Six staff employees will receive the 36th annual Jack Breslin Distinguished Staff Award and one staff employee will receive the fourth annual Ruth Jameyson "Above and Beyond" Award April 22.
This year's reception is scheduled to take place from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Jack Breslin Student Events Center Auxiliary Gym.
Jack Breslin Distinguished Staff Award winners
Glen Brough
Glen Brough is the assistant director of admissions at MSU and the visual coordinator for the Spartan Marching Band. As assistant director of admissions, Brough reviews applications, coordinates the campus scholarship process for new students and assists with recruitment. He oversees the academic review of MSU College of Music applicants, and is also one of two athletic admissions counselors.
Brough has been the primary coordinator of the Alumni Distinguished Scholars committee, organizing selection packets and interviewing candidates for the awards.
Brough has been the visual coordinator for the Spartan Marching Band since 1988, and is respected and loved by its members. He was the drum major of the MSU Band from 1976-79 and has taught drum majors for more than 30 years at clinics nationwide, including the MSU Performing Arts Camp and Smith-Walbridge Camp.
Sarah Davis
Sarah Davis is an office assistant III for the College of Veterinary Medicine. In this role, she handles the logistics of program planning and ensures fiduciary responsibility for the program.
Davis is an integral part of the Office of Diversity in the College of Veterinary Medicine. She knows the program’s objectives and easily fills in when she is needed, especially to assist with students when other coordinators are out of the office.
Above and beyond her duties, Davis took a leadership role planning a successful MLK Day event with Vetward Bound and the Iverson Bell Summit that brought together educators, students and practitioners to discuss inclusion of diversity within veterinary medicine. Sarah was involved in all setup, operations and cleanup, making sure everything ran smoothly.
Amanda Frederick
Amanda Frederick is the nursing supervisor for the Department of Pediatrics, managing three busy pediatric clinics. Her duties include the direct supervision of nurses and care attendants. Frederick also supervises and assesses the clinical needs of the department. She is responsible for direct clinical patient flow, telephone triage, EMR, patient safety and all the day-to-day functions needed to run productive pediatric clinics.
Frederick has developed more efficient, effective practice improvements, including developing handouts to share with parents to ensure the department’s teaching and information can go home with them.
Frederick is an advocate for her staff and has a genuine respect for their overall happiness both personally and professionally.
Shari Murgittroyd
Shari Murgittroyd has worked as a program coordinator for the MSU Counseling Center's Sexual Assault Program since May 2005. She manages the day-to-day operations, grant administration and supervising staff and volunteers. She also provides general counseling services for MSU students and individual therapy and advocacy services for sexual assault trauma survivors.
Murgittroyd is the advisor of Every 5 Minutes (e5m), a social action theatre troupe that raises awareness about sexual violence and she advises The Vagina Monologues student organization, educating the MSU community about violence against women. She also oversees the Sexual Assault Crisis Intervention team, tasked to provide 24-hour crisis line and advocacy services.
Murgittroyd is an esteemed member of the MSU Counseling Center staff and is frequently sought for consultation, presentations, collaboration and support.
Allyn Shaw
Allyn Shaw has worked in the Office of Faculty and Organizational Development since June 2004. As associate director of F&OD and director of leadership development programs, he coordinates comprehensive programs including the Leadership and Administrator Seminars, Meet Michigan traveling seminar, Faculty Emeriti Association, Executive Leadership Academy Program and the CIC ALP Fellows.
Shaw has worked in several units at MSU, including the Office of Admissions and Scholarship; the Testing Center; the Eli Broad College of Business; the Office of Residence Life; and has taught a student leadership course. He has also worked at the University of Richmond and University of Tennessee.
Beyond his work at F&OD and his several MSU degrees, he has worked in both leadership and service roles as president and volunteer for the MSU Student Food Bank, as a board member and president for the MSU Museum Associates, a board member and president for the MSU College of Social Science Alumni Association and as a volunteer for his national fraternity.
Christie Tobey
Christie Tobey is an executive staff assistant for Lyman Briggs College. She has worked for LBC for more than 30 years. She serves as executive support for the Assistant Dean’s Office for Undergraduate Education, assisting with course scheduling and enrollment management, degree certification, student recruitment, commencement, program metrics and project management.
Tobey also coordinates awards and scholarships, student research support, security management, recruitment data management, logistics and training support. She works with graduating seniors to make sure they have completed all of their requirements for graduation.
She also coordinates many emails from LBC to its students, to keep students up-to-date on deadlines, job opportunities, internships and scholarship information.
Ruth Jameyson "Above and Beyond" Award winner
Sandra Walther is an administrative associate in the Office of the Provost, Undergraduate Education. In addition to her normal duties, she is the secretary to the University Committee on Undergraduate Education. In that role, she helped improve the quality of the online SIRS forms several years ago by working with IT Services and a UCUE subcommittee to create a better, more effective product.
Additionally, Walther played a key role when restructuring occurred in her department. As a result of her leadership and the work of her staff, all units have been moved into the new administrative structure, new innovative accounting practices have been established and prior budget challenges have been resolved.
While working, Walther chose to pursue graduate study in MSU's Higher, Adult and Lifelong Education program where she is interested in issues of internationalization and online learning.