Three staff members receive North Carolina’s highest award

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

The Governor’s Award for Excellence is the highest honor bestowed a state employee, and having one recipient at a single state agency or university is noteworthy. Having three in the same year is virtually unheard of – but it’s a reality at UNC Charlotte in 2012.

Staff members Jo Ann Fernald, Jerry Lecomte and Connie Martin were honored Tuesday, Nov. 27, during a special ceremony at the Museum of History in Raleigh for their contributions to the citizens of North Carolina. Nominations were solicited from all state agencies and universities, and only 12 individuals and two teams were honored with the Governor’s Award. Of the state workers honored, four were UNC system employees, and UNC Charlotte’s Fernald, Lecomte and Martin were singled out for recognition.

Fernald, director of disability services, was recognized for outstanding state government service. A UNC Charlotte alumna with undergraduate and graduate degrees in psychology, she joined the University in 2003. In the nomination packet, Fernald was cited for displaying an unselfish devotion to duty that balanced the competing demands of “providing for student’s needs for services while conserving University resources; supporting faculty expectations for academic excellence while accommodating the genuine needs of disabled but otherwise qualified students; and protecting the University against disability lawsuits while serving the other needs of the entire University community.” In addition, Fernald was credited for office innovation that has changed the focus from the needs of individual students to that of the entire campus; through partnership efforts, greater numbers of faculty and staff members have become advocates for inclusion and accommodation.  

“Jo Ann took a position at UNC Charlotte where she began to address the wide range of disabilities experienced by students at UNC Charlotte,” wrote the nominator. “She approached that task with great zeal and commitment to ensure that all students can achieve an education regardless of the type of disabling condition they might have.”

Officer Lecomte, a member of the Police and Public Safety Department, received his award in the category of public service. On the job since September 2007, Lecomte was named the community-oriented policing coordinator for the Police and Public Safety Department last year. Since undertaking this role, he revamped the department’s Community-oriented Policing (COP) Division, dramatically increasing the number of COP presentations for students, faculty and staff. To make the department more accessible to the campus community, Lecomte spends much of his time at the Student Union Information Desk to maximize contact with students.

According to the nomination, “Office Lecomte has become a well-known and recognized member of the campus community. The number of requests for safety and crime prevention presentations has increased tremendously… Student participation in department-sponsored events has also dramatically increased… He is dedicated to the field of law enforcement as well as the community that he serves. He works extremely hard in his role as community policing coordinator, often putting in extra hours that go well beyond that of a regular work day.”

Martin, executive director of extended academic programs, was honored in the category of innovation. A veteran state employee with 18 years of service, Martin undertook the challenge to develop and implement innovative, new continuing education initiatives for displaced workers in the Charlotte region impacted by the “Great Recession.” Martin, who has 32 years of professional experience in the field, reached out nationally to fellow colleagues and discovered that project training leading to a Project Management Professional certificate offered successful career options. She and her unit designed an accelerated project management certificate targeting displaced workers. By September 2009, the program was up and running.

UNC system vice president Leslie Boney, in support of Martin’s nomination, wrote “Throughout the effort, I was impressed by Connie’s can-do attitude, her ability to connect to people across the public and private sectors, and her appreciation of the importance of working quickly to design a solution for struggling professionals and ensuring quality so that their new credential provided them with real skills as they moved through their career transition.”

Martin also was recognized for developing an innovative program to assist veterans leaving service and re-entering the civilian labor market. She and her team have initiated a private sector-university collaboration, the first in North Carolina. Using a model created in partnership with the New York-based nonprofit Workforce Opportunity Services (WOS), UNC Charlotte’s continuing education unit designed a Certificate in Business Operations Support to match requirements of employer-partner Merck Pharmaceuticals. At the conclusion of the program, participating veterans work full-time as WOS consultants at Merck or join Merck directly.

The Governor's Awards for Excellence Program is designed to acknowledge and express appreciation for outstanding accomplishments that do not fall entirely within the scope of normal duties, but are in the nature of a major contribution reflecting credit on the person and state service.  The meritorious service or accomplishment is so singularly outstanding that special recognition is justified. The honor is presented during Excellence in State Government Week.

Awards are presented in five categories:

Outstanding State Government - Exhibited unselfish devotion to duty far and above the normal requirements and has contributed significantly to the advancement of state service to the citizens of North Carolina.

Innovations - Initiated fruitful study and investigation or has successfully established new and outstanding methods, practices, plans or designs (such as pioneering or research and development work in administration, engineering, productivity, agriculture, medicine, natural resources, the social sciences, etc.).

Public Service - Made outstanding contributions by participating in or implementing community and public service projects (such as volunteering with various non-profit organizations).

Safety and Heroism - Demonstrated outstanding judgment or courage in an emergency, voluntarily risking his/her life or exhibited meritorious action to prevent injury, loss of life or prevented damage to or loss of property.

Human Relations - Made outstanding contributions toward enhancing the quality and morale of the workplace or creating a better public image of state government (such as positive personal interaction with other employees; public awareness; working on relations internally within an agency; or collaboration between different agencies).

Fernald and Lecomte also received UNC Charlotte’s Employee of the Year Award in 2011 and 2012, respectively.

Photo: Officer Jerry Lecomte and Connie Martin with Chancellor Dubois.