One UWO individual (Kim Langolf) and one UWO program (Project Success) are two of the three recipients of the 2021 UW Board of Regents Academic Staff Excellence Award. Congratulations! 

Award recipients are selected for superior performance resulting in significant contributions to the department and institution; use of positive personal interaction to manage work changes; and a consistently creative approach that improves productivity and work quality. Each recipient is awarded $7,500.

Regent Karen Walsh, chair of the selection committee stated, “We are particularly inspired by their expertise navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, helping students, campuses, and the larger community successfully rise to the challenges of a global pandemic.”

Kimberly Langolf, Director of Risk and Sponsored Programs, UW Oshkosh
Langolf, an academic staff member at UW Oshkosh for more than a decade, has consistently played an important role in supporting students, faculty, and staff to help them achieve success. She joined the staff at UW Oshkosh’s Environmental Research and Innovation Center (ERIC) to do research on beach restoration on the Great Lakes and was later promoted to ERIC lab manager. In 2020, Langolf became the core architect of the university’s COVID-19 testing program. She served as one of the primary points of contact with critical stakeholders, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Wisconsin Department of Public Health, Winnebago County Health, Prevea-Health, and Advocate Aurora Health. Langolf served as the primary source for information for the CDC, which piloted its research studies on COVID antigen testing through a coordinated effort with UW Oshkosh. Langolf was recognized by Surgeon General Jerome Adams for the university’s proactive COVID-19 response. The Oshkosh Northwestern newspaper selected her as a 2020 Oshkosh Person of the Year for outstanding impact on the community. Langolf earned both her undergraduate and graduate degrees at UW Oshkosh, in biology and microbiology, respectively.

Project Success, UW Oshkosh. Founded in 1979, Project Success assists hundreds of diverse students at UW Oshkosh each year and is one of the few university programs in the country to specialize in the use of phonics-based multisensory methodology to improve reading, spelling, and writing skills, as well as provide developmental mathematics instruction and tutoring. Under the leadership of Director Jayme Reichenberger, staff provide best-practice, remedial student support; recruitment and enrollment initiatives; retention and graduation efforts; and promotion of inclusivity and awareness to its campus and Fox Valley communities. The National Center for Learning Disabilities indicates that students with learning disabilities enter four-year institutions at half the rate of their nondisabled peers. Project Success services increase enrollment for this specific population of students and aid in their persistence and success. In 2019-20 alone, 221 unique students used at least one exam accommodation through Project Success in 283 distinct courses. Additionally, in 2019-20, approximately 225 unique UWO instructors taught a course in which at least one exam accommodation was requested. The shift to online instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic encouraged staff to collaborate with Information Technology services to provide technical support to course instructors that ensured students’ academic accommodations continued to be met.

See this link for the full announcement: https://www.wisconsin.edu/news/archive/regents-announce-academic-staff-excellence-awards-for-2021/