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Office of Human Resources
Recognition and Awards
Awards:
Nomination Forms:
Contact Us
Office of Human Resources
18111 Nordhoff Street
Mail Code 8229
Northridge, CA 91330-8229
University Hall 165
Phone: (818) 677-2101
Fax: (818) 677-7863
E-mail: hr@csun.edu
CSUN Presidential Award
Several people have asked for a text version of the remarks by 2007 Presidential Award Winner, Joyclyn Dunham, at the 2008 Staff Service Awards ceremony. Here they are.
Today I’d like to talk to you about the realm of possibility. Last year, right around this time of year, Cindy Ventuleth and I were sitting in the back of the room during the ceremony. Clapping for those who were being honored and commenting on those we didn’t know had been here for such a long time. Cindy Ventuleth was my supervisor at the time, and we’d been invited to attend since she nominated me for the service award. Since past awards were given to administrators we thought we’d just go and enjoy the ceremony. The list of awards was getting smaller and we were approaching the President’s Award. I cannot begin to tell you how very relaxed I was. I glanced at the program to see who else was nominated. There was a short list and I thought, well let’s get to it. The 2007 winner, Hedy Carpenter, stood up and gave her speech. And then President Koester approached the microphone. I reached for my pastry. She begins to talk about this person who has worked on campus for 12 years. And I thought, “Hey, that’s cool, so have I.” Cindy says, “It’s you! Joyclyn it’s you!” I said, “Cindy that could be anybody.” President Koester says a few more things that could apply to me, but I didn’t want to get excited. Cindy’s nudging me insisting that I was being given the honor, and said, “Take off your sweater!” Now, I’m nervous because was starting to believe that I really did win. Shock and butterflies overwhelmed me. I thought, “Me? Really?”
I had totally put winning the award out of my mind. I thought that it was out of my realm of possibility. Think about it. I was an administrative assistant turned coordinator, now administrative analyst/specialist. Who, besides someone that worked with me, would know what I did? I thought that only those with very important titles and publicity inducing work were honored with the President’s Award. Why would they ever recognize someone who sits in a cubicle, not even an office, with such a prestigious award? I thought, “Why me?” So I had to think about it. This is a campus that fosters employee education through fee waiver, increased job efficiency though free IT Training, even employee wellness through HR programs. So with all of these programs that support, encourage, and inform us why not me? Why not you? I had to do a mental shift from this award being outside my realm of possibility, to winning this award as a reality. It didn’t matter that most of my work was done behind the scenes. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t prepared to receive the award. What mattered is that someone appreciated my everyday contributions to this campus and decided to recognize my work in a very public forum.
Now I’ll be honest. While I was shocked that I had been chosen, I was not so shocked that I forgot to put on some lip gloss, touch my hair and take off my ratty old sweater. I knew there would be photographs taken and I needed to at least look decent. And when my name was finally called, my butterflies floated me to the stage, President Koester shook my hand and whispered something that absolutely made my stomach drop. “You’ll get to make that speech next year!” So, to the nominees, now is the time to go ahead and straighten your ties, or refresh your lipstick, maybe even do a little hair check without looking too obvious. And if you are thinking, “why would I do that? I’m not going to win anyway.” I am here to tell you and be an example as proof positive, that it is totally within your realm of possibility.