The Exceptional Staff Award is a new award that honors and celebrates the valuable efforts staff members make toward supporting the mission of the department and upholding our core values of collaboration, continuous learning and mentorship, and integrity and accountability. We had six amazing nominees this year: Alison Laing, department research administration; Jessica Leith, Evidence Based Practice Institute; Kim Nguyen, department research administration; Juliann Salisbury, AIMS Center; Gayle Schneider, psychiatry clerkship program; and Emily Taylor, HaRRT Center. Two staff members were chosen for this year’s award: Kim Nguyen and Gayle Schneider.

Kim supported our research post award activities for over 16 years until her retirement this month. Excerpts from her  nomination packet describe her as exceptional, effective, outstanding, and open-minded. Her nominator, Michael V. Vitiello, PhD, said, “I can safely say that, in my thirty-plus years as faculty member and active researcher who worked closely with a fair number of very qualified and competent fiscal managers and supervisors, Kim is far and away the best fiscal staff member it has been my privilege to work with.”

Gayle serves as the Psychiatry Clerkship Administrator, shepherding all of the UW medical students through their required, six-week Psychiatry Clerkship every year as well as the 4th year UW and visiting students. Adjectives in her nomination packet include exemplary, exceptional, hardworking, caring and dependable. Said one nominee, “Gayle is one of the most dedicated and most intelligent people I have worked with. She always brings her impressive analytical abilities to any team she is on. She is a superb employee and fabulous person. The department has greatly benefited from her excellent service.”