Office of Vice President, Dean of Students in University honors staff members for dedicated service to students

Anne Gamboa, Student Affairs Administrator for the Committee on Social Thought for the past 14 years, has been named the 2007 recipient of the Marlene F. Richman Award for Excellence and Dedication in Service to Students.

Gamboa was honored at an annual picnic organized for staff and administrators in the Office of the Vice President and Dean of Students in the University, where five additional awards, the Vice President and Dean of Students Staff Recognition Awards, were presented. These awards recognize staff in the Vice President and Dean of Students division who have made a valuable impact on University life, whether through their interactions with students, faculty or staff, or through the development of new systems, policies and programs.

The winners of these awards that are given in five categories, are Brian Bock, Facilities Manager for Physical Education & Athletics; Robin Graham, Assistant Director of the Office of Minority Student Affairs; Deb Pratt, Administrative Director of Student Counseling & Resource Service; Natalie Tilghman, Assistant Director of the Office of Graduate Affairs; and Ana Vazquez, Deputy Dean of Students and Director of the Office of Minority Student Affairs.

The 2007 selection committee received more than 80 nominations from students for the Richman award this year. Undergraduate and graduate students wrote of Gamboa’s dedication and her willingness to act as an intermediary between them and their teachers on the faculty. By shepherding through paperwork and handling the logistics of presentations, exams, fellowship and grant applications, dissertation proposals and doctoral lectures, Gamboa made it possible for students to devote their time and efforts to demonstrating their merits.

“She really made the third floor of Foster [Hall] seem like a kind of academic home. Especially in the Committee [on Social Thought], where professors are often in one quarter and away the next, Anne has provided a powerful sense of stability that we very much need,” wrote one student in a nomination letter.

“She has always genuinely cared about my experiences at the University and my progress through my studies. She genuinely likes the students and is sincerely supportive,” the student wrote.

Gamboa will receive an extra service payment and an engraved clock, and her name will be inscribed on the Marlene F. Richman Award plaque to be displayed in the Reynolds Club.

The award is named for Richman, who served students with extraordinary commitment and caring during her career at the University—a career that spanned four decades and included serving as Resident Master of Burton-Judson Courts and 36 years as a Career Advising & Planning Services career counselor.

In the Vice President and Dean of Students Staff Recognition Awards, Bock was chosen to receive the Outstanding Service in the University Community award, which recognized him for effectively working with various constituents in the community to make sure visits to the recreational facilities on campus were positive.

Graham received the Outstanding Newcomer to the Division award, which is given to a staff member who has worked at least six months but no more than three years in his or her current position. Graham was honored for her efforts with several initiatives in the Office of Minority Student Affairs, including the Chicago Multicultural Connection mentoring program. She also was recognized for her role in developing a new program in conjunction with Career Advising & Planning Services to market a variety of internships to students.

Pratt received the Stephen P. Klass STAR award, which stands for Service, Teamwork, Attitude and Reliability. Pratt has exemplified these qualities through 19 years of support to the Student Counseling Resource Service team.

Tilghman received the Innovation Award for the development of the Graduate Student Family Resource Center, and the programming and activities she has coordinated for graduate and professional students with children at the University. The Graduate Student Family Resource Center has gained more than 300 registered members in its first year of operation.

Vazquez was honored with the Outstanding Service to Students award for serving as an advocate for students of color and playing the role of mentor to them.

All of the winners of the Vice President and Dean of Students Staff Recognition Awards received a certificate of appreciation, a University memento and their names will be engraved on a plaque that will hang on the second floor of the Reynold’s Club.

The group of award recipients also will meet Kimberly Goff-Crews, the incoming Vice President and Dean of Students in the University, at a lunch at the Quad Club this summer.