Staff Spotlight

  1. February 18, 2008

    Spotlight: Clerk finds dogs never forget

    After raising puppies for Leader Dogs for the Blind, Margaret Goebel admits it’s hard to give them up once they’re ready to serve people. But the dogs never forget. (Photo by Scott Galvin, U-M Photo Services) “We get to meet the person they were placed with and see the dog again,” says Goebel, purchasing clerk…
  2. February 11, 2008

    Spotlight: Programmer a Hawaiian music master

    The road Gerald B. Ross took to U-M included two stops in Minnesota to appear on Garrison Keillor’s National Public Radio show “A Prairie Home Companion” with his group The Lost World String Band. “It was quite a treat to perform on that show knowing that our music was being broadcast live throughout North America,”…
  3. February 4, 2008

    Spotlight: Mechanic uses skills to aid Hondurans

    Across campus students, staff and faculty enjoy a warm ride on the University bus system as they contend with the frigid Midwest winter. (Photo by Scott Galvin, U-M Photo Services) Little do they know, Jim Peters, who helps maintain and repair the buses that make their lives easier, also has a positive impact on the…
  4. January 28, 2008

    Spotlight: Respect serves security chief, chaplain well

    U-M Health System security supervisor Rod Allen learned early on to respect patients, an attitude that serves him well in his new volunteer role as Ann Arbor police chaplain. Allen and his wife, Margaret, are pastors at Shekinah Christian Church in Ann Arbor. “Our pastor met with the Ann Arbor chief of police because her…
  5. January 21, 2008

    Spotlight: Family inspires start of foundation

    Many people are motivated by the triumphs of others. For Sonya Jacobs, U-M’s human resource organizational effectiveness consultant, it was through the courageous battles of two family members that she found her own inspiration. (Photo courtesy Sonya Jacobs) “As a teenager I became aware of breast cancer when both my aunts were diagnosed with the…
  6. January 14, 2008

    Spotlight: Guatemalans offer insight for U-M-Flint group leader

    People can be happy, even in the face of extreme poverty. That’s a key insight Tim Barden gained last July as he took a weeklong break from directing service crews at U-M-Flint to volunteer at a Guatemalan orphanage. (Photo by Cheryl Weston) There, the annual average household income is $350, Barden says. “But no matter…
  7. January 7, 2008

    Spotlight: CoE Renaissance woman recruits leaders and best

    Debby Mitchell does it all. Not only is she an ordained minister, a poet, actor, playwright and retreat leader, she also is the coordinator of undergraduate recruitment for the College of Engineering (CoE). (Photo by Lin Jones, U-M Photo Services) “Our goal is to recruit a highly successful, diverse group of students from around the…
  8. December 10, 2007

    Spotlight: Software developer exhibits photographs

    The world’s finest health professionals make the U-M Health System (UMHS) go, and so do behind-the-scenes staff including senior software developer Sam Ritter. (Photo by Sam Ritter) Ritter created the MNet program for UMHS that aids patient care by speeding up the delivery of medical information to a patient’s primary doctor. Ritter was co-creator of…
  9. December 3, 2007

    Spotlight: Survival Flight nurse helps extend UMHS services

    In a space smaller than the average coat closet, the Survival Flight team saves hundreds of lives every year. (Photo by Dave Roberts) “There is definitely an adrenaline rush when the pager goes off,” says Jeff Thomas, flight nurse specialist. He and the team try to be skids up — flight lingo for launched —…
  10. November 19, 2007

    Spotlight: Chef’s range: Cooking for stars to grilling at tailgates

    Kenny G has savored chef Steve Clawson’s macrobiotic greens, and film legend Richard Harris his Italian stew. During a 20-year career, the University Catering chef also has shown U-M football players how to prepare food that will boost their energy, and earned the nickname “Pit Boss” for his work behind the grill at football tailgate…