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Duke Employees Recognized For Teamwork, Diversity

President Brodhead, others honor employees Tuesday for outstanding accomplishments

The Arts & Sciences Course Renumbering Team, led by Dr. Ingeborg Walther (holding plaque) received a Blue Ribbon Teamwork Award for its two-year project to standardize numbers for over 8,000 courses. Photo by Duke University Photography.
The Arts & Sciences Course Renumbering Team, led by Dr. Ingeborg Walther (holding plaque) received a Blue Ribbon Teamwork Award for its two-year project to standardize numbers for over 8,000 courses. Photo by Duke University Photography.

Numbering courses in Duke's catalogue could be a dry task, but the Arts & Sciences Course Renumbering Team discovered quickly that any task touching 8,000 courses in five schools requires excellent teamwork. 

At the 2011 Blue Ribbon Awards Recognition Luncheon Tuesday, the team received a Teamwork Award for its successful creation and implementation of a new numbering system at Duke. 

President Richard H. Brodhead, Health System Chancellor Victor Dzau, Vice President of Institutional Equity Ben Reese and others congratulated the renumbering team and the other Blue Ribbon Award winners - another team and two individuals - for outstanding accomplishments in the name of teamwork and diversity, two of Duke's hallmark guiding principles. The second Teamwork Award went to the Durham Regional Hospital Clinical Informatics Team. The Diversity Awards were presented to Lucy J. Reuben, professor of the practice at the Fuqua School of Business, and Hope Kaczmarczyk, senior IT analyst for the Duke University Health System Clinical Laboratory Information System. 

"I am pleased to lift up the people who have been exemplary in living out the values of teamwork and diversity at Duke," Brodhead said. "We celebrate in you the virtues we all aspire to."

TEAMWORK AWARDS

Running Out of Numbers 

Trinity College of Arts & Sciences realized that its course numbering system was becoming a maze. Interdisciplinary courses were difficult to label because of lack of standardization between schools, and professors squeezed additional courses into the existing list by using suffixes. In 2009, Duke decided to completely overhaul the system to make it standardized across schools and more clearly indicative of course levels and sequences. 

The Arts & Sciences Course Renumbering Team, led by Dr. Ingeborg Walther, associate dean for curriculum and course development, shepherded the project for two years, untangling the more than 8,000 courses offered by Arts & Sciences department and programs, the Nicholas School of the Environment, the Sanford School of Public Policy, the Pratt School of Engineering and the Graduate School.

"The enormity and complexity of this project has required multiple networks of collaboration," said the team's nominator, Lee Baker, associate vice provost for undergraduate education. "It has also required vast amounts of voluntary overtime since the team accomplished this work without a single extra hire or temporary worker. They are richly deserving of this award."

Team Leader: Ingeborg Walther. Team Members: Valerie Konczal, Bruce Cunningham, Philip Pope, Harrison O'Dell Williams, James Salerno, John Campbell.

 

Making Medical Technology `Fit Like a Glove'

As Duke University Health System weaves computers and other technology more and more tightly into patient care, it becomes increasingly important for clinicians to understand the possibilities that technology can create and for IT professionals to understand the needs and workflows of clinicians.

Doris B. Jordan
Chancellor Dzau with team leader Debbie L. Zanes (holding the plaque) and team members Jimmy Greenlee, Sheba Smith, Pat Wilkerson, Robert Lineberger, Vinod Kurup and Jonathan Lovins.

The Durham Regional Hospital Clinical Informatics Team received a 2011 Teamwork Award for its efficient and effective support of clinical staff during the hospital's implementation of patient-care programs such as Computerized Physician Order Entry, electronic physician progress notes and electronic discharge instructions. 

The multidisciplinary Clinical Informatics Team  includes physicians, nurses, pharmacists and IT specialists. 

"Our goal is to make technology fit like a glove," said team leader and nominator Debbie Zanes, senior manager of the Clinical Informatics Department. "The end result of achieving this goal is better care for our patients."

Team Leader: Debbie L. Zanes.  Team members: Jimmy Greenlee, Sheba Smith, Pat Wilkerson, Robert Lineberger, Vinod Kurup, Jonathan Lovins.

DIVERSITY AWARDS

Encouraging Entrepreneurship Among Minorities

Lucy Reuben's students learn the illustrious history of the black-owned businesses of Durham's Black Wall Street, and bring that history to life by consulting with aspiring minority business owners in the community. 

Doris B. Jordan
Dr. Benjamin Reese with Lucy Reuben, professor of the practice at the Fuqua School of Business.

Reuben, a professor of the practice at the Fuqua School of Business, received a 2011 Diversity Award for her focus at Duke on the challenges and achievements of under-represented minorities in entrepreneurship and business ownership. She developed the first undergraduate and graduate courses at Duke highlighting minority business development. She has also developed a national pilot, the PhD Pipeline Opportunity Program, to create programs and activities to help under-represented minority undergraduate students prepare for doctoral studies in business disciplines. 

"In her work at Duke, Reuben aims to contribute to the betterment of all humankind, with an intentional focus upon serving those who have historically suffered discrimination and disadvantage," said nominator Ashleigh Shelby Rosette, associate professor at Fuqua. "Her classes have had a tremendously positive impact upon students, the larger Durham community and Duke University's wider reputation."

Day to Day Diversity 

At first glance, the Duke University Health System Clinical Laboratory Information System staff members don't need to work on diversity: the 29 staff members represent seven different ethnicities. 

Doris B. Jordan
Dr. Benjamin Reese with Hope Kaczmarczyk, senior IT analyst for the Duke University Health System Clinical Laboratory Information System.

But Hope Kaczmarczyk, senior IT analyst for the unit, digs deeper into diversity to celebrate the different perspectives the staff brings. She has engaged her colleagues in exploring their diversity by incorporating "5 minute Diversity Moments" into staff meetings and creating and sharing a cookbook that reflects the cultures of the staff. For her efforts, Kaczmarczyk received a 2011 Diversity Award.

"Hope consistently and passionately demonstrates a commitment to cultural diversity by fostering an atmosphere and attitude of inclusion and acceptance with her coworkers, peers and customers," said nominator Ira Togo, senior manager of the department. "Her day to day interaction with our customers and her investment into relationships are perhaps her greatest contribution to the department."