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

Sierra Lewis, Financial Aid and Scholarships
Sierra went above and beyond to urgently set up the website for the Fresno State CARES emergency grant. I really appreciate the time and effort she put in to make updates and edits to the website at a moment's notice to ensure everyone's suggestions were incorporated.

Holly Baum, Technology Services
Holly is a lifesaver. With Holly's expertise and keen attention to detail, we were able to update/modify the CARES application and make it available to students quickly. Thank you so much Holly.

Mikaela Firman, Auxiliary Human Resources and Payroll
Hello, I would like to give a high five to Mikaela for being amazing at her job. She is amazing because whenever I call she is always polite and always willing to assist me. We both started here around the same time, it was really nice to meet someone new like I was. She is so helpful and goes above and beyond what is requested.

Lisa Garcia, Traffic Operations
Lisa stepped up to process payroll for the entire Public Safety Department for the month of April. We appreciate her positive attitude and willingness to help wherever needed. The whole Public Safety Team is thankful for her work ... and we all were paid on time! Thank you, Lisa!

Department
Accounting Services
Thank you to the Accounting Services office for its tremendous handwork in posting and refunding of $16.6 million of emergency grants to students in ONE day. Thank you so much.

Accounting Services has been instrumental during our work-from-home period. Without their help, we would not be able to run a successful summer. They are extremely busy but still find the time to help in a timely manner with refunds, direct pays, tuition calculations, etc. I am so grateful for each and every one of the staff. Thank you!

Advancement Services
Many thanks to Leticia Reyna for working through the weekend to help me finalize an agreement. She went above and beyond and I am giving her a virtual high five! Many thanks, Leticia!

Admissions
Traci proved to be a great help to a family member who was having an application issue recently. I emailed her with his paperwork in hopes that we might get direction. Traci immediately reached out to the applicant and was extremely helpful. While one may say she was simply doing her job, she went out of her way to make sure this prospective student was on the right path. We hope to have a Fresno State student enrolled soon. Thank you, Traci! We appreciate your courteous and fast response.

Saved My Bacon!

Victoria Walter, Facilities Management
Victoria is navigating the Facilities Management timekeeping, which right now is a nuanced, ever-changing set of variables. She is not only versatile and cool under pressure, but holds the well-being of the department employees as the highest priority! Her amicability and patience are so appreciated during these unusual times!

Provides Excellent Customer Service

Jayne Ramirez, Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Studies
Jayne is always incredibly helpful with sharing what she knows to help others. She is always incredibly friendly and patient. I am new in my role, and several tasks I need to complete require input from Academic Affairs. Jayne is incredibly gracious about taking questions and providing information that is integral to our unit's success. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that Jayne is always there to help, is exceedingly kind, and is very good at her job. Jayne is an asset to the university, and I am glad that I get to work so closely with her.

Tara Villarreal, Financial Aid and Scholarships
Tara is always willing to go above and beyond for our students behind the scenes. After going live with our new portal that allows students to sign and submit documents electronically, we received over 1,000 new student files to review and Tara has been plowing through them daily! I really appreciate her willingness to help however she is needed, and to make sure that students are processed as quickly and accurately as possible! Thanks for taking care of our students, Tara!

Miriam Villasenor, Financial Aid and Scholarships
After returning to our office, Miriam hit the ground running to learn how processes have changed in the office since she had been gone. She’s been knocking it out of the park with the new year’s verification files and helping other staff members complete their tasks along the way! I really appreciate Miriam’s willingness to help where she is needed.

Charlene Borman, Financial Aid and Scholarships
Char always goes above and beyond for our students and I really appreciate that about her! I also appreciate that she is always willing to train our customer service staff and provide updates so that they can better serve students without having to bother her or Greg. When they do need Char's help, she is always willing and quick to take over! Thank you, Char, for taking care of our students and being an awesome person to work with!

Greg Varela, Financial Aid and Scholarships
Greg is a great resource for scholarships and is always willing to step in when needed. I appreciate that he is always available to help with scholarship inquiries and will even follow up to let me know what was happening so I can learn more! Thank you, Greg, for your scholarship knowledge and being an awesome person to work with!

Antoinette Castanon, Accounting Services
I appreciate you, Antoinette! Antoinette is always willing to help with information and/or processes. With all that is going on and how extremely busy Accounting Services is, Antoinette provides timely follow-up and processes our student refunds quickly. Some students depend on these refunds getting processed as quickly as possible and Antoinette does just that. Continuing and Global Education and our students are so grateful. Thank you!

Diane Capps, Library
Diana delivers excellent administrative support to a very busy library administration office. The work is taken for granted and not valued for its complexity, but Diana takes it all in stride. She effectively solves problems, supports library staff needing administrative support, and she has been a mentor to our student assistants in the office. She has a very positive outlook and really enjoys her job and makes our office a brighter and more team-oriented workplace. She has defined true customer service for the library administration office.

Denise Biggert, Dean’s Office, Craig School of Business
Denise goes above and beyond supporting our students and making them feel heard and appreciated, particularly during these challenging times! She provides outstanding customer service to students, faculty, staff and the community!