2016-17 Kevin Taylor Service Award winner and nominees

Highlights from Shellie Eide's nomination letter:

During every work-related project or problem and interpersonal interaction, no matter how stressful or high-stakes, or how casual and minor, Shellie exemplifies the characteristics that the award is designed to recognize and reward.

When presented with a problem to solve or project to work on, no matter how it came her way or how big or small, she has an easy-going, positive, intelligent, and intuitive way of thinking through the facets and coming up with the best way(s) to proceed. Smart and creative problem-solving is what Shellie does on a daily basis for UIT and The University of Utah.

Beyond her technical prowess and experience, what makes Shellie truly special is that beyond her technical and logical problem-solving skills she has the remarkable ability to present her analyses and possible pathways and solutions in a highly collegial, collaborative way that is inclusive of the others involved. Using her excellent people and teamwork skills in collaborating elbow-to-elbow with colleagues within UIT and across campus, she is adept at offering solutions and helping the team sort through the pros and cons of each one, so that together the team can come up with the best possible path. Her intrinsic qualities of empathy, compassion and kindness shine through to everyone she works with, making her a go-to team player in any situation. Her humility and approachability when working with her colleagues means that countless people at the U, myself included, turn to Shellie when we need a calm, wise, logical, and creative guide to work something through.

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Excerpts from letters for the other nominees

Robin Horton, Service Management

Robin has a knack for presenting a resolution to a situation without it seeming like she has presented anything or guided the process.  She gently nudges people toward a UIT process which will resolve a situation, or she will write down some information on a post-it and just give it to you in passing which will help you in the work that you are doing.  She is non-intrusive, yet very effective in acting as a collaborator or a team liaison.

She’s the ideal, empathetic, exemplary, and quintessential UIT employee, which should be cloned.  She is kind, intelligent, compassionate, dependable, proficient, generous, and an exceptional individual who brings out the best in those she associates with. She is the first to assist others in any way she can and to keep business running smoothly no matter what she has to do.

Adam Howsley, Service Management

Adam is a great example of collaboration and teamwork across these diverse and distinct user communities. He found common ground and listened to concerns from his staff but also set a clear roadmap which included the benefits of changing how the team worked.  He understands and finds opportunities for improvement with various University workflows. Adam instills a strong desire for improvement within his team and is well respected and trusted.

Adam strongly demonstrates the legacy of my friend Kevin. He is calm, factual, kind, and very open to creatively creating the solutions that will work for everyone impacted. He met with us, helped calm us down and assure us that the tool was going to work great and then backed his talk up with the configuration and testing that really worked.

Jason Moeller, University Support Services (USS)

Jason does a masterful job balancing the needs of the University with the needs of his team and his customers. He’s open to new ways of approaching things. He works hard to make sure that our associates are heard and that their opinions are considered and aired as they come up. He is respected and liked by UIT in general as well as USS.

Jason in the embodiment of someone who cares for the people working for him as well as getting the job done. He represents the development teams in management meetings, and he understands the capability and capacity of his teams. He pushes the team but not to the point of over-working them. He has kept the teams positive in their approach and moving into the new models at a fast pace.