Lowa Mwilambwe (left) receives his award from John Kaulfus, executive
director of student activities and the university center.
(Photo by Mark McClendon)

Team Spirit Award: Inventory Department

By Tim Brownlee
Assistant Director of Public Affairs

(April 17, 2006)--The UTSAInventory Department, will be honored with the Team Spirit Award, one of five that will be presented April 20 at the UTSA Staff Excellence and Service Awards ceremony.

The five Staff Excellence Awards recognize excellent work performance in emerging leadership, dynamic leadership, teamwork, extraordinary initiative and overall excellence.

This year's additional award winners are:

• Rising Star Award: Dan Smolenski, senior systems administrator, Department of Computer Science
• Team Spirit Award: Inventory Department staff members George Estevez, inventory clerk I; Olinda Ongay, inventory clerk II; Miriam Marin, inventory clerk II; James Sumner, inventory clerk III and Frank Bates, accountant II
• Extra Mile Award: Robert Rivas, research scientist associate II, Department of Biology
• Order of the Roadrunner Award: Hermilo "Milo" Silva, assistant director of planning and engineering, Center for Distance Learning and Academic Technology

In the second of five award spotlights that will be featured on UTSA Today, the Leadership Award recognizes a supervisory staff member who has promoted department and university goals through actions and job performance, demonstrated exceptional leadership ability, fostered a positive and motivating work environment, maintained open communication within the department and throughout UTSA, encouraged professional development, demonstrated fairness in resolving work-related issues and receptivity to feedback regarding personal job performance.

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Inventory Department

Team Spirit Award winner

The Inventory Department's mission at UTSA is to report and reconcile all university capital and controlled inventory. This inventory can either be bought by UTSA funds, transferred to or donated to UTSA departments.

This year, the inventory staff overcame workload barriers, promoted procedural changes, maintained task consistency, braced diversity and provided top-notch customer service.

The staff, George Estevez, Olinda Ongay, Miriam Marin, James Sumner and Frank Bates, have worked together as a cohesive team, leaning on or lifting each other up to get the job done right.

This year, they managed an invenory training schedule that trained 159 people in 4 months. They coordinated state agency transfers with other UT components/State Agencies, and ensured $487,338.00-worth of property transfers were recorded.

The team overcame file transfer crossover failures, system errors and learning curves. They continually worked those issues out until a crossover file was created.

The inventory staff assured the transfer of 100 percent of inventory records between three databases with accuracy and reconciliation.

"They've had an amazing year, far exceeding established goals that couldn't have been achieved without team effort," Cassandra L. Porter, inventory manager, said. "I'm very proud to have them on my team."

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UTSA employees are invited to attend the event hosted by Rosalie Ambrosino, UTSA provost and vice president for academic affairs; Kerry Kennedy, UTSA vice president for business affairs; and Jude Valdez, UTSA vice president for extended services, at 2 p.m., Thursday, April 20, in the University Center Laurel Room (2.01.28) on the 1604 Campus. The ceremony will include remarks by UTSA President Ricardo Romo.

Downtown Campus and Institute of Texan Cultures staff members can attend the event utilizing VIA buses 93 or 94 at no charge by showing their UTSACard.

The ceremony will include retiree recognition, service pin awards for 5 to 35 years, and refreshments. Thirty-four staff members will be honored on their retirements and 214 staff members will receive UT System service awards for the 2005 calendar year.

Watch UTSA Today for profiles of the winners of the Team Spirit Award, Extra Mile Award and Order of the Roadrunner Award.