Celebrating Our Staff

The college held its annual Awards for Excellence luncheon April 20, 2017, to recognize and celebrate Humanities and Social Sciences staff.

Eight staff members were nominated by their peers or supervisors for Awards for Excellence.   

The college’s 2017 nominees were Gail Bass, Psychology; Stephanie Carter, Business Services; Courtney Hamilton, History; Melissa Jackson, English; Laura Kelly, Communication; Lauren Kirkpatrick, College Communications; Missy Seate, Research; and Cara Smelter, English.

The two staff members who received the college’s Award for Excellence were Melissa Jackson and Missy Seate. Other nominees received Pride of the WolfPack certificates that recognize NC State employees for special and unique contributions.

Melissa Jackson, Assistant to the Department Head and Business Office, has worked in the Department of English for four years. Her nominator, Department Head Tony Harrison, says during that time, Melissa “has made the most extraordinary contributions I have ever witnessed, not only to workplace morale and quality, but also to the public image of the department, whose general tone and impression she has remarkably enhanced through many, sometimes subtle, sometimes overt programs of innovation, and through her quiet example of cheerful industry, imaginative vision, and thoughtful, sensitive human interactions. The result has been an amazing enhancement of workplace organization, efficiency, professionalism, and the maintenance of high ethical and intellectual standards for our department.” He says she’s done this through “a combination of personal qualities, of volunteerism, of study — in the form of university workshops and the implementation of the knowledge and skills she has absorbed from them — and of action to directly or indirectly communicate her learning, personal traits, and values to everyone who interacts with her, coworkers and faculty colleagues alike. In doing so, she has earned the profound respect of everyone who works with her.”

Missy Seate has been the Director of Research Administration in the College of Humanities and Social Science since 2009. She’s a Certified Research Administrator (CRA) and is responsible for all aspects of the college’s research administration, including pre-award grant proposal preparation and budgeting, post-award management, spending, and regulatory compliance. Her nominator, Associate Dean for Research Tom Birkland, says Missy’s knowledge of university systems and requirements “is excellent — among the best in this university. She is called upon by faculty and staff to provide expert advice on financial and research compliance matters, which makes her a highly-valued member of the management team in the college. … Beyond our college, Missy has earned praise and respect from her counterparts in other colleges who have worked with her on interdisciplinary projects. … Missy is a real contributor not just for our college, but for the entire campus.”

Winners from each of the university’s colleges will be recognized at the NC State University Awards for Excellence ceremony on June 7 at 2:00 pm in the Talley Student Center. Five individuals will receive special distinction at that event and go forward for consideration for the Governor’s Awards for Excellence, the highest honor awarded to a state employee.

The college’s awards program also noted staff members who have reached milestone years in their careers with the state:

Five years of service:

• Lindsey McGowen, research scholar, Department of Psychology
• LaShica Waters, adviser, School of Public and International Affairs

Ten years of service:

• Allen Emory, executive assistant for academic affairs
• Megan Glancy, adviser and lecturer, Department of Sociology and Anthropology
• Jenny King, trainer and training coordinator, Center for Family and Community Engagement
• Scottie Mayes, technology support, CHASS IT
• Vijay Tailor, technology support lead, CHASS IT

Fifteen years of service:

• Justin Daves, director of IT and college facilities coordinator
• Robin Kube, lecturer, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures

Twenty years of service:

• Neko Everett, accounting technician, college business services

Former award nominees served on the luncheon planning committee and selected this year’s winners. Led by awards coordinator Crissy Williams-Brown, the committee was comprised of Michelle Branch, Academic Affairs; Bruce Cheek, Interdisciplinary Studies; John Craig, Sociology and Anthropology; and Scott Maddox, CHASS IT.