Dr. Norman Whitley and Dr. Caroline Noyes say, "Donna stepped out of retirement to take her role in Academic Affairs, and over the past few months she has worked tirelessly to serve the various constituencies at UNO. While her days are filled with routine phone calls and written correspondence, she is also responsible for shepherding time sheets, hiring, travel, and other assorted paperwork that has to travel through administrative pathways. For several months she also performed most of the duties of the business manager of Academic Affairs (a position held by Judy Scott).
She has also had responsibility for combing through decades of paperwork in the filing cabinets, reorganizing, consolidating, and archiving those files that need to be retained while destroying those files that can safely be destroyed. She also has the challenge of managing a number of calendars, and identifying the rare overlap of free time in which to schedule meetings. When students come to the office with concerns, she is frequently their first contact, and if she's not able to help, she always seeks out the appropriate person, whether in Academic Affairs or in other offices across campus. She is gracious and accommodating. In example, she ensures that there is ALWAYS coffee available for those in need, even though that is not her job.
She does all of this (and more) with grace and a wonderful sense of humor. She is also, it should be noted, a ringleader in the provost office redecorating efforts when the provost is out of town.
Bottom line, the Office of Academic Affairs runs as smoothly as it does because of her presence and commitment to ensuring that people feel welcome when they interact with us and leave with a sense that we have done all we could to help. She comes to work early and leaves late every day. Without her, the interim provost would not have been able to do his job for these last 5 months. She is a role model, and given that she is "retired," she is truly exceptional.
For all this, we believe that she is worthy of being Employee of the Month."