Human Resource Services

2002 Prudential Financial Davis Productivity Award Winners

Cash Award Winners
Albert Krause, $300
Researched, justified, and implemented the acquisition of refuse compactors for key areas of the university. His insightful reassessment of university practices are expected to generate an annual savings (including amortization and maintenance costs) of $13,000-$16,000/year to the University of Florida community and will open the door to increased competition for future refuse-hauling contracts supporting the university community as well as the potential for even greater savings.

Office of Technology Licensing (OTL), $300
Achieved a 47% increase in new technology disclosures and a six-fold increase in licenses executed in the last three years, bringing a record number of technologies to market and generating an ongoing revenue stream for UF. The OTL staff increased productivity by implementing a "team" approach, streamlining processes, creating standard operating procedures, and increasing customer service/satisfaction. UF OTL emerged as a model technology licensing office, ranking in the top twenty universities in licensing income, invention disclosures, and patents filed and issued.

Harold E. Hannah, $300
Obtained federal excess property by establishing a rapport with various personnel located at Florida/Georgia military bases. Created a top-notch system for obtaining property at NO COST to the department, and extended this service to other departments, saving the university thousands of dollars. These are funds not available due to budgetary constraints and were only attainable due to Gene's outstanding ability to work above and beyond his job requirements and expectations. His service and accomplishments in this capacity are superior to his peers who perform these and similar duties.

Commemorative Plaque Recipients
Winston Harris, Melody Riedy, and Cynthia Bowker
Reduced 652-783 man-hours yearly and the paperwork needed for the library to reconcile departmental OPS costs, and eliminated paycheck copying and redundant data entry. They developed an extension to an existing computer system, thereby providing each department access to the most current information relating to their OPS budget and expenses. The new functionality provides dynamic, 24-hour access to expenditures for each OPS employee as well as summaries of performance against departmental OPS budgets.

Geoffrey Stewart
Developed a time-saving method of converting from Windows 98 to Windows 2000 that also provided security for the public to use computers while making the conversion extremely smooth, efficient, and cost-effective. He used image creation software to create images of the different configurations required in each department and public-use area, providing repeatable results. This achievement exceeds the normal standards because the office would have normally spent three times as many hours installing the new operating system and setting security.

Daniel Cromwell, Siew Phek Su, and Diana Hagan
Led an ad hoc team of library staff in collaborating with the faculty in the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) to harvest their web publications and automatically create MARC bibliographic records for the UF public access catalog, WebLUIS. The project serves as a first-rate model for automatic cataloging of the web publications. This innovation breaks new ground enabling the library to vastly increase the speed of cataloging.

T.O.P.G.U.N. Customer Service Goal Team
Responded to customer concerns about the level of service from UF's Physical Plant Division (PPD) by surveying customers to determine concerns, identifying problem areas within the organization, developing service standards for PPD Departments, designing a customer-service training program specific to facilities maintenance programs, and delivering the training to 1,000 employees. T.O.P.G.U.N. is an acronym describing the customer-service standards of Team, Own (your job), Prompt, Greet, Understand, and No-Nos.

Edwin J. Harvey
Built an efficient and compliant accounting and data system using off-the-shelf technology to replace a software system used to manage 125 federal grants. The system replaced the one created by an employee whose sudden death made the system unusable. Future employees will be able to understand and utilize the system with minimum knowledge about the grants program.

Dorothy Zimmerman
Orchestrated the evolution of the Florida Sea Grant College Program office environment from individual and independent computer workstations to a server-based, shared computer network system that revolutionized the way the program operates. Computer networking increases the efficiency of intra-office functions, including the use of master data bases for tracking research projects, extension information outreach, and distributions. Concurrently, she supervised two student workers to develop a web-based digital archive of more than 2,400 images that service the information and communication-support needs of the office as well as25 Sea Grant agents and specialists statewide.

Bahar Armaghani
Noticed an extreme increase in the monthly electrical consumption for June 2001. She contacted the Florida Power Corporation (FPC) requesting appropriate meter calibration data. The account manager indicated FPC does regular calibration and nothing should be wrong with consumption data. She requested an independent verification of calibration. FPC personnel discovered computers were not appropriately adjusted when new transformers were installed. The error was corrected. UF received a $583,990 credit for consumption overbilling.

William Richardson
Performed work on a body-coil former, bridgework to house imaging electronics, for use in stem-cell research. An attempted prototype was inadequate due to weight. Bill, on personal time, developed a former from a new PVC material Bio was assessing for another application. The former worked so well, three units were ordered. This material and design are presently being assessed as a new standard for this type of coil.

Tami E. Spurlin
Enabled the elimination of the need for OPS assistance. She accepted additional responsibility and increased her productivity when the administrative assistant went out on medical emergency leave and the department was reorganizing.

Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) Department
Generated one of the largest research-funding campaigns among all materials departments in the nation. The research funding, which comes from a variety of federal and private sources, has enabled UF-MSE to support and educate around 230 graduate students, making the graduate enrollment the largest among all materials departments. The funding has also enabled the department to provide quality education and become recognized as one of the best materials departments in the nation, which has enabled UF-MSE to attract a diverse group of national and international graduate students.

Certificates of Commendation
Gregory Orloff
Created PDF files for the School of Architecture's applications, brochures, and forms required for application to the Graduate School of Architecture, making the application packet available to the students quickly without the cost of paper, copies, staples, envelopes, postage or the time to put them all together. He maintained an e-mail list of graduate students to be able to contact them with information about the school, scholarships, and/or jobs that are available.

Nicholas Florentine
Worked outside the described duties of his position on his own initiative to implement a standup design review process for construction project mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and utility site work. Seeing the need, he effected a new and much more efficient approach of design review, bringing all participants to the table only once in the early stages of the process to discuss compliance with construction codes, desires, and standards. By personally facilitating these meetings, recording the results, and acting as the single point of contact for design issues, has significantly improved the quality of these reviews while reducing the man-hours required.

Sharon R. Hughes
Achieved travel management strategies that saved money and travel time. The innovative steps for this achievement included establishing in-house computational support for making air-travel reservations, coupling this with innovative ground-travel opportunities and optimizing the balance between these to achieve maximum cost- and time-savings. By exploiting the computational tools and identifying and optimizing air and ground travel opportunities, she far exceeded the performance standards of the nominee's rank.

Harry Rockwell
Began a chill-water metering and controls replacement project in-house with PPD employees, taking unusual effort and time away from his normal job duties. His time and research have resulted in large savings on equipment for these projects.

Erick Smith
Identified and took immediate action to control the spread of the Southern Pine Beetles on campus that could have cost the university its natural beauty and thousands of dollars to remove and replace the trees. His efforts saved the university $15,700. Erick continues to monitor the situation.

Distance Diagnostic Identification System (DDIS) Team
Used digital cameras and the Internet to provide a tool for agricultural extension agents to rapidly submit and retrieve information related to crop management, identification of plants and insects, and diagnosis of plant diseases. The system creates an archived digital library of plant problems that can be used in training, educational programs, assisted diagnosis, and data mining.

Honorable Mentions
Jeanna Mastrodicasa
Created the Wednesday Update, an e-mail to all 34,450 undergraduates at the University of Florida. It provides a weekly reminder of upcoming deadlines and information to guide the students, including administrative guidelines, recommendations, and educational enhancement opportunities.

Dennis T. Tharp
Designed and implemented an electronic process to replace a paper/hand-carry process that submits a budget release to Engineering Contracts and Grants from the Office of Engineering Research. Contracts and Grants then uses the same electronic system to print a TR20 form, replacing a manual entry system by the grants specialist. This electronic system vastly improves office efficiency and reduces occasion for calculation and data-entry errors. Additionally, this electronic system has an automatic electronic notification to departments when a budget release is processed. Prior to the establishment of this system no notification was sent.

Engineering C&G/MIS Electronic Budget Transfer Team
With the help of MIS employees, developed and implemented a web-based system that eliminates the need to type a paper budget transfer form physically sent to the Contracts & Grants Accounting Section. It also sends e-mail on the status of the request, and the innovation will update an ACCESS database. The two groups worked closely together and with department staff to create an efficient system to speed up budget transfers. Both groups actively review processes to identify areas to streamline. IFAS Contracts & Grants is sharing these innovations to help its office improve its processes as well.

Training & Development
Offered "One Team," an initiative designed to stimulate teamwork and productivity between UF's Office of Finance & Administration and Student Affairs, in which customer-service training was the focus. Vendors were contacted about delivering the sessions, but UF's own Training & Development team was selected. Through university-specific case studies and original content, interactive exercises and dramatic vignettes, the workshops proved tremendously successful and were delivered to nearly 250 employees over three sessions. The Office of the Registrar was included in the most recent workshop and additional sessions for supervisors are being developed.

Charles Fender
Discovered that by joining the Florida Rural Water Association for a fee of $385 would result in receiving well calibrations at no cost. This is significant, considering that a local firm was spending a group rate of $500 per item to calibrate 34 irrigation wells and 13 meters. The finding resulted in an annual savings to the university of $23,115.

David L. Hermelbracht
Discovered that a UF/IFAS federal employee had the wrong retirement coding for 13 years. This previously undiscovered 1988 coding error had resulted in the IFAS Supplemental Retirement Plan account to be about $32,000 less in contributions. The Division of Retirement (DOR) invoiced the university for the $32,000 PLUS almost $23,000 in delinquent fees to make the individual's account whole. He vigorously pursued the waiver of the fee. The policy of the DOR is to never waive such fees. Through his work, he was successful in getting the DOR to change its policy in this instance, and thereby saved the university almost $23,000.

Jennifer H. Xu
Was in charge of a statewide communications network used to connect 23 Research Centers and 67 county extension office computer sites to campus. After documenting the network configuration, considerable effort was spent to verify the accuracy of ongoing costs. A detailed review was made of all data-line phone bills for each site throughout the state. When discrepancies were found, she repeatedly contacted the various phone companies until the charge rate was corrected and a retroactive rebate was received. While managing the network's technical operation, the nominee recovered more than $50,000 in rebates and an ongoing operational saving of $10,000 per year.

Susan Bragg
Adapted the data collection and software to accommodate new compensation requirements for employees called to active military duty. Implementation of these new procedures and training of leavekeepers to compensate differential salary and holiday pay fulfilled the gubernatorial mandate. She made other procedure changes regarding information being relayed to multiple internal customers. She set up a formatted e-mail to each of the affected departments that gave them the needed information more quickly.

Dow Van Arnam and Gene Drummond
Designed and constructed custom-made bookshelves, counters, hutches, a counter top with double-pedestal drawer cabinets, counters around sink units, a nurses work station suitable for four, and a work station for four medical providers. The fine finished product on each project is a tribute to these men. Their ingenuity saved the Student Health Care Center approximately $12,900.

Performance Appraisal Team
Implemented "peel-and-stick" labels in lieu of costly three-ply performance appraisal forms. These three-ply appraisals previously were printed every two weeks for employees due to be evaluated. The forms were then mailed to the appropriate campus departments. To streamline the process, the team truncated the information to fit a label. This label, in turn, is now mailed to the departments. Departments then obtain the appraisal form from the web, printing it on office paper, and making copies as needed.

Kathy W. Jones
Recovered more than $480,000 of overpaid interest from the federal government for the university. She also initiated a document imaging system that will ultimately eliminate the myriad of paper in the Contracts and Grants Office. These accomplishments are only partial evidence of her unique team-management style that involves staff in decision-making and other processes.

Patrick Bailey
Responded to a $15,000 shortfall in the 2001-2002 budget cycle by improving staff scheduling and web-site use to better serve Intramural (IM) Sports participants at the University of Florida. He has created a "How to Play" web site attracting more than 3,000 hits from IM participants. He also utilized the web to recruit four of the best IM graduate assistants in the nation.

Michael Patrick
Enabled the College of Law to meet the challenge presented by OneFlorida, which removed race as an admissions consideration, to enroll a diverse class with strong credentials. While minority enrollment at comparable schools dropped, the college maintained at 25 percent. A record 2,550 students -- the largest and one of the most qualified candidate pools in school history -- applied for admissions for Fall 2002. This is a 40 percent increase over 2001.