Early Bird

Congrats to our Roadrunner Shoutout of the Week winners

These exceptional faculty, staff and student employees are shining examples of dedication, innovation and excellence.

By Lindsey Coulter

January 21, 2021

Nominations continue to roll in for Metropolitan State University of Denver’s Roadrunner Shoutout of the Week awards, highlighting the excellent and important work happening at all levels of the University. This week, we celebrate three members of our University community who inspire students and their colleagues.

“Going above and beyond seems to just be standard operating procedure for this week’s winners,” said Todd Thurman, director of Athletics, who selected this week’s winners. “These Roadrunners are truly living the University’s CADRE values.”

Faculty winner – Bradley McGarvey, Ph.D., affiliate professor, Electrical Engineering Technology

Nominated by Macon Williams, student, who wrote:

“Professor McGarvey at his core is a natural teacher. I truly believe his teaching style and model for how he runs his classroom (online and in person) should be used as an example for other aspiring professors and teachers.

“Our lectures are tailored and recorded before each class meeting. We use the synchronous class-meeting time to address any questions we may have, take care of any necessary demonstrations, and afterward the rest of the time is available for us to watch the lecture (should we choose to watch it then). The only stipulation is the lecture must be watched before the following class meeting. As a student who works during the day in this crazy time, this makes a world of difference. It’s easy for me to set aside a few minutes to check in during our class meets. Setting aside a couple hours would definitely be a different story.

“Professor McGarvey does a wonderful job at presenting the information in an easy, digestible way despite the content being very dense. Nobody could have guessed that learning how microcontrollers interface with other devices (and the methods in which they communicate with each other) would be the highlight of my day.

“On top of all of that, he is a very approachable individual. He is always open for questions, always happy to give advice, and always takes the extra step to make sure a concept is driven home. It’s obvious he enjoys what he does and wants nothing more than to better his students. I just hope I can have more classes with him in the future.”

Bradley, the energy, creativity and dedication you bring to the classroom is deeply appreciated. Thank you for going above and beyond to give students the best possible learning experience. (Since we weren’t able to track down a photo of you, we shared one of Rowdy applauding your efforts!)

Staff/administrator winner – Sandie Hubbard, records specialist

Nominated by Darla Sprinkle Renke, transfer evaluator, who wrote:

“This summer as positions were frozen and the outlook for new hiring looked bleak, Sandie volunteered to switch positions in our office from being a graduation evaluator to moving to the Records and Registration team as they are low-staffed and in need of assistance. Sandie quickly switched gears to learning her new role and responsibilities that directly impact our students and the service provided to them. Her willingness to learn a whole new job has impacted the operations in the Registrar’s Office, and leaders can focus on the ever-changing requests and tasks given to our office. Sandie is always willing to help any team in our office, and this is greatly appreciated by all that are lucky enough to work with her.”

Sandie, this year has certainly called for flexibility and adaptability, and your contributions to your team are a perfect example. Thank you for stepping into new and unfamiliar roles in the pursuit of student success.

Student-employee winner – AJ Maldonado, student lead, Registrar’s Office

Nominated by Brandy Schooler, prior-learning specialist, who wrote:

“Beyond being a truly amazing person, AJ is also a wonderful student lead for our office. I am continually impressed by AJ’s commitment to the Registrar’s Office, MSU’s mission, our students, our work and our team! AJ is always willing to help, going above and beyond his duties, stepping up when help is needed. AJ is our project manager and is consistently taking on and managing a multitude of office projects. AJ created student quizzes to help with training the student team, created duty trackers to keep our student team up to date and on time with projects and is always ready to work with a smile on his face! To add to this, AJ is always genuinely happy to help and always enthusiastic in taking on any project! AJ is truly a superstar and such an amazing person! Thank you, AJ! Your hard work is always noticed!”

Also nominated by Camden Farmer, associate registrar, Transfer Evaluation, who wrote:

“AJ is someone our office relies on every day to keep student requests moving smoothly. AJ is one of the office’s key people on the front line to answer email and help with phone-call inquiries. Without AJ on the team, the office would have a hard time managing all of the incoming requests. As a student employee, AJ demonstrates professionalism and care in a capacity that is truly student-focused. He looks for ways to ensure students’ needs are met and goes beyond the expectations to work with the office team to make sure that tasks and projects are completed with care and attention. He is truly a keystone to the office and to the Enrollment Management team.”

AJ, thank you for being such an invaluable team member. Your reliability, generosity and professionalism are so appreciated. Be sure to add this accolade to your résumé!

To nominate outstanding employees for the Roadrunner Shoutout of the Week award, please complete the form on the Roadrunner Shoutout of the Week webpage. Tell us how your nominee is making an impact through great teaching, service to students or innovation. Winners will be selected each week and profiled in the Early Bird on Thursdays. Winners will also get a shoutout on social media.