Rice honors employees for years of service, dedication to university

Mike Williams
– February 16, 2006Posted in: Current News

Rice honors employees for years of service, dedication to university

BY LINDSEY FIELDER
Rice News staff

Commitment and dedication among Rice University employees was on display at the annual service awards ceremony last week, where 432 faculty, staff and retirees were honored for their years of service.

Photo by Jeff Fitlow
Rice University President David Leebron joins Mary Cronin, right, associate vice president for human resources, in congratulating Diane Berger, an accounting assistant in the controller’s office, who was one of the service award recipients with 40 years with the university.

The number of honorees this year was 20 percent higher than last year. Associate Vice President for Human Resources Mary Cronin said, “We are finally too big for our collective riches.”

The increase in award recipients meant that Grand Hall was not big enough to hold everyone, so this year’s ceremony was accompanied by an afternoon reception.

Though the format of the celebration changed a bit from years past, the ceremony itself stayed the same. Elizabeth Gillis, wife of former Rice President Malcolm Gillis, presented the Elizabeth Gillis Award for Exemplary Service. She surprised Eusebio Franco, director of custodial and grounds in Facilities, Engineering and Planning, with this year’s award.

Photo by Jeff Fitlow
Forty employees closed the book on their careers at Rice, many of whom gathered for a photo after the Feb. 8 service awards ceremony. The retirees included 25 recipients of tree plaques in honor of more than 20 years of service to the university.

The service awards were then presented, with those who have been with Rice 20 years or more being personally congratulated by Cronin and Rice President David Leebron. The honorees ranged from 183 recipients of five-year service awards to three new members of the 40-year club. Forty retirees were recognized, 25 of whom received tree plaques in honor of more than 20 years of service to the university.

“This is a very exciting occasion for all of us,” President Leebron said. “We have [people from] almost every walk of life you can imagine, all working together in a common pursuit. At an occasion like this, we realize we are much more than a workforce — we are a community.”

Leebron thanked everyone in attendance for their unique service to the university community. “Being a community is making sure that we create the environment people are proud to be a part of and they feel supported in,” he said. “So this is a special occasion to honor those who have been here for a long period of time.”

 

Five years
Yeti Agiz
Valerie Aguirre
Cecilia Alatriz Tobar
Antonia Almaguer
B.J. Almond
Karim Al-Zand
Penny Anderson
Edward Applebaum
Aurelio Arriaga
Kyriacos A. Athanasiou
Kevin Ausman
Matthew Baring
Patsy Barker
Eliberto Batres
Andrea Battle
Chuck Bearden
Greg Beaves
Krystal Bivens
Rosa Blanco
Jackie Blyden
Alicia Bradley
Regina Branton
Sharon Bratrud
Patricia Brogdon-Gómez
Felicia Brooks
Barbara White Bryson
Becky Burkett
Rebecca Cardenas
Marsha Carlberg
Elaine Carrasco
Katie Cervenka
Robert Cham
Norma Chavez
Shih-Hui Chen
Jamie Cluff
George Cochrum
Martha Colangelo
Angela Collman
Leonila Conde
Dannie Connell
Harriet Connolly
Alicia Contreras
Eileen Coppola
Ken Cox
John Croft
Garfield Cummings
Francisco De La Cruz
Juan DeLeón
Heather Domeier
Katharine Donato
Troy Durden
Colleen Dutton
Naomi Duval
Pat Dwyer
Gertrude Ealey
John Eliot
Roger Elkhouri
Sarah Ellenzweig
Michael Emerson
Robert Englebretson
Czolgus Evans
Jennifer Evans
Janet Feng
Kaaren Fleisher
Bobbie Foval
Kevin J. Foyle
Patrick Frantz
Ram Garg
Timothy J. Gibbs
Monica Gongora
Eric Granquist
Jason Gray
Rose Gray-Dye
Jerry Green
Rudy Guerra
Katie Hamilton
J. Won Han
Brendan Hassett
Geneva Henry
Tina Hicks
Rik Hovinga
Phillip Hsieh
Barbi J. Huggins
Christine Huston
Bernadette Jackson
Geri Jacobs
Yolanda Jara
Pablo Jimenez
Maria Johnson
David Key
Salimah Khan
Tom Killian
Cece King
Sharron Kinnaird
Anatoly B. Kolomeisky
Junichiro Kono
Nancy Laidlaw
Chad Landis
Mary Ellen Lane
James Lang
Rhianna Laverell
Brian Lavigne
Kimberly Lawrence
Caroline Levander
Eugene Levy
Michael Liebschner
Ron Long
Michael Lucas
Jason Lyons
Patricia Mack
Kevin MacKenzie
Maria Beatrice Magnani
Joscelyn Marshall
Heather Masden
Kim McDougall
James McNew
Lisa Marie Meffert
Linda Menotti
Erzsébet Merényi
Beverly Mims
Michael Miron
Virginia Nance
Douglas Natelson
Marcie Newton
Henry Nguyen
Dung Nguyen
Michael Orchard
Jon Kimura Parker
John C. Parmiter
Maria Pedraza
Lionel Percy
Mark Pompelia
Lucy Ponce
Judy Radigan
Joyce Rannals
Trish Rigdon
LouAnn Risseeuw
Lonnie Rivera
Scott Rixner
Brenda Robey
Manuel A. Rodarte
Esthela Rodriguez
Jacqueline Ross-Hagebaum
Trey Rouse
James Russell
Rafael Salaberry
Maria Santos
Stanislav Sazykin
Yvette W. Scales

Amanda Shagrin
Chao-Mei Shen
Jessie Shieh
A.T. Smith
Allison Sneider
Ronnie Snyder
Gary Spears
Lisa Spiro
Daniel Stephens
Ruben H. Tamez
Tao Tao
M. Yvonne Taylor
Michael Taylor
Debra Thomas
David Thornton
Douglas Tomlinson
Sara J. Trejo
Indumathi Tuppera
Hilena Vargas
Jesus Vela
Laura Villafranca
Tina Villard
Diana Warren
James Weston
Marilyn Wilbert
Alexis Williams
Shiree L. Willson
Virginia Wright
Quanbo Xiong
Siu Min Yu
Christopher Zalesky
Rosa Zuniga

10 years
Leticia Arriola
Joe Barnes
Andrew R. Barron
Bonnie Bartel
Elias Bongmba
Janice Bordeaux
Diane Butler
Janis Cain
Susan Castanza
Yoosoon Chang
Kathy Collins
Linda Cooper
Bob Cumming
Crystal Davis
Gaylon Denney
Kathy Duplessis
Karen Duston
Fares El-Dahdah
Geary Eppley
June Ferrill
Jeff Fitlow
Robert Fowler
Lisa Galloy
Rosa Garay
Carlos Garcia
Jack Gless
Lydia Gonzales
Richard Gordon
Ruby Gore
Arthur Gorski
Terrence L. Graham
Jane Healey
Becky Heye
Linda Humphreys
Juanita Jones
Betty Joseph
Nancy Letness
Dorothy Lewis
Ann Lugg
Seiichi Matsuda
Susan McClure
Tina McDuell
Jane McNeel
Philip Montgomery
Sherry Nassar
Mark Oberholzer
Ann Peterson
Maria Minerva Ramos
Josuzetta Reed
Mauro Reyes
Jose E. Romero
Patricia Roycroft
Rick Russell
Qimiao Si
Ramón Sirias
Alex Stutler
Devika Subramanian
Mary Swift
E. Julia Tang
Jon Warren
Hank West
Terry Whitt
Denell M.S. Wiseman
Noreen Wright
Wen Yang
Colin Zelt

15 years
Joe O. Arevalo
Heather Barr
Enrique Barrera
Julie Bogar
Janet Braam
Randy Castiglioni
Zoraida Castro
Walter Chapman
Tim Cochran
Valerie Cormier
Paula Cox
Scott Derrick
Marc Dudey
Nancy Ehrhardt
Sandra Elsik
Michael Fagan
Mercedes Flores
Ute Franklin
Lucie Fultz
Marina Gamez
Ronald Goldman
Jean-Joseph Goux
Rhonda Guajardo
Joan D. Guthrie
Naomi Halas
Deborah Harter
Eddie Hernandez
Suzanne Jung
Yury Kamensky
Stephen Kidd
Marek Kimmel
Charles Koelbel
Edita Lemus
Janet Martin
Richard Massey
Eric G. McGowen
Kay McStay
Helena Michie
Malgorzata Michnicka
Bertha Miranda
Cheryl Morehead
Fran Moshiri
Tom Murray
Chesson Olawaiye
Victor Owens
Lee Pecht
Alfredo Ramos

Robert Redman
Rodrigo Rodriguez
Susan Rooks
Robert Roux
Geronimo Sanchez
Renae Scott
Jane Segal
Michael Stern
Lemlem Terke
Heidi Thornton
Linda Torres
Kim Williams
Michael Wilmore
Philip Wood
James Young

20 years
Behnaam Aazhang
Dallas Adkins
John Alford
Billy Bonner
Paul Bruno
Charles Coleman
Sandi Edwards
Maria G. Espinosa
Arazely Garza
Nancy Henry
Lloyd N. Johnson
Amy Kan
Kerry A. Keck
John Kroll
Alexis Latner
Kiem-Lieu Le
Sara Lowman
Maria Elena Maldonado
Katy McKinin
Martin Merritt
John Paul
Roy Perez
Doyle Price
Mary Anne Reed
Gulzar Rizvi
Alvaro Javier Rodriguez
Leticia Rodriguez
Robin Sickles
Manik Talwani
Linda Torczon
Tong Wang

25 years
Randy Batsell
Kate Beckingham
Karin Broker
Corky Cartwright
Patty Ciampi
Norma Cowley
Guadalupe M. Galván
Richard Grandy
William H. Lassiter
Rod McIntosh
Steve Moniaci
Suzanne Null
Victoria Ottley
Joan Strassmann
John Michael Stuart
Suzana Gamez Vazquez
Mike Watkins
Diania Williams
Kyriacos Zygourakis

30 years
John Anderson
Fitch L. Andrus
Philip Bedient
Veronica Boorom
Alicia Cuadros
Reggie Dufour
Paul Ellison
Willie Gordon
Brian Huberman
Mark Kulstad
Elba Lopez
Sylvia Louie
George Marcus
Basilios Poulos
Jabus Roberts

35 years
Hans G. Ave Lallemant
Ed Billups
Baruch Brody
Lynda Crist
Terrence Doody
Linda Driskill
Paul Engel
Thomas Haskell
Georgia Savage
Richard Tapia
Ewa Thompson
Jim Thompson
Stephen A. Tyler

40 years
Antonio Alejos
Diane Berger
Robert Hauge

Retirees
Patricia Bass
Diane Brown
C. Sidney Burrus*
Edie Carlson*
Robert Curl*
Dean Currie
Margret Eifler*
Joyce Farwell
Joan Ferry
Jo Gerla
Graham Glass*
Ken Hatfield
Laura Hsu*
Iva Jean Jorgensen*
Pat Kambhu
Harriet Keel
Werner Kelber
William Leeman*
Stephen Linscott
Victor Lopez*
Ann Martin*
William Martin*
Bernie Mathes
Mark Mazina
Thomas McEvilley*
Lorenzo Mendez
Maria DeJesus Nino*
Anita Poley
Paul Regalado
Yolanda Sanchez
Ronald Sass*
Richard Smalley–In Memoriam*
Gene Smith*
Ken Smith*
Michael Staunton*
Gale Stokes*
Corazon Tantingco*
Julie Taylor*
Drucilla Vail*
Jackie White*

*Tree plaque recipients

 

 

 

 

 

 

About Mike Williams

Mike Williams is a senior media relations specialist in Rice University's Office of Public Affairs.