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.)

Goes Above & Beyond

Adeline Ford, Financial Aid and Scholarships
This past winter, our colleague who handled almost all of the summer processing, retired. Adeline graciously offered to take on this project and I can’t thank her enough. Not only are students are being awarded summer aid timely and effectively, but her willingness to take on this project really lifted a weight from her colleagues’ shoulders. Thank you for being an asset to the office and team player, Ad!

Alexis Holladay, College of Science and Mathematics, Advising and Resources Center
Crystal Leal, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Dawn Moate, Mathematics
Eric Maul, College Science and Mathematics, Office of the Dean
Lindasue Garner, Biology
Nancy Gomez, College of Science and Mathematics, Office of the Dean
Selene Kinder, College of Science and Mathematics, Office of the Dean
Thank you for volunteering at CSM's commencement ceremony. We appreciate all your help to ensure it was a success for our students!

Juan Torres, Technology Services
Just wanted to say thank you to Juan. He is always so quick to respond and helpful when it comes to adjusting our phone message and/or phone schedule. While we do try to plan for changes, sometimes we need to change our message quickly and I cannot express how appreciative we are of his quick response times and support. Thank you, Juan!

Maribel Olea, Admissions and Recruitment
Pang Thao, Admissions and Recruitment
Thank you, Maribel and Pang, for your dedicated service and time to the Chicano Latino commencement.

Melissa Perez, College of Science and Mathematics, Office of Dean
Melissa did a great job working on the CSM Commencement. We really appreciate her hard work giving our graduates a great morning to celebrate their accomplishments!

Melissa Peters, Art and Design
Though Melissa has always proved an amazing asset to our department, she has also provided a dependable and consistent lifeline for faculty during these online semesters. She has responded immediately with current, correct information to our many questions and has dealt efficiently and calmly with our many needs. So many employees at Fresno State have had to make significant transitions, learning new procedures and being thrown into new situations. Melissa has made this time so much easier for our faculty, providing a solid and stable base we have been able to return to time and again. Her efforts have certainly exceeded the expectations for her position.

Michelle Perez, Admissions and Recruitment
In a year when it was difficult getting people to volunteer at commencement, Michelle took time out of her Saturday to help with her college, the Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, in making their commencement a big success. Thank you for your leadership and commitment to serving students, not only during recruitment but also at graduation.

Sonia Romero, College of Science and Mathematics, Office of the Dean
Sonia assisted in planning and executing the College of Science and Mathematics commencement ceremony. It was a huge undertaking, and she did an amazing job. We really appreciate Sonia's hard work and helping our graduates celebrate their accomplishments!

Student Involvement
Huge shoutout to Shawna Blair, Amy Allen, Dr. Colin Stewart, and all volunteers for organizing the Fresno State commencements and supporting all affinity celebrations to celebrate our Classes of 2020 and 2021. I salute you for your impeccable work!

Student Involvement
Thank you, Student Involvement, for going above and beyond!

University Brand Strategy and Marketing
Our colleagues in Brand Strategy and Marketing rival the best in the business. Their innovation, strategic planning, technique, experience, and quality makes this University shine. This talented team highlights the best of Fresno State and all it has to offer. I have been endlessly impressed with everything produced out of this office; from beautifully produced videos, dynamic photos, vibrant marketing pieces, impactful stories, emails and web; the work they produce is fantastic. I am so grateful I have had the opportunity to work so closely with this team on multiple projects. It has not only been a pleasure but also such a wonderful professional growth and learning experience.

Provided Excellent Customer Service

Alexis Perez, Outreach and Special Programs
Alexis is great to work with and goes above and beyond for his students. I appreciate him helping students through their financial aid processes and if he isn’t sure, he always asks to make sure he is giving them correct information. In addition to this, he always provides us an advanced notice for participating in FAFSA events and/or presentations. This helps our office be able to coordinate and participate. I appreciate the collaboration between our teams and that we are able to join him in helping students through the Cal-SOAP program. Thank you for all that you do for the students, Alexis!

Andrew Luna, Financial Aid and Scholarships
Our customer service team is currently short staffed with vacancies and staff out on leave. With that, I wanted to send some appreciation Andrew’s way for continuing to have a positive attitude, serving our students efficiently and effectively, and just hanging in there as we bring in additional support. Thank you for your hard work, Andrew. Thank you for being an asset to the office and team player!

Ashlie Holman, Financial Aid and Scholarships
Koua Vang, Financial Aid and Scholarships
Si Her, Financial Aid and Scholarships
Tara Villarreal, Financial Aid and Scholarships
Our customer service team is currently short staffed with vacancies and staff out on leave. With that, I wanted to send some appreciation these colleagues’ way for being willing to jump in and help with calls as needed and on the fly, so that our customer service team feels supported and our students are served timely. Teamwork makes the dream work. Thank you for being an asset to the office and team players!

Christine Rotzinger, Admissions and Recruitment
I want to thank Christine for not only providing excellent customer service to our students but also our staff. She works behind the scenes, making sure our office runs as smoothly as possible, working with other departments to assist with deliveries, key access, and overall support. Thank you, Christine!

Esmeralda Ramirez, Admissions and Recruitment
Thanks, Esmeralda, for working through a large problem with transcripts from our biggest feeder schools. Thank you for your continued student support and willingness to think outside the box!

Jessica Calhoun, Financial Aid and Scholarships
I just wanted to give Jessica a shout out for being an awesome team member. She is always quick to respond to inquiries and help find solutions. I look forward to working more with her on the quirkiness of CampusLogic!

Lu Lopez, Financial Aid and Scholarships
Our customer service team is currently short staffed with vacancies and staff out on leave. With that, I wanted to send some appreciation Lu’s way for continuing to have a positive attitude, serving our students efficiently and effectively, and just hanging in there as we bring in additional support. In addition to the excellent customer service that Lu provides our students, she is also our go-to for Spanish presentations and does an amazing job explaining the complexities of the financial aid process to our Spanish-speaking students and families. Thank you for your hard work, Lu. Thank you for being an asset to the office and team player!

Outreach and Special Programs
Just wanted to give a shout out to our Outreach and Special Programs team for all of the hard work that they do – I really appreciate the efforts they take to help students get started on the right foot, especially when it comes to financial aid and scholarships. They are always so helpful in making sure their students are aware of their financial aid and scholarship options, as well as encouraging students to follow through with financial aid requests as quickly as possible. I appreciate the collaboration between our offices. Thank you!

Recruitment Team
Thank you to the recruitment counselors providing 19 webinars and helping 2,948 students this past month. These webinars keep the students engaged and focused on coming to Fresno State in the fall, which reduces “summer melt.” Way to go team!

Sam Rogers, Technology Services
Thank you, Sam, for providing excellent customer service!

Trisha Brown, Payroll Services
Trisha gives great customer service. She is always very helpful and responds quickly. I truly appreciate her help!

Wendy Nelson, Outreach and Special Programs
What Wendy does for our students is amazing. She is so passionate for their success and I love working with her. I want to give Wendy a shout out for going above and beyond. Wendy sent me a list of potential scholarship recipients, and when I let her know some of them were missing their financial aid application or had financial aid tasks to complete, she contacted these students. She always puts her students’ success at the forefront, and I appreciate collaborating with her on these efforts. Thank you for all that you do for the students, Wendy!

Saved My Bacon

Harminder Mann, Financial Aid and Scholarships
I just wanted to give Harminder a shout out for being an amazing colleague. She is constantly on the go, making sure that everything is functioning smoothly, staff have what they need to be successful (especially virtually), and lately, helping us coordinate staff departures, onboarding new staff, and search efforts as we bring on new team members. She really “saves our bacon” quite often. Thank you for being an asset to the office and team player!

Principles of Community

Matthew Zivot, Office of Institutional Effectiveness
Matt has been outstanding as our director and in this capacity, he truly embodies Fresno State's Principles of Community and reflects them daily. His plate is always full so he works tirelessly, but still goes out of his way to support us, his staff, in whatever situation we may be in. He leads by example and is one most motivational, caring, and exemplary managers I have ever had the pleasure of working with. He is our coach, counselor, and cheerleader all rolled into one. He has many great qualities, but what I appreciate the most are his fairness, empathy, kindness, and thoughtfulness. OIE is very fortunate to have a professional of this caliber as our leader!

Samantha Ray, Kremen School of Education and Human Development
Sam exemplifies many of the Principles of Community, particularly when it comes to being kind and collaborative. Throughout the last few months, she has taken time out of her very busy schedule to assist her communications colleagues with the University's website redesign. As the first to undergo this redesign, she has an in-depth knowledge and expertise that have benefitted many of us — especially myself, which ultimately benefits our college as a whole. Sam may come from Kremen, but she truly cares about the success of every college/school — a true mark of a collaborative and thoughtful colleague. We are so lucky to have her at Fresno State. Thank you, Sam!