Staff members honored at UWSP

A University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point classified staff member was honored by her colleagues with the Carolyn Rolfson Sargis Award on Tuesday, April 25 at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. In addition, four other staff members were given Classified Employee Recognition Awards.

Mary Kay Hamilton, 6030 Highway 10 East, who works in the Department of Foreign Languages, was presented the award by the Classified Staff Advisory Committee (CSAC).

Classified Employee Recognition Awards were presented to Dick Stephens, 8108 County Road GG, Almond; Joan Meeteer, 1916 Lynda Lane, Whiting; Sandy Kaminski, 6395 Second St., Stevens Point, and Larry Hutchinson, D2021 Elm St., Stratford. Also honored were 25- and 30-year employees who were given service pins and three received clocks for 35-year service to the university.

Hamilton, a program assistant 2, was nominated by her supervisor, Jan Seiler, professor and chair of the Department of Foreign Languages.

The award is named for the late Carolyn Rolfson Sargis, the school’s business manager who worked under seven university presidents. Each year the award recognizes a classified staff member for outstanding and dedicated service and special contributions to the university. The citation was given for the first time 14 years ago to Sargis and Sidone Anderson, a credit auditor in Registration and Records for 38 years.

The Sargis Award winner received a $650 prize and a plaque. In addition, Hamilton’s name will be added to the plaque of previous winners, which hangs outside the Personnel Office in Old Main.

Hamilton came to UWSP in 1965 as a typist 2 and served several departments. In 1967 she transferred to the Department of Foreign Languages and the Department of Psychology. When the two departments expanded, she stayed with foreign languages and has served the department longer than any of its 13 faculty members. She was promoted to typist 3 and then administrative secretary before being reclassified as program assistant in 1979 and program assistant 2 in 1991. She will retire in May.

As department secretary, she supervises the Foreign Language Laboratory and its student staff members, administers placement exams in three languages and oversees several programs under the auspices of the department. These have included summer immersion institutes for German teachers, a summer orientation institute for Japanese language assistants and English language and culture programs for students from the University of Magdeburg, Germany.

"She is the only person I know who can type in French, German and Spanish—languages she does not speak—with absolute accuracy," said Richard Ruppel, professor of German.

Hamilton also coordinates events ranging from "High School Days" for foreign language students in the 1970s and French contests the department has hosted regularly in recent years. She actively promotes Foreign Language Club activities and serves as a mentor for students.

In the community, she is active as a member of Women of the Moose, a nonprofit service organization. She is co-chair with her husband, Robert, of the Moose Lodge booth at Riverfront Rendezvous. The booth raises money for Mooseheart, a self-sustaining city in Illinois for orphaned children from throughout the U.S. Hamilton also is a volunteer for Special Olympics and for the Women of the Moose Bingo Committee, which raises funds for local charities.

A graduate of Maria High School in Stevens Point, she attends many high school and university sporting events with her husband. She has been a member of the UWSP Blue Line Club, a hockey booster club.

Classified Employee Recognition Award winners received a $50 certificate.

Stephens, an employee at UWSP since 1975, is a longtime member of UWSP’s Environmental Health and Safety Committee. He is the manager of the inorganic lab of the Environmental Task Force Program. He has been the principal investigator for several DNR grants that help fund the lab and team teaches an advanced water chemistry class.

In the community, Stephens provides water quality advice to area homeowners and businesses. He has provided testimony on water quality for a development in southern Portage County and assisted UWSP Extension staff with groundwater education.

Meeteer is a program assistant 4 in the Office of the Assistant Chancellor for Student Affairs. She has been at UWSP since 1977. She served as the coordinator and recorder for the search and screen committee that undertook a six-month, nationwide search for her new supervisor, Bob Tomlinson.

Meeteer has been active with CSAC and is currently a mentor for new employees. She is an officer of the local unit of the International Association of Administrative Professionals, sings in her church choir and plays clarinet with the City Band and the Grenadiers.

Also a recipient of the Classified Employee Recognition, Kaminski first worked at UWSP between 1975 and 1982 and returned to campus in 1992. She is a program assistant 3 in the School of Health, Exercise Science and Athletics. She worked to hone her computer skills and is now a member of the College of Professional Studies technology team and the CSAC technology subcommittee. She developed the CSAC Web pages and provides technology assistance to her church, local schools and others.

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