Five employees receive President’s Award for Excellence

Sherri Albert, HR coordinator for the School of Education, has worked for Virginia Tech since 2000.

Cynthia Ellis, fiscal technician for the School of Education, wrote in a letter of nomination: “Sherri consistently displays leadership and excellence in the quality of her work and her work ethics. Sherri’s attention to detail, knowledge of university policies and procedures, and willingness to go beyond the normal eight-hour business day is phenomenal. She is the ‘go to’ person when I or my colleagues have questions about hiring and/or leave policies and procedures. She never shows pressure if under a deadline and always has a kind word to give to everyone.”

Debra Harry, program support technician for the Virginia Tech Army ROTC, has worked for Virginia Tech since 1991.

Lt. Col. Daniel Harrison of ROTC Army wrote in a letter of nomination: “As the only university employee at Virginia Tech Army ROTC, Debra has countless university authorities critical for the completion of the ROTC mission. She is personally responsible for processing approximately $9 million in Department of Defense (DOD) scholarship money into Virginia Tech each year. Debra's amazing impact is reflected by her immense daily contributions and responsibilities. She has been the single most important person in enhancing the image of Army ROTC at this university. Her efforts were instrumental and critical to Virginia Tech Army ROTC being selected by the Secretary of Defense for the DOD ROTC Partnership Excellence Award for the 2022-23 and the 2023-24 academic years, recognizing our program as first of 274 Army ROTC programs in the nation two years in a row, an unprecedented honor in the history of this extremely prestigious award! This clearly elevated the image of not just Army ROTC, but the Corps of Cadets and Virginia Tech as this feat was celebrated nationally by U.S. Army Cadet Command and the Department of Defense.”

Marcus Haynie, facilities and operations manager for the School of Performing Arts (SOPA), has worked for Virginia Tech since 2022. 

Karine Dupre, associate dean for research and creative scholarship for the College of Architecture, Arts, and Design (AAD), wrote in a letter of nomination: “Marcus’s work and actions have constantly brought positive attention to the university by not only providing an excellent management of the SOPA facilities, but also by demonstrating proactive leadership in anticipating, organizing, and solving last minute problems across teaching, research, and service and during big events. With the new college structure for AAD (2022) and our quest to improve all our research facilities at the college level, I have been specifically impressed by how Marcus provides a methodological approach that displays creative and innovative thinking that helps us reconsider our facilities from a new angle and would help in decreasing the amount of leased spaces. Being a facility manager rarely suggests inventive, creative, or problem-solving approaches to their responsibilities, yet Marcus embraces the latter for the challenges posed by his colleagues, whether they are a theatre director or a musician.”

Kenneth "Ken" Knott, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) facility manager for the Department of Chemistry, has worked for Virginia Tech since 2013.

John Matson, professor and associate department chair for chemistry, wrote in a letter of nomination: “Combined with the great working relationship and trust he has established with the NMR manufacturers, Ken is usually able to troubleshoot and fix issues without site visits for repair, saving both time and tens of thousands of dollars each year. During the pandemic, he developed protocols for submitting and running samples, several of which became a standard used by many other universities' NMR facilities. By maintaining an outstanding facility and helping researchers use these instruments to make new discoveries, Ken enhances research in my department and well beyond. In fact, his work has gone beyond Blacksburg, Ken has hosted several workshops for the international NMR community, including one on running a facility during the pandemic, another on selecting and installing helium recovery systems, and yet another on the helium crisis and its impact on NMR facilities. Ken's efforts have brought international recognition to our facility and helped make Virginia Tech a leader in current NMR best practices.”

Bobby Polly, associate director of utilities distribution for Mechanical Utilities, has worked for Virginia Tech since 1994.

Nam Nguyen, executive director of energy and utilities, wrote in a letter of nomination: “Not only is Bobby capable, he is willing, always leading the way, and participating in the work with his team. His leadership and commitment to excellence set the expectations for his team and aspire them to do their best, to ‘care and serve.’ Bobby was coached and mentored by his predecessor and now he is doing the same to his team, preparing them with the same stewardship mentality.  Whether he is working in the heat of summer, dead of winter, mud, snow, ice, or the 130 degrees Fahrenheit dark and cramped steam tunnel, Bobby can be counted on to maintain services to critical academic and research activities. His measure of success is to be unknown, serving the university so well that the utility services perform without users having to give them any thoughts.”