First, a thank you. The inaugural Staff Excellence Celebration drew an incredible turnout, and seeing more than 120 nominations recognizing our staff was a reminder of how much excellent work happens on this campus every day.

Thank you to Talent & Inclusion for partnering with Staff Council to make this event possible, and to President Grace Wang for attending and welcoming everyone.

Congratulations to this year's award recipients:

• Rising Star Award: Brittany Frederick, Director, Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Multicultural Education
• Mentorship Award: Jon Birr, Sergeant, WPI Police
• Unity Award: Angela Kao, Grants Manager, Computer Science
• Innovator Award: Lisa Pearlman, Executive Director, Health & Wellness
• President's Award for Exceptional Service: Matt Foster, Executive Director, Housing & Residential Experience and Kathleen Head, Director, Global Experience Office
• BOT Outstanding Staff Member Award: Jason Lusignan, Supervisor, Mail & Print Services and Sharon Kelting, Operations Manager, Robotics Engineering
• Staff Council Service Award: Lauren Turner, Senior Vice President, Talent & Inclusion

Now, a quick update on Staff Council elections.

Since this is the first year that we're running nominations and applications simultaneously under a new process, we want to make sure no one interested in serving gets squeezed out by the timeline. We're extending both deadlines:

• Nominations are open through Monday, April 27 (previously April 22nd)
• Applications to run are open through Wednesday, April 29. Anyone nominated (including self-nominees) will automatically receive the application link by email. (previously April 24th) 

Thank you,

Mike Hamilton

On behalf of Staff Council