Excellence Award Recipients FY 2009-2010
David Dougherty, Police and Parking Services
Officer David Dougherty has exceeded his own standards of excellence and has in-fact met all five criteria for this nomination as well as truly enhancing the safety of the SSU community. He worked tirelessly, including much of his own time, to create and implement the ‘Arrive Alive’ campaign to include working in partnership with Facilities Services to improve roadway markings and signage related to bicycle and pedestrian traffic. The campaign included red ‘look before you cross’ signs, freshly painted crosswalks, arranging the women’s soccer team to walk through campus with the Seawolf mascot handing out bicycle safety information, and collaborating with the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety to assist with enforcement of bicycle and pedestrian law violations occurring around our campus. All of these are examples of the exemplary work that Officer Dougherty has done to create a program that will sustain itself for years to come, involve the community, and make Sonoma State University one of the safest communities possible to live, work, and learn.
Officer Dougherty volunteered for the additional assignment of Vehicle Maintenance Officer which saved the University $10,000. Through this task he improved the process for maintaining vehicle fleet repair and service and coordinated the purchase of a vehicle that was much more fuel efficient, and at a great price.
“When Dave is not working on special assignments, special projects, or fighting crime, he is usually seen on his lunch break reviewing new legal case laws. He shares new information with his colleagues to ensure SSU Police Officers are always acting in the most professional and legal manner. In addition, Officer Dougherty represents and collaborates with his colleagues as the department CBA/SUPA representative.”
Finally, “Dave was assigned the follow-up investigation to one of the most serious crimes reported to our department during the year. His superb investigation allowed us to advise the community that the initial reported crime was unfounded and the student had fabricated the information. Countless calls from parents, our students, staff, and faculty poured in thanking us for this information and telling us of their relief and reassurance that SSU is a very safe community.”
Christine Hayes, University Library
Christine Hayes is one of the hidden treasures on campus. Most of her work is behind the scenes, but anyone who has utilized any of the campus websites has benefited from Christine’s knowledge, commitment and hard work. Christine was one of the first people on the SSU campus to realize that, if the mission of the university was to be fully realized then the web had to be accessible to everyone. Her accessibility work predates the CSU’s Accessible Technology Initiative, the Chancellor’s Executive Order 926, and even the amendment to California Government Code Section 11135 which required the CSU to pay attention to web site accessibility. She saw it as the right thing to do.
One nominator wrote, “No single department is as indispensable to a college campus as a library, and in our library no single person has done more to make information easier to get than Christine Hayes.” Through Christine’s efforts and ingenuity, many book entries in the library catalog now have an image of the book cover for easy searching, call numbers for books can be sent to your mobile phone, and she created the PIN reset tool for Lexis/Nexis. In addition, she co-teaches technology workshops for the campus on standards-compliant HTML, Dreamweaver, Cascading Style Sheets, Photoshop, Accessible Word and PowerPoint.
Christine volunteers for nearly every odd job or project that comes her way, including the thankless task of taking the graveyard shift during finals week, assisting in organizing several annual conferences, and is the driving force behind the entertainment at Love your Library and other student outreach events.
Christine’s has an unwavering commitment to help people learn the technological skills necessary for them to do their jobs well and can explain complex technologies simply, without lapsing into unintelligible jargon. She understands that we are all working for the same goal and does what she can to support that mission.