Douglas Brackney has been named the University of Illinois Springfield Employee of the Month for July 2024. He is an administrative aide in the Career Development Center.

His supervisor, Katherine Battee-Freeman, said he is the type of employee that everyone wants on their staff.

“He is a team player who brings positivity to the work and helps others to be their best selves,” Battee-Freeman said. “He is a positive role model outside of work helping to endear the greater Springfield community to UIS.”

Brian Clevenger has been named the University of Illinois Springfield Employee of the Month for June 2024. He is the associate vice chancellor for enrollment and retention management.

His supervisor, Vicki Cook, said he has taken on extra responsibility and demonstrated outstanding management skills.

Carlene Hindert has been named the University of Illinois Springfield Employee of the Month for May 2024. She is a human resources associate in the Human Resources Department.

Her supervisor, Melisa Hatch, said that Hindert is knowledgeable and resourceful.

As part of our ongoing commitment to ensuring our website remains fully compliant with accessibility standards, we are implementing a critical change in the role permissions for our site publishers. Effective August 1st, all current site publishers will be required to use the new editoria11y accessibility module before publishing content to the website. Additionally, a yearly quiz will be administered to ensure an understanding of the accessibility requirements.

John “Jack” Stege has been named the University of Illinois Springfield Employee of the Month for April 2024. He is a building service foreman in the janitorial department.

His supervisor, Pattie Meyer, said that Stege is very enthusiastic about doing a great job.

“He takes a lot of pride in his work and truly cares about the people he serves,” Meyer said. “He continually asked employees and staff what he can do to help in any way to improve the area and is always willing to do more.”

Laci Engelbrecht has been named the University of Illinois Springfield Employee of the Month for March 2024. She is the director of financial aid.

Her supervisor, Vickie Cook, said that Engelbrecht is extremely reliable and productive.

“I rely on her to ensure that the university is meeting the heavily regulated work of financial aid,” Cook said. “Laci is very dependable and her work is greatly appreciated.”

Engelbrecht’s first nominator praised her for being a rare leader.

Amanda Roberts has been named the University of Illinois Springfield Employee of the Month for February 2024. She is an interlibrary loan specialist at UIS Brookens Library.

Her supervisor, Robin Mize, said she is an exceptional employee and that she is always friendly with both colleagues and patrons.

The FY24 budget for the state of Illinois appropriated $3 million in funding that the Illinois State Library has made for authoring, revising/remixing, updating, or creating ancillary materials for OER textbooks. The Open Educational Resource grant has a close turnaround time, with a maximum award of $150,000. Multiple grants can be submitted from the same institution. Applications are due to the Illinois State Library by April 1, 2024.

UIS Information Technology Services IT Technical Associate Zach Logsdon has been named the 2023 Employee of the Year at the University of Illinois Springfield. He was honored during a reception on Jan. 25, 2024, in the UIS Student Union.

Before announcing the winner, UIS Chancellor Janet Gooch thanked the eleven Employees of the Month who were nominated for the award.

Logsdon, who was the December 2023 Employee of the Month, played an integral role in the launch of the new UIS Esports Arena.

The Office of Web and Digital Strategy has added the capability for editors to now submit articles to be published to the Orbit website. The Orbit website is our Internal Communication Hub, meant to improve internal communications and streamline access to resources for employees.