University announces May, June, July Employees of the Month
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas recently has announced the May, June and July 2022 Employees of the Month. These staff members have made outstanding contributions to the Lawrence campus community.
Winners of the Employee of the Month awards receive the following:
- A surprise visit from the provost or her designee
- A certificate of award
- A biography featured through KU Today
- A $750 gross monetary award.
Nominate an employee for this award by completing and submitting the online or paper Employee of the Month nomination form and returning it to HRM by email or fax to 785-864-5790. More information is available here.
Recent honorees:
July 2022 winners
Name: Sarah Domingos
Title: Office manager in the Schiefelbusch Clinic
Sarah Domingos has become an irreplaceable figure in the Schiefelbusch Clinic. Her daily responsibilities include greeting patients and clients, assisting student clinicians with materials and operational procedures, purchasing and organizing office materials, promoting student and clinical activities via social media, and managing therapy room schedules and clinic space needs. Her most important and challenging role at the clinic is billing medical insurance and clients and maintaining the electronic medical records system.
Domingos has drastically improved the Sciefelbusch Clinic’s finances since starting in November 2020. Despite coming in with no prior experience in medical billing, she took it upon herself to learn everything she could through training videos, reading insurance websites and even calling help lines. She learned at an incredible pace, quickly discovering and correcting numerous billing errors that were draining clinic revenue. Domingos found out that several faculty members within the clinic had not been properly registered with Medicare or Medicaid, resulting in the clinic not receiving reimbursement. The Schiefelbusch Clinic’s revenue is up 21% compared to the previous two years and is near pre-COVID-19 levels due to her corrections. She greatly reduced the stress and workload of the clinical faculty as they can now focus on their patients’ care instead of double-checking patient accounts.
Domingos has also greatly improved morale and trust within SPLH. Her interpersonal communication skills have been a tremendous asset to the department. She adapts to meet the needs of the patients on an individual level, an important skill to have in her role as the department serves multiple individuals with a physical and intellectual disabilities. She often takes on tasks outside her basic job description, like taking the lead on billing for an international training project, assisting with training administrative assistants within the main SPLH office and helping students purchase research materials. She has grown the clinic’s social media presence, creating weekly student features, and has even assisted a donor with their own social media. A colleague has said, “Sarah has an uncanny knack for knowing exactly what people need at any given moment. She keeps special treats for one of our young clinic patients who is so fond of her that he actively resists leaving the clinic after his appointments. None of that is in her job description.”
Name: Allison Schultz
Title: Program coordinator for Sorority and Fraternity Life
Allison Schultz has worked for KU since June 2019 as a full-time employee, and before that she worked as a graduate assistant from July 2017 to May 2019. During this time, she has become known for maintaining an energetic attitude and a high level of integrity in an incredibly challenging position. She has a variety of responsibilities, including but not limited to overseeing the Interfraternity Council Executive Board consisting of nine members, advising the 23 fraternities in the areas of operations, risk management, education and recruitment, and collaborating to manage all conduct and behavioral concerns for fraternities and their members.
Schultz is a tremendous asset to her department. This past year, the Sorority and Fraternity Life office split from the Student Involvement & Leadership Center, leading to a great need for new policies and structure. As the long-standing member of the department, Schultz was instrumental in establishing these changes while continuing to provide consistent advising to her students and working on vital department projects such as the onboarding of the website, hosting stakeholder meetings for facilities management and coordinating attendance at national conferences. One of her colleagues even acknowledged that Schultz’s position “is an incredibly difficult job with many challenges, pitfalls and moments of public scrutiny,” yet she continues to deliver the highest-quality work.
Schultz goes above and beyond for her students, always providing a space for people of color, especially women of color, and is an incredible relationship builder. She strives toward excellence, not only for herself but also for the entire department and for her students. She is known for leading by example and being flexible when it comes to performing not only her own duties but taking on various other roles as well to ensure smooth operations. Last year, the director of SFL transitioned away from KU. A colleague was left to handle recruitment by herself, but Schultz stepped up to assist her in running the August recruitment. Schultz essentially took on the position of the director and flawlessly coordinated recruitment during a pandemic. A colleague said, “Alli is passionate and sees the good and believes that if they do the work to be better, they can have an amazing SFL experience. She knows we can do better and pushes the students for it.”
June 2022 winners
Name: Derrik Munoz
Title: Custodian, Facilities Services
Derrik Munoz has worked at the University of Kansas since 2019. Munoz works in custodial, where he is responsible for maintaining a clean and safe environment for the patrons, students, staff and faculty of the Spencer Museum of Art and formerly Twente, Blake and Danforth halls. Munoz is responsible for providing a clean environment for individuals working and visiting the locations mentioned.
Munoz consistently goes above and beyond expectations and is known for making the buildings he works in look great. A colleague said, “His work skills are amazing. Always doing something: sweeping, mopping, dusting, etc. He always had our building looking great. Took great pride in his work. For example, he had just emptied the trash and someone later put trash in there, he would see it and empty it. He wouldn’t wait until the next day when the trash was totally full.”
Munoz takes great pride in his work and is always looking for ways to help those around him. He is known not only for keeping the facility shining, but also for making a point to greet and say hello to people. A co-worker shares an example of how helpful Munoz is: “On snowy days, for instance, when people came into our building, Derrik would mop the floors several times a day so they were neat and clean.”
Completing his daily tasks is just a starting point for him. Munoz is always looking for ways to make the building look nice and welcoming for all who work there.
Name: Teresa Aldrich
Title: Administrative assistant in the Department of Health, Sport & Exercise Sciences
Teresa Aldrich has worked for the University of Kansas since December 1994 and has distinguished herself amongst her colleagues during that time for her kindness and reliability. She has a variety of responsibilities within the Robinson Center, including but not limited to running the daily tasks, working the front desk, and assisting HSES faculty and students in whatever way she can.
Aldrich consistently goes above and beyond to assist others and is known for her ability to adapt to fill whatever role is needed without expectation or complaint. There have been several cuts and retirements over the past year, but Aldrich has continued to take on more daily tasks all while assisting everyone to ensure smooth transitions. She even has her work number forwarded to her personal cell phone, often working nights and weekends to help handle issues that arise outside of regular hours. Aldrich is a key person at HSES, and the department could not run without her. A colleague has said, “Teresa doesn’t just represent the best of the department; she is the department.”
Aldrich has an eye for detail and strives to improve in everything she does. Her student-centered service and personable attitude have made her a beloved figure at HSES. A colleague said, “You could put all of HSES faculty and students on a board, throw a dart and receive a glowing recommendation about Teresa.” Aldrich’s supervisor has this to say about her: “Teresa has a lot of institutional knowledge, so when an issue arises, she knows who to contact. This is true on both the academic side as well as with issues related to the building. She is also great with students. They more often than not go to her first to find out how to navigate an issue.” Another colleague states, “No task is too small or too big: When a security guard left KU, Teresa inherited some of their tasks. She revamped the key system and confirmed which keys belonged to which doors. When a sprinkler system went off during a final exam, Teresa handled it.”
May 2022 winners
Name: Daniel DePardo
Title: Director of design and evaluation facilities with the Information & Telecommunication Technology Center
Daniel DePardo supports all ITTC research involving experimentation in radar, communications and optics. DePardo provides leadership, technical direction, management for project design & fabrication activities, and supervises students in laboratory practices and operation of test equipment.
DePardo has been partnering with faculty members to work on the design, development and construction of a 16-channel MIMO radar testbed on a grant-funded project. The research topic has largely been theoretical thus far, so there are no existing models, meaning DePardo and collaborators have been working from scratch. DePardo has also made major contributions to several other sponsored research projects using cutting-edge technology.
Not only is DePardo an incredibly skilled and dedicated technician, but he also plays an integral role in the dynamics of the ITTC. He trains graduate students, sets up work schedules, monitors lab access and kept the labs running during the COVID-19 shutdown. A colleague said, “Dan’s work is a product of first class. Things get done when he is around, and he makes everyone a bit better because of his association.”
Name: Jessica Little-Greenberg
Title: Assistant director, Student Access Center
In her role, Jessica Little-Greenberg provides support to students with disabilities on campus to ensure they can remove barriers to their academic success. She oversees all services for students who are blind, visually impaired, deaf and or hard of hearing in addition to serving as the staff member who oversees accessible print and testing. She also supervises a team of students and professional staff members.
Colleagues noted that Little-Greenberg builds a great rapport with the students on their caseload and did so as testing coordinator as well. “In my view, her students know they are respected, supported, listened to and that someone is rooting for their success,” one colleague said. Little-Greenberg's dedication to her work is instrumental in helping students with disabilities succeed at KU. In addition to supporting students, she also regularly works with vendors, parents and faculty with the utmost professionalism. Little-Greenberg is patient, attentive, appreciative and organized to ensure that students receive the support they need, colleagues said.