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

Beth Wilkinson, College of Health and Human Services
Despite these fast-changing times, Beth has consistently modeled grace, professionalism and above all else — kindness. She has been very helpful in providing information to me when requested and her feedback continues to be valuable and relevant. Thank you for always being a team-player, Beth!

Boon Mo, Technology Services
Boon is always willing to give assistance when needed. He does a good job at sharing his knowledge with his colleagues.

Herbert Denny, Technology Services
When Herbert discovered I was trying to set up my Mac for remote access, he called me over to his desk to work with me. He spent almost an hour to help me set it up and followed up with me to make sure it was functioning properly. He answered numerous questions that I had and was extremely knowledgeable.

John Howell, Technology Services
John works hard to get his work completed and keeps others informed throughout the process. It's not unheard of to see emails from John long past the workday has ended. I've appreciated John's dedication and tenacity to get a project completed.

Jesse Farias, Admissions and Recruitment
Jesse has gone above and beyond really digging into how to create the best virtual Preview Day, it was a hug success. He is very talented when it comes to creating forms and documents electronically and has really taken our office to the next level. I truly appreciate his team player attitude! Thank you Jesse!

Traci Obata, Admissions and Recruitment
Traci goes above and beyond. Stepping in to assist her co- workers when a deadline is due. I appreciate you Traci!

Arnel Ordonio, Library
Arnel leads the library's Technology Lending program. He has built a great program over time through careful planning, mentoring of student assistants, outreach events, social media, and awareness of the latest technologies. He even repairs complex equipment from headphones to 3D printers! Thanks to Arnel, the library was ready to jump in to provide devices to students, mics and cameras to faculty, and 3D printers to engineering to support their production of PPE. Although he is teleworking, Arnel is constantly on call for students, to make sure their broken chargers are replaced promptly, that they have the best camera to record their theater homework, etc. He knows our exact inventory, has produced new budgets with in-demand items like noise cancelling headphones, created helpful infographics, and is a supportive colleague and supervisor.

Heather Parish, Library
When Heather came to the Library, she did so much to create a clear and effective communication plan. She does a great deal to communicate about the services of the library, and to get staff involved and engaged in stories and social media. We have improved so much in a short time, and I appreciate that she always seeks my input and goes above and beyond to improve internal communication as well. Heather also helps communicate our dean's messages, which is critical in this challenging time. Heather's skills in "crisis communication" really came in handy with the arrival of the pandemic! Thanks to Heather and her "communications" colleagues, we got changes communicated quickly to library staff, the campus community, and the broader Fresno community. Thank you, Heather!

Tammy Lau, Library
Tammy consistently works above and beyond the call of duty. Serving as chair of a librarian search committee, she was able to move a faculty position through the process and get it posted via our brand new PageUp platform, even as we are sheltering in place! Tammy is never one to shy away from a challenge ... she is an inspiration to many of us in the library!

Tiffany Burmeister, Warehouse & Property Services
Tiffany has amazing customer service, always so helpful. Especially last week when we had many boxes, and she came back the next day to bring us two more boxes. We really appreciate her for going above and beyond!

Kim Camarena, Research and Sponsored Programs
Kim has continued to provide outstanding support for our office while working remotely and also played a major role in helping five participants prepare for last month's virtual CSU Student Research Competition. Kim served as our campus point person and worked closely with CSU East Bay to be sure our students were ready to showcase their research at this year's unique event.

Lori Few, Department of Accountancy
I want to give a shout-out to Lori Few, the department administrative assistant, who has gone above and beyond in keeping our department running smoothly during this challenging time. I wanted to thank her for her consistent hard work, her timely response to emails and questions, her knowledge of the campus community, and her willingness to go the extra mile for the faculty and department. Thank you, Lori!

Mike Nourian, Plant Operations
I had a concern about the exterior door by my office not always closing properly and when he came to adjust it, we talked briefly about my concern. He understood exactly what I was talking about and I like that he did not dismiss my concern. In fact, he tested it several times and made any additional adjustments to make sure it closed properly. I could hear the door open and close from my office and it gave me comfort to know that he was giving it the attention I hoped he would. I am relieved to know that when anyone walks out that door (me included) I do not have to wonder if it closed completely. This is not the first time Mike was the person to adjust that door for me and I am glad he was the one to adjust again this time because I knew he would do a great job. So thank you Mike!

Gina Tamez, Accounting Services
Gina went out of her way to help me get our stole purchases up and running when we were trying to go virtual. I was not sure where to start but she jumped in and helped communicate with the cashiering office when I was not sure who to contact. She even called me to make sure I fully understood the process and answered all of my questions. Thank you Gina!

Lydia Duarte, Office of the VP for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management

Laura Alcantar, Alumni Engagement and Annual Giving
Laura is a wonderful and collaborative colleague! She is always willing to take the time to listen and help develop thoughtful strategies and solutions. She is generous with her knowledge and expertise and takes time to train staff and volunteers. I admire her drive to implement new ideas and processes. Thank you Laura for partnering with me on small and big projects!

Jeff Colvin, Technology Services
Jeff has been a pleasure to work and especially the support he has provided during the COVID-19 shutdown. Jeff's positive attitude and willingness to assist in testing and brainstorming through administrative options in Zoom has been a real help in the planning of many events helping me to make informed decisions that will ensure the outcomes we are looking to achieve. He is willing to jump on a Zoom training meeting with very short notice and has also orchestrated a small army of helpers with the rest of the CVS team!

Provides Excellent Customer Service

Russell Gross, TRIO Student Support Services Veterans (SSSV)
Russell champions for his Veteran students. During these challenging times, he consistently keeps his students informed of holistic resources on campus and off campus. He ensures the SSSV program continues to have high touch services by facilitating weekly check-ins (via email, Zoom and telephone). Russell also advocates for his students by initiating and developing new program resources to fit the needs of our students as they transition to virtual instruction. He is dedicated to providing excellent customer service to our students and his dedication is a reflection of his compassionate spirit.

Dolly Lopez, Library
Dolly provides super fast and excellent customer service to faculty who are in need of electronic resources. A prime example that happened recently was a professor who needed digital videos that he could use for his students to view in the online environment. Dolly did an excellent job in providing videos that were appropriate for his course. Way to go, Dolly!

David Celaya, Library
David is a talented graphic designer who provides excellent customer service. He created not one, but two beautiful digital bookplate images in the past couple weeks. One is for the Arne Nixon Original Library, and one is for the Henry Madden Library Graduating Student Selections. Way to go, David!

Chris Hernandez, Office of Institutional Effectiveness
In our virtual environment, completing surveys and evaluations has had to be done in new ways. Chris has been incredibly helpful and very responsive to requests for electronic methods of assessing performance and for developing voting instruments for the academic departments.

Britt Foster, Library
Britt is a master at hunting down and getting obscure articles where others would simply stop looking. She was tenacious in her ability to find an academic publication for me in a Spanish trade journal. With her international connections and patience, she was able to find the publication! Much thanks, Britt!

Edgar Parrilla, Research and Sponsored Programs
Edgar works above and beyond everyday to help advance sponsored programs on campus while also providing superior customer service on many projects, including the Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity (RSCA) award program. With the implementation of a new template this year, Edgar took the time to meet individually with each college representative to be sure they were comfortable with the new format and timelines. Even while juggling numerous other tasks, Edgar was always available to answer questions and worked closely with each college to be sure this year's competition was a success.

Models the Principles of Community

Larissa Mercado-Lopez, Women’s Studies
Larissa is a stellar model of our Principles of Community. I appreciated the article she wrote on the special challenges of student-parents, which was shared with the faculty by our Academic Senate Chair. It was such an important reminder to keep our Principles of Community close at heart as we relate to all of our students (and especially our student-parents) during this challenging time, in particular. You never know what each student is going through in their personal life. Thank you, Larissa!