Academics

Blazer recognized with Staff Excellence Award for quality, efficiency

Vicki H. Blazer, administrative assistant in the Department of History and Religious Studies, Classics and Mediterranean Studies, and the Program in Jewish Studies in the College of the Liberal Arts, has been selected to receive the 2009 Staff Excellence Award.

Established in 1993, the award recognizes the consistently outstanding performance of a staff member who has demonstrated and practiced the philosophy of continuous quality improvement, team spirit, managerial excellence in the performance of assigned duties and leadership in establishing a quality service orientation, so as to benefit his or her unit and the University.

A Penn State employee for more than 35 years, Blazer supervises a staff of six responsible for managing the activities of two departments and two programs, with separate missions, complex budgets and separate personnel arrangements.

She is credited with transforming the administrative unit from a group of individuals into cooperating members of an administrative team. “She has accomplished this,” one nominator said, “in a way that reflects her personal makeup, which comprises technical skill, strong leadership, dedication to her position and a magnetic personality.”

She also is recognized for her efforts to improve the quality and efficiency of budgets and course management. “Not only does she constantly seek (and usually find) ways to improve the quality of her work,” another nominator wrote, “but is constantly upgrading her skills and making sure she knows well University and College policies. She also engages other staff members to assist them in improving the quality of their own work.”

Last Updated March 19, 2009