Meet the 2020 MLK Staff Excellence and CLAS Leadership Award Recipients

awards certificatesThe 2021 recipients of the most prestigious awards given by the College to College of Liberal Arts & Sciences staff were celebrated at a reception in the Iowa Memorial Union Ballroom. (See photos below.)

The Mary Louise Kelley Staff Excellence Award recognizes staff whose accomplishments and contributions to the College and the University have benefited their departments and brought honor or recognition to the College and the University. 

The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Leadership Award recognizes staff members who exhibited exceptional leadership qualities and positively impacted individuals, departments, or the College.

At the reception, CLAS Executive Associate Dean Raul Curto expressed the College's respect and gratitude for the winners' service.

The Mary Louise Kelley Staff Excellence Award is named for an alumna who earned a B.A. degree in speech from CLAS in 1930, and went on to work for the University, retiring in the 1940s. When she died in 1997, she left an estate gift that funds the Mary Louise Kelley Staff Excellence Awards and the Mary Louise Kelley Professional Development Awards, which help staff members pursue professional-development opportunities.

The winners of the 2021 Mary Louise Kelley Staff Excellence Award are:

  • Laura Goddard, School of Music
  • Jennifer Eimers, CLAS Curriculum and Instruction
  • Chris Piker, Department of Physics and Astronomy
  • Wendy Sandersfeld, Department of Political Science
  • Kathleen O'Neill, Department of History
  • Molly Rechkemmer, Department of Cinematic Arts
  • The CLAS Data Team

The winner of the 2021 CLAS Leadership Award is:

  • Daniel Khalastchi, Magid Center for Undergraduate Writing

Congratulations!