Staff Council honors exceptional CU employees

The University of Colorado Staff Council (UCSC) recently honored 10 exceptional employees across the CU system with the 2023 Staff Excellence Awards.

CU staff members – two from each campus and from system administration – received the honors, which annually recognize those who go above and beyond their job duties and consistently surpass expectations. Each received a $250 award presented at the Oct. 6 ceremony at the Hilton Inverness Denver in Englewood.

This year’s recipients are:

University of Colorado Boulder

                Kara Bajdas

                Bree Orozco

University of Colorado Colorado Springs

                Chrissie Bailey

                Kristina Coggins

University of Colorado Denver

                Tawnya Boulier

                Kenny Sisco

University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

                Jennifer Thurston

                Lisa Testaverde

University of Colorado System Administration

                Kristina Mendez

                Faraz Ali

See more on the awardees here.

Each year, a variety of CU leaders are invited to attend the ceremony. This year we were excited to have Regents Frank McNulty, Lesley Smith and Ilana Dubin Spiegel in attendance, with Regent McNulty addressing attendees.

“You all show up daily to advance the work and to put CU’s best foot forward,” McNulty said. “The way I see it, there is no University of Colorado without you and your colleagues sitting at the very center of what we do best and showing up every day.”

This year’s call for nominations resulted in over 300; of those, over 200 nominees were eligible to receive the award. It is truly inspirational to hear how each nominee has positively impacted those they work with, their work culture, and has in some way made CU a better place to work.

“The University of Colorado is about doing great things and you are at the very center of the remarkable things the university is doing to transform research, radically change discovery and innovation, advance life-saving health care, and much, much more, including exploring the stars,” McNulty said. “Together, we are positively impacting our state, our nation and our world.”

For more information about the Staff Excellence Awards or the University of Colorado Staff Council, please visit our website: https://www.cu.edu/ucsc/ucsc-staff-excellence-award.

- By Shelly Lange, Communications Officer, University of Colorado Staff Council