Congratulations to Zann Gates for getting a STAR award (Staff Appreciation and Recognition plan for 2022-2023)!
She was nominated by supervisor Linda J. Harris, who said, "“Zann supports the Food Science Extension programs (workshop coordination including budget development, facility and food management, registration, reimbursements), management of multiple websites (ucfoodsafety.ucdavis.edu is one of them) that are overseen by three Professors of Cooperative Extension and provides departmental support in social media management and events. I strongly support her for a STAR award based on her exceptional performance, creativity, and organizational abilities. She is highly responsive, always willing to provide feedback and suggested solutions to problems. I provide one recent example that is particularly illustrative of her style and abilities. I forwarded an email with information on a new potential venue for us to promote our extension courses and asked that Zann "check it out". Within an hour or so she had researched the venue, downloaded and filled out the form they use for advertising, provided her opinion on the value of us pursuing this venue, researched other course offerings at that venue, identified course description language from other universities that she felt were superior to our own, and suggested we revise our course promotion language. She then provided new draft language, and, after I made minor edits, and by the end of the same day, completely revised our web page (updated with the new language) where we provide information on the course. We are exceptionally fortunate to have Zann on our Extension team - I cannot overstate how critical she is and has been to the success of our programs.”
Adds Chair Chris Simmons, "Zann is an absolute professional who always delivers outstanding work that goes beyond expectations." She provides her response with gratitude, below.
“It’s truly rewarding to assist the three Professors of Cooperative Extension as well as the department at large. The tasks I assist with are so varied; I feel very supported in that my opinions are valued and my feedback is welcome. I feel fortunate to provide service to those who are themselves providing service to others at the highest level via our Food Science Extension programs”. - Zann Gates