Applause Tammy Kortum

“I am nominating Tammy Kortum for an applause award because of the deep passion that Tammy brings to the School of Biological Sciences every day. She is not just effective in marshaling the sometimes disparate forces of faculty, but she is earnest in her desire to further the mission of the school. Her deep-held belief in the value and importance of the mission means that she consistently puts forth the extra effort required to elevate a task from a "good enough" to the “perfect” solution. The entire school leans on her organizational efforts, her thoughtful advice, and her encouragements. For example, as we prepared for a departmental retreat in January, I repeatedly her people say, "Tammy can do that" or "Tammy can solve that problem" or "Tammy will be great at that". Tammy is a bit like air—everyone depends on her constantly, and few people recognize how critical she is to the functioning of everything. And shortly, Tammy will be departing the university for a late-in-life shift in jobs. In other words, we're about to lose our oxygen! It would be fantastic to celebrate Tammy's contributions to the School and to UNL while we still have oxygen with which to clap. Please give her an Applause! ”

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“Tammy is the Administrative Technician/Assistant to the Director for the School of Biological Sciences. I am nominating Tammy because she is an extremely valuable member of the school and for her outstanding job as a member of the Biological Sciences Director search committee. Tammy possesses all of the qualities of a great administrator - She understands the role of the school within the university and works hard to sure that the administrative office is effective and runs smoothly. She oversees an administrative team that supports our academic mission. Tammy initiated a review of her team members’ strengths and used the outcomes of this review to reorganize the responsibilities of her team members to take better advantage of their strengths. As a consequence of this reorganization, her team has become more efficient and effective. As well, her team members have grown professionally, are more productive and are fun to work with. Tammy's recent service as a member of the Director search committee is a second example of why she is a valuable member of our school. Tammy did a wonderful job organizing for the search and coordinating with the Dean's office as well as the faculty within the school. I think she showed good judgement about the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate as well as thinking about how they could help the school implement our vision statement. In summary, Tammy is an important member of the School of Biological Sciences who works hard to make sure the school runs smoothly so the faculty can be more productive.”

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“Tammy is completely devoted to all aspects of departmental function. She is a resource extraordinaire, completely reliable to assist at all levels of departmental function. She is reliably knowledgeable about hiring processes, student issues, staff responsibilities, faculty issues, and pretty much most things associated with college level interactions with the department. She is always looking for new and innovative ways to make departmental function more efficient. From thinking about different ways to analyze data associated with faculty teaching, to developing thoughtfully a way to reward our many undergraduate teaching assistants, by far our best students at ANY level in this department, Tammy performs these tasks with eagerness and accomplishment. I have never seen her clock watching or saying something isn't her job. If she can;t do it herself she will joyfully drop what she is doing and take you to who can. Please reinstate the ability for our faculty and staff and students to smoke outside the buildings or we will lose this valuable asset to university function.”

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“Tammy is the “go to” person in the School of Biological Science. If she does not have the answer or the solution, she finds the answer or solution. She deals with faculty, staff and students with equal effort and consideration, even smiling when she may not feel like it. Tammy listens to and passes on ideas and suggestions to the correct people. She is cheerful and encouraging to everyone. She takes pride in our school and it is reflected in her attitude, actions plus her concern about the building’s presentation to visitors and students. She does her best to make visiting SBS a welcoming experience. Above all, she has a stash of chocolate for those days when the only thing that will get you through is that one piece of chocolate!”

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“Tammy Kortum is the office manager for the School of Biological Sciences, and it is my pleasure to nominate her for an Applause award. She is exceedingly deserving of as much recognition as possible, based on her seemingly endless service to SBS, CAS, and UNL. It is safe to say that without her, I cannot imagine how SBS would continue to function! She keeps all of the administrative arms of SBS integrated and running smoothly and efficiently. She is always available to answer questions, and always has a helpful, informative answer. Tammy has a wide and deep institutional memory, more so than anyone in SBS. This is not just because she has been in SBS for such a long time, but because she has played such an instrumental role in so many functions of SBS and can recall in an instant all sorts of facts and information that others have long forgotten (or never knew to begin with!). I served on the SBS Director Search Committee both years, and she was absolutely critical for that Committee - keeping the Committee running smoothly, organizing information to answer inquiries from the candidates, designing the SBS Vision Statement "flyer", and so many other activities that I am not aware of, but that contributed to the Committee being able to perform its charge efficiently and effectively. I strongly urge you to award Tammy the Applause award!”

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“Tammy is the type specimen for someone who should receive the Applause award. She manages to keep SBS together while giving the rest of the University the illusion that we have a Director and Vice Director. This is a testament to her ability to delicately manipulate all of us to do our jobs better, to be organized, and most of all, to be reasonably well behaved. Seriously, Tammy is the heart and soul of SBS. Her deep commitment to staff, faculty and most of all the students in the department never wavers. Coupled with her clever and creative ideas, amazing problem solving skills and memory, she successfully helps us survive as a department. She is the support that new faculty need and that we continue to rely on throughout our careers at UNL. She is the best cheerleader for our graduate students. We are so very lucky to have had her stability and knowledge all these years and this Applause award at this time, would in my mind, acknowledge her critical role in holding the department together through an extended search for a new Director. She has been invaluable to our Interim Director.”

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“Tammy is fantastic! I have only been at UNL 2 years, but ever since I began working here Tammy has not only been a great help to me, but someone who will stop by my office to say hello. As a new employee, it has been very meaningful to have another person reach out and want to get to know me. Tammy is also a wonderful resource in learning how things within the Biology department operate. I always feel that I can pick up the phone and ask her a question and she is always so helpful. Tammy is definitely the glue that keeps the Biology department running smoothly! Please give her an Applause!”