Order of the Roadrunner Award winner
Katherine A. Pope (left) is notified
of her award by Donde L. Plowman,
associate dean of graduate studies and
research in the College of Business.
Order of the Roadrunner Award: Katherine A. Pope finds solutions
(April 11, 2003)--Katherine A. Pope, assistant director of graduate student services in the UTSA College of Business, will be honored with the Order of the Roadrunner Award, one of five presented at the UTSA Staff Excellence Awards ceremony.
The Order of the Roadrunner Award is the highest honor that a staff member can receive. It recognizes individuals who demonstrate exemplary service and commitment to UTSA. A recipient must show creativity, innovation, leadership and dedication to achieving the university’s goals.
All UTSA staff members are invited to attend the event hosted by President Ricardo Romo at 3 p.m. Tuesday, April 15, in the University Center Laurel Room (2.01.28). Downtown Campus and Institute of Texan Cultures staff members can attend the event utilizing VIA bus 94 at no charge by showing their UTSACard.
The ceremony will include other staff recognition, 5-35 year service pin recipients and refreshments. Twenty-four staff members will be honored on their retirements and nearly 200 staff members will receive service awards. Service awards are for the 2002 calendar year.
The five Staff Excellence Awards recognize excellent work performance in emerging leadership, dynamic leadership, teamwork, extraordinary initiative and overall excellence. The awards are: Rising Star Award, Leadership Award, Team Spirit Award, Extra Mile Award and Order of the Roadrunner Award.
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Katherine A. Pope
Order of the Roadrunner Award winner
Katherine A. Pope, assistant director of graduate student services in the College of Business, is a 12-year UTSA employee. She is a professional, energetic staff member who always goes beyond the call of duty in fulfilling her responsibilities and is respected across the UTSA community.
When people come to her with problems, she always has solutions. She has
a wide network of resources throughout UTSA to which she turns to solve challenging
problems.
She was promoted to her present position in September 2002 and is responsible
for advising potential and current graduate students. Even though enrollment
in business graduate programs has nearly doubled in six years, Pope still
knows the students individually. She is often the guiding light to international
students in the college as they learn the UTSA process.
Most first-contacts with the college are through Pope, and she treats every walk-in with the same enthusiasm and energy as those with appointments. She responds to continuing phone calls and e-mails with professional courtesy and patience, and her personal service has become a model for the entire university.
She has demonstrated innovation by expanding information programs beyond traditional office hours. To offer a personal touch for students, two years ago she began a practice of sending a letter to each undergraduate business student with 90 credit hours and a 3.0 or better GPA to encourage them to apply for graduate school. College colleagues give her much credit for helping to increase graduate enrollment. She initiated congratulatory graduate luncheons each semester and is part of a team that reorganized and expanded student orientation sessions.
She often attends after-hours and weekend events and career fairs to promote the uniqueness of UTSA's graduate programs. She has been an active supporter of the MBA Association, and helps the board provide students with a value-added organization to develop leadership abilities.
She serves as staff liaison to the local chapter of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs and helped plan Hispanic Leadership Day, hosted each year at the UTSA Downtown Campus. Her efforts have helped to sharply increase Hispanic enrollment in business graduate programs.
She further demonstrated her commitment to UTSA by working evening and weekend hours last fall in the Office of Graduate Studies, establishing a new system for processing Ph.D. program applications and contacting students.
Representing the Roadrunner Spirit by sharing her knowledge with enthusiasm and a friendly smile, Katherine A. Pope truly deserves the Order of the Roadrunner Award.
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© The University of Texas at San Antonio, 2003