Imperial College staff recognised for their excellence and commitment

Rector's Awards 2008

Rector’s Awards ceremony celebrates staff achievement - <em>News</em>

Thursday 30 October 2008
By Naomi Weston

Members of staff from across Imperial College were recognised this week for their excellence, commitment and talent at a special awards ceremony.

The Rector’s Awards for Excellence 2008 ceremony is a biannual event rewarding staff for their efforts in the fields of mentoring, customer service, leadership and management, equality and public engagement. It is open to all staff from across the College from both academic departments and administration. All staff entered into the awards were nominated by their peers.

Two of the awards are newly introduced this year. The Rector’s Award for Public Engagement recognises staff who have been involved in promoting the public’s access to research and academia and who have inspired young people in science.

The Rector’s Award for Excellence in Customer Service is introduced to underline the importance of customer service and reward staff who have consistently offered a high standard of service delivery.

Rector Sir Roy Anderson presented the awards and congratulated all staff who were nominated. He said: “This ceremony is an opportunity to reflect more generally on how lucky we are to be home to dedicated, talented and inspiring staff in every domain of the College. I am delighted to see so many people here from a wide range of areas. Imperial's success is due entirely to the contributions of its exceptional people. We are in the business of providing an environment in which our people are nurtured and developed and can do the best work they are capable of.”

He added: “One of the important aspects of these Rector's Awards is that people are nominated by their colleagues and peers - those who really know them and work with them daily.”

Joao Gomes and the Rector

The Commercial Services team at the College, which covers catering, sport and leisure, residences and conferences, received five nominations in this year’s Rector’s Awards. Joao Gomes, Deputy Events Manager for catering operations, jointly won the Rector’s Award for Excellence in Customer Service with Monica Piercy from the Business School.

Joao has worked at the College for eight years and was surprised to win. He said: “I wasn’t expecting to win the award this afternoon. I feel very proud of my team who work on a wide range of events all year round for both internal and external guests.”

He added: “Customer satisfaction is such an important aspect of my job. My favourite part of the job is when a client says thank you at the end of an event and has enjoyed themselves. It makes all the hard work worth while.”

The Rector’s Award for Equality Excellence was jointly won by three members of the College’s race advisory group, Imperial As One. Betty Yue, Manager of the Centre for Professional Development, was one of the winners. She said: “I feel very proud to be a member of Imperial As One and the College.”

In her role Betty has helped organise events for Imperial As One and has acted as official photographer for them. In addition she is the Chinese liaison officer for the group and promotes their work to staff and students.

Betty Yue receives her award

She helped set up the Student Forum event, an annual event helping black and minority ethnic and Chinese students to market themselves and give them career advice.

Betty added: “My line manager, Mervyn Jones, has been extremely supportive of my involvement in Imperial As One. I want to encourage more people to take an active role in promoting equality and diversity.”

The awards were set up in 2006 and are organised by the Learning and Development Centre, the Equality and Diversity Unit and the Imperial Outreach Office at the College. The ceremony took place on Tuesday 28 October 2008.

The full list of winners is:

The Rector’s Awards for Excellence in Leadership and Management 2008

  • Jane Neary
  • Professor Sandro Macchietto

The Rector’s Award for Equality Excellence 2008

  • Dr Mark Richards
  • Mrs Althea Hartley-Forbes
  • Ms Betty Yik Sau Yue

The Rector’s Award for Mentoring 2008

  • Dr Darrel Francis
  • Dr Nick Sevdalis

The Rector’s Awards for Excellence in Customer Service 2008

  • Mr Joao Gomes
  • Ms Monica Piercy

The Rector’s Award for Public Engagement 2008

  • Professor Nigel Brandon

For more information please see: Rector's Awards 

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