Inaugural L&S Staff Achievement Awards celebrate "exceptional commitment to the College's shared mission"

October 3, 2024

This fall, UC Berkeley’s College of Letters & Science launched its first-ever L&S Staff Achievement Awards to recognize and celebrate outstanding Letters & Science staff members. Awardees were selected for their exceptional commitment to the College’s shared mission of teaching, research, and public service. Each of these individuals has excelled in areas such as collaboration, goal accomplishment, inclusion & belonging, innovation, and mastery of their work, and their steadfast dedication and hard work serve as an inspiration to the entire campus. The inaugural recipients were honored at a private ceremony on Monday, October 1 with awards presented by each of the deans.

The 2024 awardees are: Rebecca Chavez, Faith Enemark, Linda Fitzgerald, Sarah Fullerton, Vicky Lee, Arman Liwanag, Elizabeth Nakahama-Ryan, Teddy Prompichai, and Bibi Zaragoza.

Group of nine staff members indoors

Inaugural L&S Staff Achievement Award winners (l-r): Teddy Prompichai, Arman Liwanag, Linda Fitzgerald, Vicky Lee, Bibi Zaragoza, Elizabeth Nakahama-Ryan, Faith Enemark, Rebecca Chavez, Sarah Fullerton

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2024 L&S Staff Achievement Awards
Our recipients span the College and represent a broad range of functional areas, all of which are critical to the College’s success.
Executive Dean Jennifer Johnson-Hanks

Rebecca Chavez

Curriculum Planner, Sociology

Rebecca’s deep knowledge, skills, and abilities in curriculum planning and scheduling have consistently served the growing needs of our students, faculty and our BISP students. Rebecca’s efforts have fostered a culture of trust and mutual respect within the team, making her a trusted and respected leader among her peers.

Faith Enemark

Department Manager, Rhetoric, Film & Media, and History of Art

Faith is not only proactive but has superb judgment, miraculously anticipating, as if by mental telepathy, what needs to be said or done in any given situation. She comes up with solutions without prompting and invariably hits on the right ones, or the most effective ones.

Linda Fitzgerald

Department Manager, English

Linda brings institutional expertise, to be sure, but she also brings something perhaps more important and certainly more rare: institutional wisdom. Her support, the breadth and depth of her knowledge, her sense of humor, and her candor is depended upon by those around her.

Sarah Fullerton

Director of Communications, Arts & Humanities Dean's Office

Sarah has demonstrated exceptional dedication in her role. The impact and success of Sarah’s 18-month project to migrate A&H websites to the Open Berkeley platform have significantly enhanced the digital landscape, ensuring that departmental and center websites are on brand and easily maintained.

Vicky Lee

Director of Student Services, Mathematics

In an exceptionally challenging year for Student Services, Vicky successfully and expertly adjusted her priorities and workload to the quickly changing climate and expectations within the department. Vicky is an exceptional and highly communicative leader who promotes teamwork, creates a highly respectful workplace, is confident handling change management, and consistently demonstrates excellence in her role.

Arman Liwanag

L&S Senior College Adviser, L&S Advising

Arman’s contributions to his role are unmatched. Arman embodies the tenets of inclusion and belonging with an inspiring mix of serious responsibility and complete joy. He fosters brave spaces for the most marginalized to offer their invaluable (and too often untapped) insight, seeking out and celebrating others’ contributions. 

Elizabeth Nakahama-Ryan

Executive Administrator & AP Coordinator, Physics

Elizabeth exceeds expectations above the standards of performance required in her position in her job knowledge, quality, and approach to work. Elizabeth’s colleagues regularly comment on her ability to collaborate with their units and look to her to provide feedback on projects or to seek advice about how to integrate efforts in the department.

Teddy Prompichai

Building Manager, Innovative Genomics Institute

Regularly the first person to arrive, or the last person to leave (and not infrequently, both), Teddy has devoted himself to being accessible and on call for any situation that might arise. In his frequent interactions with other campus entities he has demonstrated his value and skill - so much so that several have suggested that he join them! 

Bibi Zaragoza

Administrative Assistant, UGIS Academic Programs

Bibi provides day-to-day assistance with a cheerful, helpful, welcoming attitude for all. Each day, she chips in anywhere and everywhere. Bibi has proven to be one of the most determined, reliable and creative team members, and her colleagues say that you will not find a more willing, pro-active participant and innovator, and that she is the kind of staff member who makes the College of Letters & Science a better place for all of us. 

The L&S Staff Achievement Awards are one component of broader staff support and recognition efforts led by the L&S Administrative Advisory Committee (AAC). Other programs include L&S High Five Recognition Program and the L&S Staff Professional Development Program. Learn more about the L&S Staff Recognition and Support programs on the College of Letters & Science website.