Four staff employees received Kudos awards for front-line leadership and collaboration that helped power the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s successful COVID-19 response.

Those honored during the Feb. 12 University of Nebraska Board of Regents meeting were Jack Dohrman, university space manager; Gabriel Hampton, assistant director for Building Systems Maintenance; Larry Shippen, associate director for Housing Facilities Operations; and Joel Webb, associate director and radiation safety officer for Environmental Health and Safety. The four were among those staff employees who helped put the university’s COVID-19 response plans into action on the ground.

Their key actions included:

• Preparing campus housing facilities, including the Piper wing of Neihardt Hall, to be used as COVID-19 isolation units if needed for students and the broader state community;

• Making certain staff were properly trained and ready to support the isolation housing units;

• Designing, building and strategically placing some 1,200 hand sanitizer dispensers across the university;

• Sourcing Plexiglass and using it to create and install countless safety barriers at multiple campus locations;

• Measuring and marking learning spaces campuswide, preparing them for social distancing;

• Making certain sanitation and health and wellness supplies were available and distributed to campus;

• Creating a centralized distribution point for all packages delivered to campus;

• Assisting with plans for the safe resumption of research activities; and

• Building and placing pods that have allowed testing to continue through the winter months and supporting the spring semester’s saliva-based re-entry testing program.

“The cross-collaboration, dedication to the university and its citizens, and outstanding leadership demonstrated by these individuals representing Business and Finance and Student Affairs exemplifies the ‘In Our Grit, Our Glory’ spirit of the university,” the quartet’s nominator wrote. “They are also an example of exemplary teamwork, creativity and proactive attitude.”

The Kudos Award is an NU-system honor presented by the regents to celebrate staff who go above and beyond in work for the university. Learn more about the honor.