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, missing or incomplete words. They appear mostly as written for each campus employee.)

Above & Beyond

Azucena Gutierrez — Office of Institutional Effectiveness
Azucena is OIE's office manager/administrative support coordinator. Although she is not the fourth floor receptionist (her desk is positioned by HML 4140 entrance), she always greets and welcomes our fourth floor guests with a smile not because she has to but because that's how much affable she is. She's always courteous and willing to help anyone and everyone - students, faculty, other staff, external visitors. Kudos to Azucena for the excellent customer service she provides.

Christine Paredes — Human Resources
Christine is available to always assist with answers to questions, whether at night, on the weekend, or whenever a need arises. She is extremely conscientious and goes above and beyond to provide customer service. She always maintains a positive attitude, even during stressful situations of multiple searches, etc. She is solution-oriented and helps Athletics tremendously with all of our Human Resource needs.

Ann Berg — History
Ann is a powerhouse of ideas! She has a wonderful gift of seeing the problem and finding a way to streamline the solution. Ann is always wonderful enough to answer my calls when I needed to think out loud or need her advice. We may be in different departments but she takes the initiative to learn more to help me out.

Bryan Alvarado — Technology Services
Bryan does his day-to-day and is always trying to improve and automate process to make them efficient for everyone in the department. Always assisting in other areas and working above and beyond his normal duties.

Jamaal Washington — SupportNet
Jamaal is a constant resource to this campus. He approaches leadership from an authentic place, which is particularly challenging on this campus as a black professional. I look to Jamaal to understand how students’ study habits evolve from semester to semester and I seek his advice on how to impact the way students are preparing for courses. He is well researched and well connected with experts on academic coaching topics and mentoring men of color.

Tammy Lau — Library
When no one wanted to chair the Personnel Committee in the library, Tammy stepped up and shouldered the responsibilities. Under her leadership, personnel matters (deadlines, procedures, etc.) flowed smoothly in the last couple of years. I am grateful to you for your honesty, leadership and fortitude. You are absolutely a vital part of the library’s workflow, governance and community. Thank you for your service and your collegiality.

Monica Solis — SupportNet
Monica administers a campus-wide software, which is used by almost every type of student-facing professional on the campus. I can rely on her to troubleshoot problems. Monica has a lot of institutional knowledge and just has an authentic way of working with people. I could not do my job without her.

Sonia Sanchez — Learning Center
Sonia is the type of colleague who will ask you "what do you want to do" or "what do you need" and make you feel supported in making an authentic choice. She will go well out of her way to help you with any event or effort because she knows it benefits students.

Amy Luna — Police Department
Amy has given her personal time, professional expertise and talents to support the Fresno State Blood Drives. She has rallied support for blood donation both on and off campus, helping increase the number of donors coming out to the Fresno State Blood Drives. She is supporting other divisions and programs and helping save lives.

Mary Willis — Career Development Center
Mary has completely transformed Fresno State's internship program. She has gone way above and beyond, supporting internship coordinators across campus and over 40 internship courses. She has been the driving force behind Fresno State's work to comply with EO 1064, developed electronic forms that have reduced time and costs and provided professional development and resources leading to the more effective and efficient delivery of internship courses.

Juliet Wahleithner — Literacy, Early, Bilingual and Special Education
Juliet Wahleithner was someone I encountered through the First Gen Matters Mentoring program in the Kremen School of Education and Human Development. Although she wasn't my mentor, I have a good feeling she would be an awesome mentor to have. Thank you Juliet for going above and beyond your duties to be a guest lecturer in my class this semester. The students loved it and will be able to use the lesson in their work supporting literacy efforts across the city.

Kris Westcott — Office of the Vice President for Administration and Finance
Kris is just amazing. He is stepping up this week to help facilitate a lean training for Financial Aid. I so appreciate him!

Holly Baum — Technology Services

Michael Houk — Athletics
Mike has gone above and beyond to support our intern AT's and found new solutions for team coverage to support others growth. He is organized and keeps all our mechanical equipment up and running.

Israel Silva — Athletics/Wrestling
This guy is always looking to better our program and the athletes on this team.

Malisa Lee — Office of the Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management

Jamaal Washington — Learning Center

Annette Gallegos — Scheduling Office

Excellent Customer Service

Christine Paredes — Human Resources
Christine is extremely conscientious and always responds to questions in a timely manner. She is a great listener and she helps determine solutions. She is very calm and maintains a positive attitude. She is also very patient when we pepper her with questions. She is the consummate professional.

Ann Berg — History
Anytime Ann is present you feel the cheerful and enthusiastic atmosphere she naturally brings. It has been so wonderful to have her as part of our college. Before you even walk into the office she provides daily knowledge with fun "this day in history" facts on the door. She is welcoming, extremely helpful and does her job wholeheartedly. In my experience, you will leave her office radiating her positive energy.

Christina Martinez — Catering
Christina was so patient and helpful while we were coordinating our second annual LIFT Conference, even with our last minute adjustments, she continued to be professional and understanding. She deserves way more than a High Five. Thank you, Christina!

Michael Houk — Athletics
Mike has worked hard to take in a large amount of information and get it back out to the right people at the right time. He coordinates the care of a large group of student-athletes and keeps the many groups up to date.

Malisa Lee — Office of the Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management

Saved My Bacon

Azucena Gutierrez — Office of Institutional Effectiveness
Azucena is a valued member of our department. Aside from her performing her own job responsibilities well, I count on her to help me out with my survey projects, ensuring that the instrument flows well, has sound logic, with no errors or mistakes. So, she has saved my bacon numerous times! Thank you, Azucena.

Ann Berg — History
Ann majorly saved my bacon last year with the Angel Tree on campus. Ann was so very kind to help me with this project. She was the genius that made it happen so gracefully. I cannot thank her enough for all she did. Thank you, Ann, for saving my bacon then and for continuing to do so even now. You are wonderful.

Lisa Wilson — Criminology
Lisa saves my bacon daily. I could not ask for a better colleague and friend. She is always willing to help. Lisa goes above and beyond to do her job, to help others and do what is right. Thank you Lisa for all you do.

Marie Tongson-Fernandez — Office of Institutional Effectiveness
I am constantly saved by Marie as she helps me with surveys and assessment. It is great to work with knowledgeable people, who are welcoming and down to earth.

Angelica Miramontes — Criminology

Holly Baum — Technology Services