Klinefelter named 2020 Staff Excellence Award winner

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Janet Klinefelter, alumni relations and stewardship officer in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, has been named the 2020 Staff Excellence Award winner.

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.

Nominators said Klinefelter is committed to students and carries out her duties with integrity, empathy and passion for improving the process.

Klinefelter is credited with expanding her role and responsibilities while serving the college for more than two decades. There, she works with alumni, donors, faculty and students, overseeing both scholarship and stewardship efforts.

She also chairs the college’s Scholarship Advisory Committee where she works closely with University peers and the Office of Student Aid to provide financial aid to students. That’s an expanding task, nominators said, because of a recent gift from alumnus Donald Bellisario that expanded the college’s available funding by one third. The college’s endowment for faculty and programs also expanded by $20 million.

Nominators said Klinefelter is also able to shine when forced to give students and others the “not-good” news.

“In her role, the answer to some requests is not always a ‘yes,’ unfortunately, for many reasons beyond our control,” a nominator said. “No matter what the answer, we are confident that Janet will deliver it with tact, kindness and empathy.”