Eight ECE faculty and staff recognized for creativity, innovation, and daring
Eight ECE faculty and staff have been recognized by the College of Engineering for their creativity, innovation, and daring approaches to their work.
These individuals were rewarded for promoting Michigan Engineering values
Eight ECE faculty and staff have been recognized by the College of Engineering for their creativity, innovation, and daring approaches to their work as part of a pilot program “to reward and recognize staff and faculty who take extra steps to advance the College.”
The new program recognizes individuals “whose achievements embody a forward-thinking approach to fostering College values and building its culture.” Monetary awards accompanied the recognition.
The recipients from Electrical and Computer Engineering include:
Lisa Armstrong, Department Administrator for ECE
Armstrong launched ECE Creates to encourage staff to problem solve; she strives to improve the quality of life for staff in ECE through work-life balance, stress relief initiatives and empowering the staff; and has worked with staff to develop the ECE Staff Mission and Values in support of the CoE Vision.
David DeWeerd, Financial Analyst
DeWeerd improved both the pre-award and post-award facets of research administration by streamlining processes and reducing administrative burden for both faculty and staff. He developed unique solutions to complex problems and served on numerous college and university committees to improve sponsored research administration as a whole.
Michael Flynn, Professor
Flynn took the initiative to make faculty more accountable for their interactions with students by developing a faculty report card and personally and proactively identifying and addressing issues between faculty and students.
Jacob Hayward, EECS Applications Programmer
Hayward created and developed numerous administrative systems (UGrab, Student Funding System, Course Information System, Visitor Registry, etc.) that reduce burden for faculty and staff in many areas across work functions across the department, college and university.
David Neuhoff, Joseph E. and Anne P. Rowe Professor of Electrical Engineering
Neuhoff has worked tirelessly behind the scenes leading efforts to streamline a variety of processes related to data entry, access to existing data, and record keeping. This has included managing the creation of an online faculty activity report; providing online information about courses, and more, of special relevance to faculty; and providing centralized access to information and documents related to all decisions of the faculty for the past decade.
Stacie Printon, Senior Assistant to the Chair
Printon was a leader and champion for sustainability on North Campus and in the College of Engineering. She was integral in the initiation of the North Campus Sustainability Initiative (NCSI) and North Campus Sustainability Lecture Series, and is the “Green” champion for the EECS building, which included initiating a compostable program in EECS.
Anne Rhoades, Senior Human Resources Generalist
Rhoades developed a new methodology and systems for reducing administrative burden and streamlining the GSI process, and was a lead in the development of the ECE Staff Mission and Values in support of the CoE Vision.
Kristen Thornton, PHD Graduate Coordinator
Thornton improved the lives of ECE students through developing personal touchpoints to help students feel a sense of belonging to the university and department. She lead the ECE Positivity Committee, and initiated Spirt Day for the College of Engineering LGBTQ+ community.