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Deanne Kinateder, center, teaching assistant at Head Start, is presented the October 2024 STAR Award by Chancellor Andrew Leavitt, right, and Ghazwa Chaar-Sankari, early childhood coordinator.

We’re catching up to help reflect the light generated by nine University of Wisconsin Oshkosh STAR Award winners so far in 2024.

STAR Awards recognize and thank University Staff members, limited-term employees and project appointment employees who go above and beyond their normal job description. The nomination form is available here.

October 2024: Deanne Kinateder, a teaching assistant with Head Start, was nominated by Ghazwa Chaar-Sankari:

Deanne has gone above her job responsibilities as a teacher assistant at the UW Oshkosh Head Start program. She is willing to support and help at the center where there is need. Deanne offered to ride the bus at the end of the day in effort to support her co-worker so she doesn’t have to ride three bus route to take students home from other classrooms. Deanne’s kind and respectful personality is reflected in her interactions with student, peer, and families. Deanne recognizes and greets current and past parents who were in her classroom last year and holds casual conversation about their day. Deanne addresses students at their eye level and her kind, calm ways are reflected in her interaction with students. If Deanne is walking down the hallway and past students see her, they call her name, run to her, and give her great big hug.”   

Kimberly Hansen,, center, earns August 2024 STAR Award.

 

September 2024: Kimberly Hansen, administrative assistant in the College of Nursing, was nominated by Kathleen Wren, program director:

“Kimberly has embraced her position as the face of the Doctor of Nursing Practice-Nurse Anesthesia Emphasis. Every year since her arrival, she has brought a caring attitude and smile to all the nurse anesthesia students as they navigate the three years of this intense program of study. She is also an advocate for our students, guiding them in finding help and assistance for them, whether it be accommodations in project success, understanding how to interpret their fee bills, or locating resources in the counseling center, library and other departments across campus. Kimberly continually strives to make our processes more seamless by finding, creating, and developing electronic and automated resources for us to use in the program for admissions, clinical rotation assignments and student record storage and distribution for credentialing.”

Alli Kunde earns August 2024 STAR Award.

August 2024: Alli Kunde, administrative assistant in the Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor, was nominated by Erin Van Lyssel of human resources:

“Alli has taken on so much responsibility in the last year. When a former employee left the Provost’s office, Alli took on several UBO duties with little to no training. She has done amazing at keeping track of all of those duties on top of her regular job duties. She also took on handling graduate assistant hiring and contract processing. This is a complicated process and changes a lot throughout the year. This takes great attention to detail to ensure that graduate assistants are paid correctly. These are just two examples of the amazing work that Alli has done for the university! She is very deserving of this award!”

July 2024: None awarded

 

Lauren Burgbacher is winner of the June 2024 STAR Award.

 

June 2024: Lauren Burgbacher, administrative assistant with UARC Academic Advising, was nominated by Renee Simpson of academic advising.

“From the moment that I stepped into my role here as an academic adviser, Lauren has been extremely instrumental and helpful to me in getting set up with all technology platforms, etc. Lauren is like the glue that keeps all things in order for all of the Undergraduate Advising Resource Center staff. She also supervises our Peer Academic Liaisons. In the midst of Lauren doing her normal job duties, if there has ever been an issue that I have been challenged with, she comes to my aid and everyone else’s (with a smile), regardless of the interruptions of her own workflow. In addition to all of the wonderful work Lauren does for our office she has been a very active part of the University Staff Senate. Ultimately, Lauren is a great person to work with and she is the epitome of a person who wears her smile through her physical presence and in the work she does itself.”

 

Gigi Valenza receives the May 2024 UWO STAR Award.

May 2024: Gigi Valenza, custodian at Polk Library, was nominate by Samantha Goldben, library assistant:

“Since Gigi came to the library, she has supported us tremendously. She hasn’t just done the work expected of her, such as trash removal, general cleaning, etc., but she’s gone above and beyond the expectations we had when she arrived. Gigi has become a valued member of the library, even though she doesn’t work directly for us, and I speak for everyone when we say we are so lucky to have her. Gigi has deep cleaned every area of this building and she takes pride in her work. She is kind, thorough, thoughtful, and overall, contributes more to the library than just her custodial duties. She’s been a remarkable addition to the fabric of our building, all of our student workers love her and we’ve even gotten compliments on her from students.”

 

Amy Rogge, white sweater, was honored with the UWO April 2024 STAR Award.

April 2024: Amy Rogge, department assistant in criminal justice/public administration in the College of Letters and Science, was nominated  by faculty Matt Richie (criminal justice); Anna Filipova (sociology and public administration); and David Jones, (criminal justice emeritus):

“Amy Rogge has been serving the public administration and criminal justice departments since 2019. Not only did she accomplish effectively and efficiently her regular duties as an academic department associate, but she went above and beyond her duties by directly mentoring an impressively large number of master of public administration students and criminal justice undergraduate students, designing graduate advising plans in collaboration with faculty, and raising student awareness about academic requirements, learning support services, campus resources and important dates and deadlines. In addition, she has been working with professional staff across campus to ensure that students have a successful and fulfilling experience while attending UW Oshkosh and played a critical role in helping students stay on track to graduate.”

 

Christie Demosthenous holds her March 2024 UWO STAR Award.

 March 2024: Christie Demosthenous, department assistant in history with the College of Letters and Science, was nominated by faculty members Gabe Loiacono and Michelle Kuhl:

“Christie is an amazing department associate. She does all her assigned tasks in an organized and calm fashion, but she also looks for additional ways to improve the success of our department. One example is her initiative on advising. … she gave each professor a customized worksheet that had every course our department is running in the Spring of 2024 and a list of 20 slots. As we advised students, we were to fill in the spots. That way, we all kept track of courses that were safe and courses that needed extra advertising. This has been incredibly helpful to know where to put our energy and make sure our courses get enough enrollment to run. A second initiative Christie started was Third Thursday donuts. Every third Thursday of the month, the department invites students to hang out in the morning with professors, donuts and coffee.”

Erin Johnson was named UWO February 2024 STAR Award winner.

 

February 2024: Erin Johnson, lead department assistant with the College of Business, was nominated by Jennifer Buelow Fischer,  undergraduate program director:

“Erin is a fantastic colleague and team member. First, she went above and beyond by working with several colleagues across campus to streamline our new shared services model. She worked with the Registrar’s Office and IT to ensure that our waitlist policy and student email listservs were working properly. Additionally, she took the lead on updating our standard operating procedures and merging the various SharePoint sites. She took on these projects during a significant time of change in the College of Business which makes it even more impressive.”

 

Corey Konrad, center, was named the January 2024 UWO STAR Award winner.

 

January 2024: Corey Konrad, a custodian with Custodial Services, was nominated by Timothy Paulsen, custodial services supervisor:

“Corey Konrad has proven to be a hardworking, positive and team-oriented asset to the custodial department. Corey comes in every day cheerful and happy and helps complete any additional task he is asked to perform. Corey routinely assists with covering additional areas and events with a smile and positive attitude that motivates others to work harder. Corey helps a fellow custodian with limited English language to complete her timesheet and other computer-related tasks as well as her larger projects. Corey also makes himself available to assist with large events on his days off—even with little to no notice. He has proven to be an invaluable member of the custodial team.”