Twardowski wins support staff award
By JJ Ossola
IV Leader Staff, May 3, 2007
Financial aid advisor Eileen Twardowski was presented with
the Illinois Valley Community College 2007 Support Staff Distinguished Service
Award on April 20.
“IVCC employees have the opportunity each year to nominate
support staff for the college’s Support Staff Distinguished Service Award. It
takes positive daily contributions from everyone to keep the college operating
effectively and being nominated for this award signifies recognition by
co-workers that these individuals have gone beyond the normal ‘call to duty’ to
provide noteworthy assistance to our students and staff,” said President Larry
Huffman.
Steve Crick, director of financial aid, said of the award,
“It is 100 percent well deserved. I nominated her last year and I am very
pleased that she won it this year. She does such a great job with everything and
all for the students and her coworkers. She does superb paperwork and has a
really pleasant personality. She is the absolutely, perfect choice to win the
award.”
Twardowski has been employed with the college in a variety of
positions including Records and Admissions and has worked in the Financial Aid
office since 1991.
Jeanne Hayden, secretary to the office of the president and
longtime friend, said, “Eileen is so very dedicated to helping people and is
just a wonderful person. She is very dedicated to the college and active in the
community. She truly deserves the award.”
“Eileen is the type of employee you enjoy being around. She
is respectful of others and always sees the positive side of things. She truly
cares for her fellow employees and our students. She diligently helps students
complete financial aid paperwork and always takes the time to thoroughly explain
any questions presented to her,” said Sandy Beard, administrative assistant to
the vice-president for Student Services.
Current and past committees Twardowski has participated in
include the New Student Orientation, Registration, Leadership and Core Values
Retreat and many Datatel committees implementing the new college wide computer
system, Colleague.
Donna Swiskoski of the IVCC Foundation Office stated, “Each
semester, Eileen diligently checks the enrolled hours of approximately 200
scholarship recipients and posts award amounts into the college computer system.
I can always depend on Eileen to complete this in a timely manner so the
scholarship process can continue through to the Cashier’s area. Eileen is a very
important part of the scholarship process and her skills in communicating with
the Foundation Office and Cashier’s are open, informative and knowledgeable.”
Twardowski’s work includes processing of applications. She
also calculates the refunds for both the Pell and MAP grant awards, as well as
any other billed financial assistance.
The nominees included Theresa Carranco, Mary Jean Entwistle,
Linda Hawkins, Sue Mertel, Lynn Moore and Mary Tully.