The West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (91㽶Ƶ) celebrated employee achievements by honoring retirees, recognizing employees for years of service and awarding faculty and staff for their extraordinary work in advancing the institution.
“I think there’s a sense of community that is stronger than ever at 91㽶Ƶ, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate everyone working together, cooperating and figuring out how we can meet the challenges we are facing, both in our personal lives and our professional lives,” said 91㽶Ƶ President James W. Nemitz, Ph.D.
This year, 91㽶Ƶ’s Office of Human Resources hosted the Employee Celebration virtually. The event recognized four retirees: Elayne “Charlie” Brown, Deborah Harvey, Roger Sams and Darlene Wright.
The President’s Outstanding Employee Award, which is given annually to selected employees who are identified to the president through a vote by 91㽶Ƶ faculty and staff as outstanding employees for the current academic year, recognizes exceptional and dedicated service to 91㽶Ƶ. The goal of the award is to raise awareness in the campus community of the indispensable contributions made by the employee to the quality, diversity and overall mission of 91㽶Ƶ. Ten employees were nominated. They were Tiffany Burns, Alicia Luckton, Joyce Martin, Sherri Miller, Karla Pauley, Jennifer Seams, Leah Stone, Joe Wagner, Peter Ward, Ph.D., and Alicia Winters. This year’s winners were Joe Wagner and Peter Ward, Ph.D.
Two faculty members, Crystal Boudreaux, Ph.D., and Deborah Schmidt, D.O., received this year’s President’s Outstanding Faculty Award. The award is presented each year to members of the faculty in recognition of their excellence in teaching and commitment to osteopathic medical education.
The Living Our Mission Award recognizes 91㽶Ƶ staff who exemplify professional excellence, an understanding of and commitment to 91㽶Ƶ, and a commitment to achieving the school’s mission. This year’s winners were Jonah Bowen, Nicholas Cornwell, Stella Dodrill, Mike Fowler, Kyle Jones, Carrie Lawrence, Jonathan Mabry, Eddie Miller, Shawn Morgan, Jennifer Seams, Dawn Thomas, Joseph Wagner and Alicia Winters.
The Statewide Campus Pride Award recognizes an employee in one of the seven Statewide Campus regions who goes above and beyond in their service to 91㽶Ƶ and the students they serve. The employee’s characteristics consist of being people-oriented, respectful, innovative, dedicated and effective. Hilary Hamric, D.O., was this year’s recipient.
The Rising Star Award honors a newly hired employee who has already demonstrated a strong commitment to the school, an understanding of how their position supports the school’s mission and a commitment to working with others to engage the school’s future. This year’s winner was Mike Fowler.
The celebration also recognized employees for reaching milestones in five-year increments of service at 91㽶Ƶ. In addition to recognizing a number of employees who have reached milestones of service, 91㽶Ƶ recognized six employees who achieved 20 or more years of service to 91㽶Ƶ as of June 2020. Kim LaBrie and Jack Thatcher, Ph.D., have worked at 91㽶Ƶ for 20 years; Chester Loudermilk and Rich McMahan for 25 years; Karen Ayers for 30 years; and Bob Foster, D.O., for 40 years.
One former 91㽶Ƶ employee, Malcom Modrzakowski, Ph.D., was honored with professor emeritus distinction during the celebration. The honor of emeritus is granted at retirement in recognition of meritorious service. Other 91㽶Ƶ faculty who received promotions and tenures were Leslie Buchanan, D.O., awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor; Maple Landvoigt, M.D., awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor; Jacob Neumann, Ph.D., awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor; Thomas Richardson, D.O., awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor; Dina Schaper, D.O., promoted to associate professor; and Rebecca Scopa Kelso, Ph.D., promoted to associate professor.
Nemitz concluded the celebration by expressing the importance of 91㽶Ƶ employees connecting with one another during such unprecedented times in order to maintain the school’s future success.
“We’ve had a rich history, and 91㽶Ƶ will continue to excel at what it does. That’s because of you and your commitment to the work that we do,” he said. “We will work together to continue to build on the incredible foundation and history of this school.”
91㽶Ƶ currently employs 293 people.