MSU Zacharias Awards honor dozen staff members

Contact: Sasha Steinberg

MSU Zacharias Distinguished Staff Award winners for 2014 include (front, l-r) LaDonna Bullman, Bonnie Ladner, Jennifer Carruth, Sharon Hankins, Delores Hudson, and Mary Franklin; (back, l-r) Jacqueline Mullen, Dennis Sankovich, Terry Johnson, presenter Jerry Gilbert, Cynthia Ward, Chance McDavid, and Dallas Breen.
MSU Zacharias Distinguished Staff Award winners for 2014 include (front, l-r) LaDonna Bullman, Bonnie Ladner, Jennifer Carruth, Sharon Hankins, Delores Hudson, and Mary Franklin; (back, l-r) Jacqueline Mullen, Dennis Sankovich, Terry Johnson, presenter Jerry Gilbert, Cynthia Ward, Chance McDavid, and Dallas Breen.

STARKVILLE, Miss.--Nine Mississippi State staff members on the Starkville campus and three serving at other locations around the state are winners of 2014 Donald W. Zacharias Distinguished Staff Awards.

The awards are a memorial to the university's 15th president, in whose 1985-97 administration the annual Staff Appreciation Day and the accompanying awards program were established.

The awards program is organized by the MSU Staff Council.

To be eligible, award nominees must be classified as a professional or support staff employee working at least half-time and with a minimum of three years of campus service, among other criteria.

At the recent Staff Appreciation Day program, Provost and Executive Vice President Jerry Gilbert presented each honoree with a plaque and $1,000 check.

The 2014 winners include (alphabetically by category):

Professional

--Dallas Breen, associate director of John C. Stennis Institute of Government and Community Development;

--LaDonna Bullman, contract and grant specialist for Forest and Wildlife Research Center;

--Delores Hudson, assessment specialist for Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness;

--Chance McDavid, senior extension associate for Central Mississippi Research and Extension Center in Raymond;

--Jacqueline Mullen, director of Center for Student Activities; and

--Dennis Sankovich, executive director of MSU Riley Center in Meridian.

Support Staff

--Jennifer Carruth, office associate at the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems;

--Mary Franklin, custodian II with Custodial Services;

--Sharon Hankins, academic records assistant in the mechanical engineering department;

--Terry Johnson, building and grounds attendant for Crosby Arboretum in Picayune;

--Bonnie Ladner, office associate in the industrial and systems engineering department; and

--Cynthia Ward, custodian II with the College of Veterinary Medicine.

For more information about Staff Council, its awards program and other activities, visit www.staffcouncil.msstate.edu.

For more about Mississippi State University, see www.msstate.edu.