November 8, 2016

Angelica Figueroa, Andrew Ochs and Cindy Reilly accepted the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health Staff Excellence Award at the School’s fall social on Nov. 3.

The award recognizes those staff members whose work demonstrates impact and a focus on the core values of the School, including personal integrity, inclusion, innovation, adaptability, accountability and collaboration.

The 2016 Staff Excellence Award winners pose with their supervisors. Left to right are Dr. Kathy Anderson with Andrew Ochs, Dean Barbara K. Rimer with Angelica Figueroa, and Dr. Anna Schenck with Cindy Reilly.

The 2016 Staff Excellence Award winners pose with their supervisors. Left to right are Dr. Kathy Anderson with Andrew Ochs, Dean Barbara K. Rimer with Angelica Figueroa, and Dr. Anna Schenck with Cindy Reilly.

Figueroa has worked at UNC Gillings for five years as an executive assistant in the dean’s office.

“Every day, it feels like we support work that makes the world a better place,” she says of her job.

A resident of Chapel Hill, she enjoys hiking, reading and traveling in her free time.

Ochs, of Carrboro, a 15-year veteran of the IIS unit who works as an instructional web developer, likes to cook, read and, like his fellow awardees, be outdoors when he isn’t at work. He loves his job because it gives him the opportunity to be creative and explore a variety of technologies.

“I feel very proud to get the award,” Ochs said. “It will definitely inspire me to try to continue to get better at what I do.”

Reilly, of Chatham County, has worked at UNC Gillings for just under two years as a student services manager in the Public Health Leadership Program (PHLP).

Reilly’s favorite part of her job is the opportunity to interact with students and follow them through their academic journeys. Her supervisor, Anna Schenck, PhD, director of PHLP and the North Carolina Institute for Public Health, described her as “dedicated to helping faculty, students and staff get their questions answered and issues resolved both quickly and accurately – with a smile.”

Schenck is also Professor of the Practice of public health leadership and associate dean for practice at the Gillings School.

All three awardees cited their colleagues as one of their favorite things about their jobs.

Having three recipients of the award is unprecedented. Since 1991, one staff member has received the award each year.

Kathy Anderson, PhD, associate dean for information technology and project planning and former chair of the award committee, said the decision to choose multiple winners came from the sheer number of exceptionally qualified nominees. Twenty-two staff members were nominated.

“I was humbled to read nominations describing amazing contributions from Gillings staff members all around the School,” said Anderson, who supervises awardee Ochs. “It was always incredibly hard to choose only one deserving person to honor, so I’m delighted that we have three winners this year.”

Learn more about the Gillings School’s Staff Excellence Award here.


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Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: David Pesci, director of communications, (919) 962-2600 or dpesci@unc.edu

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