NIU Operating Staff announces
Outstanding Service Award recipients

Four members of Northern Illinois University's Operating Staff have been chosen to receive the Outstanding Service Award for 2003.

The recipients are Joe Baird of Materials Management, Joyce A. Gardner from the Office of the Provost, Jodi Tyrrell from Human Resource Services and Janice Vander Meer of the Department of English.

About 1,800 employees make up the Civil Service staff. Each year, four are selected by a committee of their peers to receive the award of plaques and $1,500. They were honored at a May 2 banquet.

Here is a closer look at the recipients.

Joe Baird

As director of Materials Management, Joe Baird works with a staff of six talented and dedicated managers to operate several service departments that touch the lives of faculty, staff and students every day.

These include Campus Mailing Services, Central Receiving, Central Stores (selling food, office supplies and commodities), Delivery and Moving Services, Furniture Repair Services (upholstery, carpeting, drapery fabrication), Procurement Services (all purchasing activities for the NIU community) and the Property Control Department (tags and monitors university equipment purchases, and runs a unique used office furniture resale program).

Fiscal responsibility, meticulous planning and strong managerial skills all are attributes he brings to the job, NIU Controller Keith Jackson said.

"I can honestly say that I have not met another department head who cares as much as he does for his staff and the people he serves," Jackson said. "He places people first, empowering them to complete their assignments. His staff responds to his trust and leadership and consistently performs at an outstanding level."

Baird, an NIU alum who first worked as a student in Lincoln Hall Food Services, began his career as a food service manager before moving to Auxiliary Services, where he was responsible for bond revenue capital budgets and administering athletic concessions, vending and interior design contracts for the university. He also opened and managed the first university conference facility.

Throughout his 35-year career, he has also volunteered with the NIU Employees Federal Credit Union, serving several terms as board chair, treasurer and secretary.

He plans a May 30 retirement. 

Joyce A. Gardner

Over the last 42 years, Joyce A. Gardner has served as secretary to two NIU presidents and seven provosts.

To her current boss, Provost J. Ivan Legg, she is "a household word in the university of community."

"The people in these leadership roles tend to have rather different styles and dominant personalities," Legg said. "That Joyce was retained over many years by these individuals reinforces her unique ability to adjust easily and be effective."

"Joyce is the key coordinator, image-maker, harmony-keeper and staff role model for that office staff, many of whom she has hired, trained and evaluated over the years," said Jerrold Zar, retired dean of the Graduate School.

Gardner counts among her many duties the coordination of job searches conducted by the provost and the updating of the Academic Policies and Procedures Manual, also now available online.

She also advises the provost on matters of the day by providing background information and prioritizing the schedule, managing communication with virtually the rest of the university and handling office visitors and callers with tact.

Retired Interim Provost Lynne Waldeland calls these - and one of Gardner's little-known legacies - "the sorts of things that go unnoticed if everything is working well."

In 1992, Gardner wrote a letter to Roderick Groves, then the chancellor of the Board of Regents, to argue that the tuition waiver policy for children should carry over for retirees. Her letter helped create that change, Waldeland said.

"The fact that almost no one knows that she did this is typical of Joyce," Waldeland said. "Joyce has always, quietly, been a builder of the NIU community."

Jodi Tyrrell

Jodi Tyrrell began her NIU career in 1977 as a member of the "steno pool" - a trainee program that provided clerical assistance to offices throughout the university - and began her swim upstream to become manager of operating staff services.

An expert in the state employment system, she often works with the State Merit Board to update the system's testing and registration portion. She also has developed new testing procedures, expedited referral procedures, enhanced recruitment and position notification processes and made other quality assurance initiatives for civil service employees.

"Jodi was my right-hand person during her climb up the civil service promotion ladder, and I can speak to her unrelenting dedication and concern," said Dale Jurs, her supervisor for nearly a decade before her retirement last year. "Jodi not only performs her daily responsibilities in an exemplary fashion, she always reaches out to assist above and beyond the scope of her position."

She also has demonstrated a high level of service and interest in the university's system of shared governance and the Operating Staff Council, representing Human Resource Services.

Her interest in serving others extends beyond the NIU campus.

A cancer survivor, Tyrrell serves on the DeKalb County American Cancer Society's Board of Directors and is the founder and regional coordinator for the annual American Cancer Society Relay for Life, which draws several hundred participants.

"Jodi has a special place in her heart for others faced with this challenge," Jurs said. "She always makes time in her busy schedule to counsel, support and encourage people who are in the throes of this disease."

Janice Vander Meer

For Janice Vander Meer, secretary in the Department of English, active membership in the Westminster Presbyterian Church is a high calling.

Vander Meer brings the same devotion to her work at NIU.

"She has been a steward, a deacon, a liturgist, the organist and member of the choir," said Robert Self, director of graduate studies. "In the English department, she is the steward of our accounts, the custodian of our sanctuary and a voice for our values. She is a willing servant to our mission, and the accompanist to all our music."

Her 19-year NIU career is a testimony to organization and balance and communication and efficiency. The department is one of the largest and most complex at the university, with more than 70 faculty and around 700 undergraduate and graduate majors.

She also is responsible for managing a $3.5 million budget.

"Jan miraculously manages to stay on top of this large and diverse variety of resources," said Heather Hardy, chair of the department. "Her job depends critically on the ability to multitask without losing one's composure, 'to keep your head when all about you are losing theirs.' "

Vander Meer is praised for her cheerful willingness to take on extra work, including the duties of other secretaries, administration of course evaluations and support for the teacher certification program. She also helps to train and mentor new secretaries.

She is an honorary member of Sigma Tau Delta, the student English Honor Society, and received the Patricia L. Francis Award for Distinguished Service in 2001, recognizing the individual who contributes the most to the department's mission.

5-12-03