Andrea Lorick, Business Services Specialist for the Department of Information Systems (IS), has been named UMBC's Nonexempt Employee of the Quarter effective July 1 to September 30, 2009. Andrea has over 22 years of state service. In 1994 she transferred from the University of Maryland, Baltimore to accept a position at UMBC as an Accounting Clerk III in the Comptrollers Office. She advanced in her career and was promoted several times during her years in Financial Services. She transferred in March 2005 to her current position in Information Systems.
Barbara Morris, Office Supervisor/Coordinator of Special Events and Projects, and the staff of Information Systems nominated Andrea for the award. “Everyone on campus has heard of Andrea in her twenty years both while she was in Accounts Payables or Contract and Grants and has the utmost respect for her,” says Barbara Morris. “She is held in high esteem by her past colleagues as well as the current faculty and staff in our department. When I called her previous supervisors before I offered her the position, everyone that I talked with spoke superlatively about her. I honestly thought that they were stretching the truth as no one could be that good; I want to set the record straight she is that good.”
“Andrea was the first incumbent in this newly defined position. The IS Department deals with a plethora of budgets, including the online program which is a time consuming account. Andrea is responsible for the overall management of fiscal and budget affairs. The department is growing in the areas of grants and funded research, Andrea has provided the support to the faculty as necessary, since most of them are not familiar with the activities associated with this undertaking. She even goes beyond just doing her job; she creates documents and procedures to assist faculty so they don’t have to waste their time on it. Managing the Online Master’s budget necessitates this person to handle adversity and roadblocks along the way in a dexterous manner as there is nothing normal about the finances of this successful program. Andrea has a keen sense of detail and in this type of position this is of utmost importance. No matter how busy Andrea is, she will immediately stop what she is doing to answer a question from a coworker or student. When you ask something of her, it is always done immediately. On top of this we have lost a staff person in the past eight months and Andrea has cheerfully and willingly taken over half of this vacancy’s responsibilities.
“Andrea is not only friendly and courteous and eager to help, she has a sense of humor that permeates throughout the department. We all know that our work is stressful at times, and Andrea knows exactly how to put the spark back into all of us. When I hear that UMBC is ‘exceptional by example’; my immediate reaction is that Andrea embodies this philosophy and approaches her work in the same manner with all UMBC audiences, with a level of professionalism and energy worthy of this award. You cannot ask for a better role model than Andrea!”
Andrea is a graduate student at UMBC pursuing a certificate in Nonprofit Sector through the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. In addition to attending classes at UBMC, she is also a part-time student in a theology program.
Andrea received her award at a surprise celebration on July 7, 2009. Faculty and staff from the Information Systems Department as well as the Dean’s Office were present.
Original Story: http://www.umbc.edu/insights/2009/07/human_resources_announces_empl_6.html
