MADISON—The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents will honor this year’s recipients of the Academic Staff Awards for Excellence tomorrow in Madison. This is the highest recognition bestowed on members of the UW System’s academic staff.
The 2009 recipients are:
- Amy Lloyd, Leadership Training Coordinator for Student Life at UW-River Falls;
- Lezli Redmond, Director of Statewide Intervention Programs at the Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention at UW-Madison; and
- The Education Talent Search (ETS) Program at UW-Fox Valley, which includes four staff members.
This is the second year that programs also have been recognized.
“It is an honor to recognize this year’s recipients of the Academic Staff Excellence Awards,” said committee chair Regent Eileen Connolly-Keesler. “These winners represent the outstanding effort, creativity, and all-around dedication of UW System academic staff who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to help our students succeed and our Wisconsin communities become stronger.”
Each winner receives a $5,000 award for professional development to enhance their program or function. Academic staff members and programs from each of the 15 UW institutions were nominated for this year’s awards. In addition to Connolly-Keesler, award committee members included Regents John Drew, Kevin Opgenorth, Brent Smith, José Vásquez, and Betty Womack.
Amy Lloyd joined UW-River Falls in 2004 as a student support services coordinator and became the leadership training coordinator in fall 2007. In that capacity, she worked with two colleagues to create the acclaimed iRock Program, a wellness booklet for first-year students on campus, which recently won the UW-River Falls Chancellors’ Award for Program Excellence. Amy created and implemented the “Social Justice Series” at the campus for the 2008-09 academic year, which resulted in over 14 programs and over 600 allies.
“Through her work with the Falcon Fellows program, the Social Justice Series, the Destinations alternative spring break program, and the Building Tomorrow Project, Amy is not only crafting outstanding student leadership development opportunities, she is broadening the perspectives and horizons of our campus community,” said Blake Fry, UW-River Falls’ special assistant to the chancellor.
Amy Lloyd received her bachelor’s degree in communication/psychology from the College of St. Benedict in Minnesota and holds two master’s degrees, a master of science in student personnel in higher education from St. Cloud State University and a master of arts in psychology from Cleveland State University.
Lezli Redmond, a UW-Madison graduate, joined the staff of the UW Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention at UW-Madison in 2001. As the director of statewide intervention programs, she has received national recognition for her expertise in tobacco and innovative state programming. Lezli’s work was instrumental in creating the Wisconsin Tobacco Quit Line, a state-of-the-art tobacco cessation service that has resulted in more than 122,000 Wisconsin residents calling for help to quit smoking since 2001. In a previous position, she launched and directed the Madison location for the Women’s Health Initiative.
“Ms. Redmond has attained outstanding achievement in public health areas that are of utmost importance to the people of Wisconsin and the nation,” said Dr. Patricia Kokotailo, professor of pediatrics and associate dean for faculty development and faculty affairs at UW-Madison. “Her work truly embodies the Wisconsin Idea.”
Lezli Redmond earned her bachelor’s degree from UW-Madison and a master’s degree in public health from Hunter College in New York.
UW-Fox Valley’s Education Talent Search (ETS) Program is a pre-college program designed to encourage students to complete high school and pursue a college education. As a federally funded TRIO program designed to motivate and support students from disadvantaged backgrounds, ETS serves qualifying 6th through 12th grade students in the Kaukauna and Menasha school districts. The two coordinators work with 620 students each year and log over 5,000 hours of student contact annually. In 2007-08, 100 percent of the non-senior participants were promoted to the next grade and all 72 participating seniors graduated from high school and applied for college.
“Thanks to all the energetic efforts of our TRIO staff, there are many more students in our area who are looking forward to continuing their education after high school,” said Carla Rabe, assistant campus dean for student services at UW-Fox Valley. “These students might not have felt they had the chance to attend college if the ETS staff were not a part of their lives.”