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

Glen Hunt, Technology Services
Glen went out of his way to assist us with the roll out of direct deposit that is now available to all Foundation employees. He saw our email and form that went out to employees and took it upon himself to make our form fillable. This is a huge help to the Auxiliary HR and Payroll team and all of our employees. Thanks, so much Glen for going above and beyond! It is truly appreciated!

Jesse Farias, Recruitment
A big thank you to Jesse! He went above and beyond to guide a prospective Bulldog. Jesse is a true example of serving and leading with compassion. A big High Five!

Emogene Nelson, Health and Human Services
Emogene is always available to assist with any questions or help needed. Her presentations are very informative and helpful.

Miguel Martinez, Facilities Management
Miguel goes above and beyond when cleaning our office and we mostly appreciate that he will sweep off all the leaves from the outside entrance to our office. Normally the grounds staff take care of this, however, Miguel makes sure the leaves are clear before we arrive to work. This has been a concern for us because we can slip and fall. He is always very respectful and courteous.

Jose ElaGarza, Music
Jose deserves to be recognized for all he has done for our department. When the pandemic hit our events, Jose quickly reached out to our faculty to find ways to help and highlight our music students. Music is not just face to face, it requires special syncing between the voices, music, conductor and musicians. He looks at the problem and tries to find a solution. Reaching out to find newer technology for this new day. From recording to visual performances our students are provided a positive experience they can be proud of. Jose deserves a High Five.

Ben Hylton, Accounting Services

Shawna Blair, Student Involvement
It was a full week of social media activities, events, specials, spirit, magic and virtual tailgates/photo booths (to name a few). We also had VEB Homecoming Court, Red Friday, e-sports exhibitions, and of course our first home football game! Doing all of our events these days are challenging, but Shawna and the team, went above and beyond to provide a week long experience for the students!

Jerry Gomez, Student Involvement
This was a big week for Fresno State e-sports! Jerry and the team put on their first public broadcast. Thanks to Jerry's dedication and passion for e-sports and telling our students story, it was a successful event. There are many more of these events to come and we are all thankful for his leadership on this program!

Gina Tamez, Accounting Services
Thank you so much for everything you do. This past week you supported the Cross Cultural and Gender Center on a very urgent/important project. Fresno State is lucky to have you.

Rosalina Messer, Chemistry
Rosalina goes above and beyond for her department faculty, staff and students. In addition, she is an excellent resource and help to other departments in the College of Science and Mathematics as well as the dean's office. Currently, Rosalina is assisting a new DAA in our college and is willing to take calls and Zoom meetings to help with any questions on procedures and processes. Thank you for all that you do, Rosalina! You're an asset to the College of Science and Mathematics and the University.

Saved My Bacon!

Kong Lee, Technology Services
Kong Lee has saved my bacon on numerous occasions, not the least of which was a couple weeks ago when I was floundering in technological difficulties just as I needed to present a workshop to 160 participants. My headset stopped working, my camera did not work, and my internet at home stopped working. The internet at home issue was the most crucial for the long haul for me to continue working from home. For the first seven months of this pandemic season, my internet connection at home has been unstable … so I finally switched to a different provider. Everything worked beautifully … except my work laptop. After many exasperating calls to tech support of the new provider, I finally called Kong Lee in Technology Services for the Library. He was able to remote in, and he fixed the problem within minutes! Kong is one of the behind-the-scenes IT staff who works miracles to make our technology infrastructure function, and that is a crucial skill … especially when we are all relying so heavily on technology, in order for us to do our jobs. Thank you, Kong!

Jayne Ramirez, Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Studies
The Chicano and Latin American Studies Department's curriculum committee has been working on major curricular revisions for the new implementation of the CSU Ethnic Studies requirement. Because we've been on a tight deadline and have been very unfamiliar with the new curriculum submission process, we've sent countless emails to Jayne Ramirez about the process, when the system was not working properly, and for help on resubmitting corrected documents. She responded to this flurry of emails kindly, patiently, and professionally, meeting with us via Zoom to walk us through the process. Without her invaluable help, we would have potentially missed the deadline for submission.

Provides Excellent Customer Service

Eileen Schlundt, Technology Services
I think half of the laptops broke this month in my department. Eileen quickly got everyone replacement laptops and then worked on getting them all fixed. While I was writing one of my teammates to ask if they needed my help with a technology issue, I received an email from them saying, "Eileen is awesome and already fixed it. Ignore my previous email." Thanks for taking care of all of us!

Marie Cuningham, Accounting Services
Marie is always available and willing to help with any questions asked regarding travel. She is always very polite and courteous.

Joel Heintz, Traffic Operations
High Fives to all of our traffic operations colleagues for their excellent customer service as they welcome many of us to campus each day and provide the health screening to ensure our safety. A special High Five to Joel Heintz who greets me each morning at the Student Health Center checkpoint. Joel's spirited "good morning" and "have a great day" are so appreciated. Even on the hot and smoky days, Joel has a smile and friendly greeting. Thank you, Joel for providing a warm welcome and outstanding customer service to all our campus colleagues who pass through your checkpoint each morning.

Jesse Farias, Admissions and Recruitment
Jesse provides excellent customer service. Whenever I reach out to him, he is always ready to assist me with any technical difficulties that I run into on our main website. Whether it be a simple update on a date or wording on the website, Jesse is open to suggestions and willing to make the change on the same day. I appreciate you, Jesse!

Modeled Principles of Community

Amanda Andalon, Mail Services
This High Five goes to Amanda Andalon the incredible young woman who has been holding down the mail room for the past many weeks. If I could have checked all of the categories for High Fives I would have. Amanda is providing excellent customer service ... going above and beyond ... and saving all of our bacon every day! I selected modeling our principles of community as the most fitting category because despite all the stressors of the pandemic and being short staffed (and an occasional impatient employee) Amanda maintains her composure and models our principles of respect, kindness, collaboration and accountability. Thank you, Amanda for ensuring our campus community (of nearly 3,000 employees) receives their mail. Thank you for always being professional and thank you for being especially kind and respectful to all you serve! We appreciate you!