Dashawnique Long selected for Chancellor's Distinguished Staff Award
4/26/2019 2:33:29 PM Siv Schwink
Dashawnique Long, office manager for the Illinois Physics Undergraduate Office, has been selected for the 2019 Chancellor’s Distinguished Staff Award. The Award recognized exceptional accomplishments and service to the university. Long shares this honor with only seven other 2019 recipients across campus. The award will be presented at a special ceremony taking place on May 1, 2019.
There is a saying among the Undergraduate Office staff: “All roads lead back to the Undergraduate Office.” As office manager, Long is often the first point of contact for students and teaching assistants needing information or having special requests. She helps students switch courses, provides materials and information, and when appropriate, coordinates with the campus’s Disability Resources & Educational Services, assisting students with letters of accommodation.
Long also handles about 15,000 undergraduate physics exams per semester and recently implemented a new procedure that shrank final-exam processing time from one week to 24 hours. Additionally, she created and manages a pool of physics-exam proctors. She also helps with room reservations for the department, including for special events and office hours, working as a liaison to Facility Management and Scheduling in the Office of the Registrar.
Written by Siv Schwink
Dashawnique Long, Illinois Physics Undergraduate Office manager and 2019 recipient of the Chancellor's Distinguished Staff Award. Photo by L. Brian Stauffer, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignDashawnique Long, office manager for the Illinois Physics Undergraduate Office, has been selected for the 2019 Chancellor’s Distinguished Staff Award. The Award recognized exceptional accomplishments and service to the university. Long shares this honor with only seven other 2019 recipients across campus. The award will be presented at a special ceremony taking place on May 1, 2019.
There is a saying among the Undergraduate Office staff: “All roads lead back to the Undergraduate Office.” As office manager, Long is often the first point of contact for students and teaching assistants needing information or having special requests. She helps students switch courses, provides materials and information, and when appropriate, coordinates with the campus’s Disability Resources & Educational Services, assisting students with letters of accommodation.
Long also handles about 15,000 undergraduate physics exams per semester and recently implemented a new procedure that shrank final-exam processing time from one week to 24 hours. Additionally, she created and manages a pool of physics-exam proctors. She also helps with room reservations for the department, including for special events and office hours, working as a liaison to Facility Management and Scheduling in the Office of the Registrar.
Long attributes her patience and ability to remain cool under pressure to her military training. Prior to joining the staff at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Long served three years in the US Air Force, working in an administrative function. Her final rank was airman first class. While in the military, Long attended classes at Lewis University in Romeoville, IL.
Long has worked in the Undergraduate Office since December 2014, when she was hired as extra help. She was appointed office manager in March 2015.
Illinois Physics Associate Head for Undergraduate Programs and Professor Brian DeMarco notes, “This award is very well deserved. DaShawnique is a keystone of our colossal physics teaching enterprise. She has demonstrated terrific leadership, compassion, creativity, and excellence in her work.”
Long comments, “I am truly honored and grateful to have been chosen as a recipient of the Chancellor’s Distinguished Staff Award. Keeping the Undergraduate Office running with such success is certainly a team effort, and I cannot thank Kate Shunk, Dr. Elaine Schulte, and our student worker Colbey Gilford enough. It’s a wonderful feeling to know that the work my team and I do is recognized and appreciated.”