Connie Whittaker, who works for Religious Studies and Anthropology as an academic department associate, at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, has been named the recipient of the April 2018 STAR Award.

She was nominated by Fredi Giesler, social work department chair.

Whittaker’s nomination follows:

“Twice during my tenure as department chair, the Department of Social Work has needed office support during the summer term and due to budget limitations no LTE was assigned to our department. In both situations, Connie Whittaker has voluntarily supported our department during the summer semester. She was not compensated for this and was gracious and enthusiastic about helping us. She took care of our mail, answered student questions, supported the MSW field internship coordinator, and learned our program systems and procedures in order to make sure that programs continued over the summer.

“The MSW program is very active during the summer, offering a number of classes. Connie helped our new faculty member get set up in his office, get his computer and supplies, and generally made him feel welcome. She kept me and the field internship coordinator up to date and helped us with grace, humor and support while our academic department associate was on FMLA. She provided this same quality of service two years ago when our academic department associate was also on FMLA. Connie is supportive, cheerful and a real pleasure to work with. She deserves to be recognized for her commitment to work-place joy.”

Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to contribute calendar items, campus announcements and other good news to UW Oshkosh Today.