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Shannon Murphy
Manager of Health Services
On Wednesday, Dec. 17, President and CEO Claude Brulé presented the President’s Star Award to Shannon Murphy, the College’s Manager of Health Services.
The President’s Star Award is given to employees who demonstrate a commitment to excellence in their role within the College community; regularly and consistently demonstrate outstanding service; and truly embody our shared commitment to student success and the College’s values of Caring, Learning, Integrity and Respect.
Nomination of Shannon Murphy:
“Shannon consistently improves the processes in Health Services, increasingly utilizing the capabilities within the TELUS Health system used in the clinic. This has included introducing text reminders, cutting no shows and introducing self service appointment booking for students. Shannon is currently looking at introducing transcription of appointment notes using AI, saving time so physicians can see more students.
Shannon consistently achieves the goals in her PMP, is a respected leader within Student Support Services and brings her significant technical ability and empathic style of leadership to bear in every situation.
Shannon leads the Health Services team in the partnership with the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Care Group, providing psychiatry services to our students with the most significant mental health concerns, a vital service that provides access to the best clinical care in a matter of weeks, compared to 18 months to two years in the community. This is a key retention tool, allowing students to stay and succeed because they have appropriate medication and ongoing support.
Staff frequently say that Shannon is the best manager they have ever had in their career. Staff stop me in corridors to tell me how amazing Shannon is and that they love having her as their manager.
In the last six months, Shannon oversaw the introduction of Clinical Viewer at the clinic: this is a provincial tool, tracking health information from all hospitals and doctors, and access to that allows our physicians and nurses to be 100 per cent up to date on any care a student has had in the community, any tests completed, any current treatment etc. This prevents unnecessary testing, duplication of work, provides clarity and timely information. If a student is in hospital on the weekend for a mental health crisis, we can see it on a Monday morning and provide a continuation of care. It saves time, money, duplication and provides far more effective health outcomes. Due to the nature of the tool, significant security and training protocols were needed, and Shannon succeeded in navigating Risk, Privacy and ITS in introducing this tool where three previous managers could not.
During the work stoppage, there was significant pressure on the CAL testing and Test Centre teams due to the lack of staff, as they delivered for external testing and prepared for and executed mid terms exams. As the previous manager of these teams, Shannon understood processes and was indefatigable in supporting these teams and their current manager. As well as managing her own teams, which was impacted by the work stoppage, Shannon based herself in Testing Services and ran the service single handedly so the staff at work could focus on the mid term preparation and execution that was so desperately needed. Shannon always had a smile, was encouraging, solved problems, served students, supported staff and faculty and was instrumental in the team navigating that challenge successfully. We could not have done it without her.
Over the past few months Shannon has been observing student conduct so she can be a back up for me if I am unavailable. During the strike, Shannon stepped up and was the SSS lead in the student conduct process, which of course occurred during mid term week, when Shannon was also supporting the Test Centre and CAL Testing. Shannon brings a thoughtful and compassionate approach to these challenging cases.
For the past two years Shannon has led an initiative with Centretown Community Health Centre to provide training for the physicians and nurses in Health Services on gender related care and trans care, allowing physicians to now provide care for trans students in our clinic, avoiding the significant wait times of more than four years for treatment in the community. This is important because this student group has significantly higher incidents of mental health challenges and suicide ideation, and receiving appropriate medical care is a significant mitigating factor and a retention tool.
I cannot recommend Shannon strongly enough for a Presidents Star Award, it would be a wonderful way to recognize her expertise, empathy, leadership and commitment to our students and her colleagues.
Maggie Cusson, Katherine Root and Barry Seller
Algonquin College Pickleball Club leaders
On Wednesday, Dec. 17, President and CEO Claude Brulé presented the President’s Star Award to Maggie Cusson, Katherine Root and Barry Seller.
The President’s Star Award is given to employees who demonstrate a commitment to excellence in their role within the College community; regularly and consistently demonstrate outstanding service; and truly embody our shared commitment to student success and the College’s values of Caring, Learning, Integrity and Respect.
Nomination of Maggie Cusson, Katherine Root and Barry Seller:
“In recognition of their efforts and outstanding dedication to employee wellness, College culture and sense of employee pride and engagement, I am pleased to nominate Maggie, Katherine and Barry for organizing and leading the AC Pickleball Club (ACPC).
Their enthusiasm, dedication and passion for the game bring employees together each week through this fun and engaging sport that has had a positive impact on employee morale, workplace camaraderie and teambuilding.
To make an activity like this happen, a lot goes on behind the scenes, including securing facility space, planning the league, organizing drills, coordinating schedules, securing equipment and ensuring that everything runs smoothly each week. Using the “side” of each of their desks, Maggie, Katherine and Barry have done an exceptional job making this activity come alive for College employees through their shared leadership, organization and strong commitment to the College’s first Core Value — Caring.
Twice per week beginning in October, and three times a week beginning in January, these three individuals were always available to answer questions, share resources and demonstrate different tips and tricks (including serves, returns, dinks and scoring) to ensure everyone — from the newest of beginners to those seasoned pickleball players — felt welcome, included and encouraged to participate.
Enabling connections beyond the court, Maggie, Katherine and Barry established an online community that included resources, YouTube videos, a Halloween-themed week of band T-shirts, tournament organization and other encouraging posts.
The weekly club has been very popular and successful, with each semester’s edition culminating in an exciting (and competitive) round-robin tournament followed by a social event with an opportunity for connection and celebration (including prizes/trophies for first, second and third place finishers) on campus in the Observatory or Wolves Den.
These gatherings also give us the opportunity to share how grateful we were for Maggie, Katherine and Barry’s tireless efforts in making this a fun and memorable experience! We are all looking forward to continuing the success of the ACPC throughout the summer and into the next academic year!
I believe the three of them have truly gone above and beyond in bringing this opportunity to fruition, and I am hopeful their contributions will be recognized as an integral part of fostering a positive and engaged workplace culture.”
Cathy Dewar
Academic Technician
On Thursday, Jan. 23, President and CEO Claude Brulé presented the President’s Star Award to Academic Technician Cathy Dewar.
The President’s Star Award is given to employees who demonstrate a commitment to excellence in their role within the College community; regularly and consistently demonstrate outstanding service; and truly embody our shared commitment to student success and the College’s values of Caring, Learning, Integrity and Respect.
Nomination of Cathy Dewar, submitted by Cory Haskins:
I am honoured to nominate Cathy for the Excellence in Service Award. Cathy consistently goes above and beyond in her role, demonstrating an unwavering commitment to excellence within our College community.
Commitment to Excellence: Cathy spearheaded the food donation program to the Pinecrest Community Centre during COVID-19. The initiative was extremely well received by the seniors in our local community.
Outstanding Service: Cathy organized the Cornerstone Women’s Shelter charity fundraiser [alongside chef Tanya Skeates]. This activity not only assisted the shelter’s residents but also helped foster a sense of community within the Business and Hospitality department.
Innovative Strategies: Cathy has explored innovative strategies to increase awareness of Restaurant International. [She spearheaded collaboration] with Melissa Mui, a renowned digital content creator based in Ottawa, to promote the program on Instagram. Melissa’s account, @melshangrytable, has 38,000 followers. Melissa visited the college, learned about our program, and created a dedicated Instagram post that garnered over 138,000 views. This significantly increased the visibility and interest in our program. This collaboration highlights Cathy’s innovative approach and underscores the potential of leveraging social media to enhance student engagement and program visibility.
In conclusion, Cathy is a shining example of service excellence. Her dedication, compassion and commitment to our community make her a deserving recipient of the Excellence in Service Award. She truly embodies the values and spirit of our College.
Tony Holyer
Workday Systems Analyst
On Wednesday, Jan. 15, President and CEO Claude Brulé presented the President’s Star Award to Workday Systems Analyst Tony Holyer.
The President’s Star Award is given to employees who demonstrate a commitment to excellence in their role within the College community; regularly and consistently demonstrate outstanding service; and truly embody our shared commitment to student success and the College’s values of Caring, Learning, Integrity and Respect.
Nomination of Tony Holyer:
Tony is an adored member of the Workday Support team. He has an easy laugh and special charm that endears him to others. Tony’s commitment to excellence and embodiment of the core values go hand in hand. He is always ready to assist colleagues with their questions and generously shares his extensive knowledge, even when he is swamped with other requests. He never makes you feel like a burden for reaching out to him and he is always willing to help — even if it’s your third question for him in a day! You always know when talking to Tony that you are going to learn something!
While working on a recent change request relating to banking, Tony has been working late to assist a colleague on tasks that were complex and new. He showed caring while taking time out of his already full day to walk them through the steps in the process and provided extra detail in responses to make sure they understood. He showed learning by diving into some of the tasks unrelated to his role to show the colleague how to complete the work, even though he had to investigate and learn first himself. This change request involves working with an outside company and Tony has showed integrity by ensuring that the work performed by the non-College employees meets Algonquin internal controls and security. He hasn’t been afraid to speak up when there are issues and has been firm in making sure the system build exceeds expectations before moving to user acceptance testing. In this situation he also showed respect because the colleague always felt respected even while making mistakes in learning this new work, and he maintained a professional relationship with both internal and external stakeholders.
These themes are echoed in this example from a Human Resources colleague:
- “Tony consistently demonstrates exceptional patience, dedication and outstanding service when gathering requirements for new HR reports and dashboards. His meticulous approach ensures that every stakeholder’s needs are thoroughly understood and addressed. He eagerly participates in design sessions, configuring several iterations of the reports resulting in dashboards that are both highly functional and user-friendly. Tony’s ability to listen attentively and ask insightful questions has significantly improved our HR reporting capabilities, including the Timekeeper Dashboard, the My Team Management Dashboard, the Training Dashboard and the Executive Dashboard, making him an invaluable asset to our team.”
Tony’s ability to solve complex problems is invaluable. In the last few months, on two separate issues, consultants advised that it was not possible to configure Workday to meet business requirements. In both cases, Tony had an idea about what could work and pursued it from various angles until he had an innovative, workable solution. This resulted in new knowledge shared with colleagues and more efficient and accurate processes in the Absence and Benefits domains.
While not directly interacting with students, Tony appreciates that the more the Workday system can deliver for the College and the easier it is for employees to interact with, the more time, resources and patience they will have for our students.
These few examples are the tip of the iceberg of the role that Tony has played in shaping and evolving the Workday system for the benefit of the College as a whole, and in guiding and mentoring his colleagues, helping us to grow and develop our own skills. We are incredibly lucky to have him on our team and part of our AC community!