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

Rob Bartsch, Client Services
Rob has really gone above and beyond while the Service Desk continues to work from home. While we are experiencing a lack of resources, Rob has gone above and beyond to make sure the needs of the Service Desk are met and ensuring every caller gets a call back.

Luis Rincon, Student Success Services
Luis has really stepped up to the plate to assist our office with virtual walk-ins. During this time, it is imperative that our office can connect with our students for advising. In addition to all his other responsibilities, Luis still assists with coordinating the walk-in traffic and ensuring that students are helped in a timely and organized manner. You are so appreciated Luis!

Angela Bracamonte, University Advising Center
Angela has been an essential role in coordinating our walk-in advising sessions. Being able to offer this service to our students during this time is imperative to their success here at Fresno State. Without her hard work, organization and positive attitude, we would not be able to handle the walk-in traffic. Thank you, Angela!

Shawna Blair, Student Involvement
Thank you to Shawna and her team for working so hard planning New Student Convocation to make sure our new students had a wonderful "Welcome" experience! She spent many extra hours planning and prepping for the event and it came out amazing! Great Job Shawna!

Careen Wong-Stach, Office of Alumni Engagement and Annual Giving
Careen has been instrumental in developing a new alumni engagement program. Over the last few months, Careen has taken the lead in learning new technology and skills in order to develop resources to support colleagues and volunteers. Her collaborative spirit makes her an amazing team member as she is always willing to make herself available to support partners from across campus. She happily shares her knowledge and expertise to uplift her colleagues and the projects she supports. Careen is an all-around amazing team member and I am honored to get to work alongside her.

Lynn Pappace, Admissions and Recruitment
Lynn is always willing to assist her teammates. She is also willing to provide input to improve processes. I appreciate her input and the experience she brings to our team. She is an asset to our team, and it has been a pleasure to work alongside her. Thank you, Lynn.

Pam Weiner, Admissions and Recruitment
Pam is always willing to assist her teammates and provides input to help improve processes. She makes herself available to assist with training of other staff and/or projects when needed. I appreciate the experience and knowledge she brings to the team. I am honored to work alongside her. Thank you, Pam.

Maria Wilson, Admissions and Recruitment
Maria is always willing to assist her teammates and brings valuable experience and knowledge to the team. She is willing to provide input to improve processes. I appreciate her input and the experience she brings to our team. She is an asset to our team, and it has been a pleasure to work alongside her. Thank you, Maria.

Alexis Castro, Admissions and Recruitment
Alexis is always willing to assist her teammates and brings a positive disposition to the team. She is always willing to learn and participate in assisting with projects when needed. She is an asset to our team, and it has been a pleasure to work alongside her. I look forward to her continued professional growth within our team. Thank you, Alexis.

Lupe Wells, Admission and Recruitment
Lupe is always willing to assist her teammates and brings a positive disposition to the team. She is always willing to learn and participate in assisting with projects when needed. She is an asset to our team, and it has been a pleasure to work alongside her. I look forward to her continued professional growth within our team. Thank you, Lupe.

Angelica Lopez, Admission and Recruitment
Angelica is always willing to assist her teammates and brings a positive disposition to the team. She is always willing to learn and participate in assisting with projects when needed. She is an asset to our team, and it has been a pleasure to work alongside her. I look forward to her continued professional growth within our team. Thank you, Angelica.

George Deegan, Facilities Management
First, George is someone who everyone on campus is grateful for. He is just a joy to work with. He knows so much about how this campus works. I think we are all grateful for all his expertise, knowledge, willingness to help and great positive attitude. I would like to give a shout out to the entire HVAC team for switching out all the filters over summer to keep everyone more protected during COVID, and being on site.

Scott Sailor, Kinesiology
There is a lot of paperwork when graduate students are trying to enroll into classes that require supervision, and multiple faculty need to review and approve the steps. Scott created documents and developed a new system using DocuSign. The process is now quicker, more efficient, and can be completed remotely; this is a process that will positively serve the graduate students and faculty in kinesiology long past the current pandemic! Thank you, Scott!

Department

Upper-Division Transfer Admissions Team
The upper-division transfer admissions team has consistently worked above and beyond. As demonstrated this fall 2020 admission cycle, they admitted the largest class to date, considering all the challenges we experienced. The staff works well together and are always willing to help each other when needed. This team encompasses a full set of complementary skills which helps our team accomplish our goals. I truly appreciate the support they provide to each other, as well as to me. Together we are accomplishing great things!

Saved my Bacon!

James Herrin, Technology Services
James has saved the Service Desk by helping to fill in as everyone balances working from home and projects. Thank you James.

Paula Clark, Payroll
Paula helped me to gain access to the state controller’s system so I could get an electronic version of a W-2 form that I needed urgently. Thank you for your quick response and kindness in helping me resolving this matter.

Department

University Advancement

Provides Excellent Customer Service

Elaine Champion, Facilities Management
We recently got Elaine in our area and it is an incredible difference in how clean everything is; and she is a pleasure to encounter as well. Living up to that last name. Really nice to have a clean area in general, but when it is so noticeable, you feel a little safer as well, during social distancing. Thanks for sending her our way!

Principles of Community

Sue Shaw, Administration and Finance