Showing appreciation: Employees share stories of their administrative professional colleagues
Linda Portillo, executive associate with Tech Launch Arizona, helped promote a Spirit Week for TLA employees with themed dress-up days in December. (From left) Rich Weite, senior licensing manager; Ann Chihak Poff, marketing associate; Tiara Bertram, licensing compliance manager; Portillo; and Paul Tumarkin, assistant director of marketing and communications.
Tech Launch Arizona
The university's administrative professionals keep colleges, units and offices throughout campus running smoothly, often behind the scenes and without fanfare. In honor of Administrative Professionals Day, celebrated this year on April 23, we asked members of the university community to share stories and reflections on the administrative professionals who make an impact on their work lives every day.
Read the submissions below.
Linda Portillo, Executive Associate, Tech Launch Arizona
Submitted by: Paul Tumarkin, Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications, Tech Launch Arizona
I think Linda saves the day at least once a day! She is always ready to turn on a dime and jump in to help whenever and wherever needed. We often say that the walls would literally crumble without her. From helping manage our purchases and accounting to whipping our temperamental Zoom rooms into submission to helping manage the insane Venn diagram of overlapping meetings and calendars for the TLA team, Linda seems to calmly take charge of every detail while not only keeping each person's priorities in mind, but also taking the lead to move schedules around based on the office's bigger mission and priorities. She does it all with a smile and a true love and caring for every team member's well-being. And she has chickens, so there are always fresh eggs, which is clucking fantastic.
Lisa Black, Administrative Affairs Coordinator, University of Arizona Health Sciences Office of Communications
Lisa Black, Coordinator, Administrative Affairs, University of Arizona Health Sciences Office of Communications
Submitted by: Kathy Kudravi, Executive Director, Campus Communications and Publications, UAHS Office of Communications
Lisa is always ready to help us manage the bureaucracy, HR, IT, anything so that we can do our jobs better. She is the first person to offer help or guidance or even just a friendly ear when things go sideways. She finds creative solutions to issues we might have, whether it is navigating changes in job descriptions for postings, making sure expenses are done right the first time, getting new employees onboarded and just being proactive in all areas.
(From left) Carol Fleming, Grace Kong, Rosie Lopez and Leigh Madrid make up the College of Veterinary Medicine Administrative Support Team.
Carol Fleming, Grace Kong, Rosie Lopez and Leigh Madrid, College of Veterinary Medicine Administrative Support Team
Submitted by: Erin Robbins, Assistant to the Dean, College of Veterinary Medicine
The College of Veterinary Medicine's Administrative Support Team is truly phenomenal. As the backbone of our day-to-day operations, we are enormously proud to recognize their contributions on Administrative Professionals' Day. Their consistent reliability, resourcefulness and positive attitude contribute significantly to the smooth operations of our office. Outside of work, their endeavors include pursuing a Ph.D., writing a 300+ page novel, caregiving, traveling the world and volunteering – a testament to the many talents they bring to our community.
As a new college, they're very skilled at adapting to the constantly evolving needs of the workplace and helping to refine procedures as we grow. As the eyes and ears of the college, they're often a first stop for anyone needing answers to a wide gamut of questions. They provide simultaneous behind-the-scenes support and front-facing services to students, staff and faculty who gravitate to their workspaces knowing they will get the assistance they need.
Most of all, they not only support the college but they also support each other and create an infectious joy and laughter at our front desks. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't leave a transaction with one of our admin support professionals with a long-winded laugh or smile. We are very grateful to our stellar administrative colleagues!
Aurora Plascencia, Executive Assistant, School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences
Aurora Plascencia, Executive Assistant, School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences
Submitted by: Zelieann Craig, Assistant Dean for Research, College of Agriculture, Life and Environmental Sciences, and Associate Professor, School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences
Aurora's official title is executive assistant to the director of the School of ACBS, but she fills so many roles. She not only assists our director but also fulfills many other roles in the department including handling travel requests and reports for faculty, handling promotion and tenure packets, the faculty annual review process and even several academic business tasks such as collecting syllabi, etc. Now those things may seem very normal depending on someone's workload.
Erma Santander, Executive Assistant, Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences
What makes Aurora noteworthy is the fact that she carries a huge elder care responsibility on top of work. Despite this, she performs at above-and-beyond levels to the point that no one would ever be able to tell how much Aurora does in and outside of work. I really value her effectiveness, hard work and resilience. She truly exemplifies the Wildcat spirit!
Erma Santander, Executive Assistant, Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences
Submitted by: Cindy Barnett, Accountant, Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences
Erma is usually the first face you see when you come to our department. She is friendly and caring and always knows what's going on in the department. She is super helpful with all the staff and students and gives her all to everything she touches. We are forever grateful to have her!
Laura Bracamonte, Executive Associate, University Information Technology Services
Submitted by: Andy Lewis, Lisa Barrow, Catherine Correia, Felisha Lopez, Jennifer Bailey, Angela Federico and Danitza Robles-Hoyos
Laura Bracamonte
Our dear colleague, Laura Bracamonte, UITS executive associate, passed away in late March. We were shocked and devastated when we heard. Her warmth, kindness and spirit made a profound difference in our professional lives. She created unity and brought people together in a meaningful and consistent way and made everyone feel welcome.
She is described as a true light, a ray of sunshine and extremely dependable. You never had to follow up with her; she was a rock. Laura's calm demeanor, humor and sweetness left an impression. She made everything feel a little bit lighter, even when things were stressful. She left a void in our lives – professionally and personally. Everyone should be so fortunate to have a colleague (and friend) like Laura.