the Department of Physics and the College of Science and Mathematics), organize who would be riding along, in addition to doing a fine job running the labs. My Navy background showed when I told him, "If this were the military, I'd recommend you for a decoration!"

Alexandra Nottbohm - Office of Institutional Effectiveness
Deadlines are everything in the grants world. In our office, we live and die by the deadlines of our submissions. Alexandra truly fell into step. Not only did she manually pull data as a stopgap (in case the vendor's response didn't make it in time), but when the data arrived from the vendor company, she provided me with exactly the information I needed and she showed me where the numbers came from. She was able to get it to me on the day I needed it and in a very readable, transferable format so I was able to load it into our tables and submit our grant early. If that's not saving my bacon, then I don't know what is.

Hongtao Yue - Office of Institutional Effectiveness
Hongtao has always been very helpful whenever I have any advanced database or tableau questions. He's always very patient when teaching me the IR ropes.

Models the Principles of Community

Sophie Karas - Student Involvement
Sophie exemplifies the University's commitment to diversity and inclusion as well as models the respectfulness we all envision for one another in the Principles of Community.

Alejandra Prado - Student Involvement
Alejandra is first and foremost a Bulldog, representing the values of the University and demonstrating what a two-time alumna of Fresno State can bring to a job immediately after graduating. Her communication skills always demonstrate respect and her organization skills always reflect the accountability of someone who works hard to contribute to the mission for our campus.

Anselmo Tejeda - Plant Operations
Anselmo is always very helpful. When we need something, he does it in a timely manner.

Alexandra Nottbohm - OIE
In this instance, Alexandra modeled the principle of collaboration. We are in totally separate offices, but collaborated to ensure a positive experience and embrace the "greater good" of (hopefully) getting this grant so our faculty can shine and our students can have more research-intensive experiences!

Hongtao Yue - OIE
I have worked with Hongtao in all my 12 years with Fresno State. He has always been respectful, kind and collaborative. He doesn't hesitate to share his skills and knowledge. I truly value Hongtao as a co-worker and friend.

Cory Cowan - OIE
Cory is one of my go-to people to check my survey logic, language and overall look. I value her input as she makes my work easier through her collaborative efforts. She's always been very kind and respectful ... I love working with her. Hooray, Cory!