'Cats Caught Being Awesome

Haley Gilham

University Police

Congratulations to our March ‘Cats Caught Being Awesome winner!

Haley was nominated by David Bird who said, "Officer Haley Gilham is always working whether it is on duty or off duty. Being an Alumni of Chico State, she wants all of her Chico State students to be safe. One of her volunteer extra duties is meeting with the Fraternities and Sororities to complete Safety Presentations, making sure their houses are secured, contact information is up to date and she is always available to be contacted if an issue comes up. She is also part of the Critical Response Team who responds to other CSU Campuses when they need help. She just returned from CSU San Luis Opisbo to help deal with a large group of students who were partying for St. Patrick's Day. Being a single mother, her personal time is most important to her but it seems like she is always working. She even works shifts for the Alcohol Beverage Control Department which makes sure our campus community is safe from the dangers of alcohol through traffic enforcement or watching the sales of alcohol to our local community. She can always be seen smiling on campus and she always has stickers to share."

Beginning in March 2015, Staff Council launched our "Staff Caught Being Awesome" program as another way to recognize and thank our hard-working staff.  Any Chico State staff employee is eligible to be nominated by any administrator, faculty, student, or staff peer.  Nominations are accepted from the first of each month through the third Wednesday of each month.  Staff who are nominated are featured on our website and our facebook(opens in new window) and instagram(opens in new window) pages.  Staff who are "caught being awesome" receive an appreciation certificate and gift from the Staff Council Chair.

We hope you will "catch staff being awesome" and let us know about it on the Nomination Form(opens in new window).

Jennifer Aceves - February 2024

Jennifer was nominated by David Alexander who said, "Jennifer Aceves started as the College of ECC’s AAS in August 2023. The college of ECC had an interim Dean for six months and then a second interim Dean appointed for the 2023-24 academic year.  In August, Jennifer stepped into her new role with energy and enthusiasm. She quickly assessed the college’s needs and began meeting with all the ASCs. She started a monthly brown bag lunch with ASCs to help build morale and understand ASC and department needs. In mid-fall 2023 the dean’s office ASC submitted their retirement, and the PA/CS was recruited into a management position and left, leaving only Jennifer in the dean’s office. In addition, ASCs from two different departments retired or left. Throughout Jennifer’s time in the dean’s office, she has learned the college’s complex budget, managed class scheduling, worked with all departments to meet their needs. In January, Jennifer was hospitalized for nearly a week. Even in the hospital she was asking for her laptop so that she would be able to continue to support the college. Her dedication and commitment to the College of ECC and the University is unparalleled. She is versatile, responsive, and quick to identify needed changes and improvements. Jennifer is an amazing AAS and colleague. We are fortunate to have her."

Candice Sawyer - January 2024

Candice was nominated by Shannon Claiborne, who said, "Candice is absolutely fabulous! She is always willing to go above and beyond to help. Over the past few months, she has been extremely busy helping to train new staff in the nursing office. I know she was looking forward to having some time off. The RCNP program is small, just myself and my new assistant, and we are very busy during this time. Unfortunately, we had some of our hospital sites back out at the last minute and a lot of our students were going to be left without a place to start. This would have been a huge crisis! I reached out to her for advice as she had been running the program before I was hired and is a great mentor. Candice could have said, "Oh that's crazy! I'm sure you'll figure it out, have a nice Christmas, see you in a few weeks" and left. But she didn't, she spent hours helping me figure it out, sharing her knowledge and hospital contacts. Because of her, we were able to find places for almost all of the students and the few that couldn't be placed have deferred to our summer session. She is definitely an Awesome ‘Cat!"

Sarah Lehner - December 2023

Sarah was nominated by Susan Roll, who said, "I am thrilled to nominate our colleague, Sarah Lehner, Graduate Academic Evaluator, as a Cat Caught Being Awesome. Sarah is a YES person. When asked if she can help answer a question, the answer is YES! When asked if she can help figure out a complex advising and evaluation issue, the answer is YES! When asked if she will pitch-in on an office project, the answer is YES! Sarah has been incredibly helpful to me as I am still learning all that we do in Graduate Studies. Each time I email with a question, she responds with a thorough and clear explanation. Sarah is especially helpful and awesome when it comes to students. I have been impressed with her can-do attitude each time a student has a special circumstance or odd request – she always finds a way that we can support them to be successful. Sarah is smart, innovative, clever, and kind and she uses these qualities each day as she shows up for students, our colleagues, and our campus."

Dave Taylor, Mark Taylor, and the Chico State Baseball Team - November 2023

Intercollegiate Athletics

Dave, Mark, and the entire team were nominated by Mary Brownell, who said "The Chico State Baseball coaches and team ROCK!  My son is a super fan of Chico State baseball; he watches practices and games every chance he gets. The coaches and team treat him like a team member. Last Sunday my son bowled in the Special Olympics bowling tournament. Dave Taylor, Mark Taylor and the entire baseball team showed up to support him. It was great day! What a wonderful way to support your Team! Go Wildcats!"

Shawn Brackett - October 2023

College of Communication and Education

Shawn was nominated by Jennifer Duggan, who said: "I work in close collaboration with Shawn through the College Advising Retention Specialist (CARS) team. I have always found Shawn to be a pleasure to work with. He goes out of his way to share ideas and collaborate with the CARS team despite the fact that we do not work in the same departments.

A specific event that exemplifies his Wildcat spirit occurred last week and prompted me to nominate him for the 'Cats Caught Being Awesome award. There was a family visiting to tour Chico State. They traveled a significant distance. The father is a Chico State Alumni and donor who stopped by to visit a colleague, Tom Villa, and he expressed wanting to learn more about our Media Arts program. Tom teaches in the College of Business and came to me to see if I knew anyone in Media Arts. I sent Shawn a teams chat and within less than a minute, he replied and offered to give the family a personal tour. He took them through several buildings and highlighted what the program has to offer students. Prior to this experience with Shawn, Chico was NOT the student’s first choice, but the father reached out when they returned home and said that his son indicated that due to the interaction with Shawn, Chico is now his #1 choice and he will be joining us in the fall of 2024.

Enrollment is #1 and everyone’s “job” but the fact that Shawn responded so quickly and provided individualized attention really demonstrates his awesomeness and commitment to student success."

Will Dickison - September 2023

Facilities Management and Services

Will was nominated by Kelly Schiess, who said:  "Will manages the grounds at University Village, keeping the community looking nice and running smoothly. Will is extremely dedicated to maintaining and improving UV. He took extra time during move-in to keep the recycling dumpsters well labeled and give parents and students directions for where to put trash and recycling. With so many students, our dumpsters are often overflowing, and Will takes time to break down boxes and arrange the bins so that our trash pickup team can easily get to the dumpsters to empty them. Will also connected with the housing staff to coordinate some education for the residents to keep the dumpster areas ready for trash pick up.

Will is also a plant rescuer! He has planted so many new plants this spring and summer, and he has revitalized many of our flower beds. He always has some new starters and sprouts that he's caring for while planning out new places to plant them around UV. Will also worked with Housing staff this year to adjust his leaf blowing schedule to better accommodate the early morning morning traffic as students are leaving for class and work.  He has also taken care to track when events are happening around UV at the pools and patios to make sure that those areas are extra clean and ready for students. Will cares a lot for UV and works really hard to make sure it's a great community for all the residents. He's awesome!"

Victoria Militar-Tweedie - August 2023 

New Student Orientation & Transition Programs

Victoria was nominated by Shawn Ryan, who said:  "Summer Orientation requires staff to be consistently present to support the needs of 3,800 students and 2,000 guests during a short period of time. The needs have increased as Orientation has offered increased opportunities for students to participate over the years. In addition to her commitment to include all student populations in the formal onboarding process, Victoria Militar-Tweedie consistently goes above and beyond to support guests at Orientation. For example, one guest arrived at Orientation and informed a staff member that they could benefit from a wheelchair. After Victoria exhausted all avenues on campus she drove home to retrieve one that her relatives had at her house. She did this for a parent of student that she had never met. In addition, Victoria always makes sure to put her student employees’ needs first. She will work with them to find a solution or provide resources to support. Victoria helped one student staff “tremendously” when she was in a challenging situation with her apartment lease. She went above and beyond, calling everyone she thought could support in finding a solution. Per one of her student employees, "Overall, she is someone who looks out for her student employees’ well-being and someone anyone can go to when they need extra support. She genuinely cares about her students and will always check in on us whenever she can tell we are having a bad day. Victoria has shown us how to be a determined, hard worker, who can also prioritize the well-being of the people around her."