PHHP 2018 Superior Accomplishment Award winners named

College of Public Health and Health Professions employees Truly Hardemon, Rebecca Harty, Amy Ladendorf, Lorie Martin and Catherine Price, Ph.D., have been named UF Superior Accomplishment award winners in the Health Science Center division. They were honored at an awards banquet February 9.

The award program recognizes employees who contribute outstanding service, efficiency and/or economy to the university, or play a role in the quality of life provided to students and employees. Health Science Center division winners are submitted as nominees to compete for the university-level Superior Accomplishment Awards.

Truly HardemonTruly Hardemon is an instructional designer in the dean’s office who collaborates with faculty members on the development of online and blending learning course materials and the implementation of new educational technologies. She also assists in the creation of educational videos and provides ongoing technical support for faculty, teaching assistants and students.

“Truly is truly an asset to the college and its efforts to improve faculty instruction and deliver the highest quality educational programs possible,” a nominator wrote. “I have referred new faculty to work with her as they have assumed responsibilities for online courses and each one has commented about how working with Truly has made their own work easier.”

In the past year, Hardemon has made a number of important contributions, colleagues said. She began collaborating with faculty members in the college’s professional degree programs, developed novel approaches for using UF’s learning management system, led the evaluation of an online proctoring service, taught herself new web design skills and developed new online course templates to help the college meet accessibility requirements.

“In addition to her normal work duties, Truly assists faculty, staff and students with endless questions and online support, including weekends and evenings,” a co-worker wrote. “Her dedication to improving education at UF is unrelenting.”

Rebecca HartyRebecca Harty serves as the business manager in the department of occupational therapy. In this role, she is responsible for budgetary planning, fiscal management, human resource activities and other business matters. She has a calm demeanor, exceptional attention to detail and impressive work ethic, colleagues said.

“I’ve never met someone so knowledgeable on so many topics, so friendly or so incredibly helpful,” a co-worker wrote. “If you need information, she has it at her fingertips; if you need a quick chat, she’ll give you five minutes; if you need help doing anything at all, Rebecca is right there to lend a hand.”

Nominators noted that in the past year Harty’s workload has greatly expanded as the department has undergone a period of enormous growth, including a tripling of degree programs and an increase in the number of faculty members.

“Understandably, such development requires an immense time commitment, superb organizational skills, effective communication skills, precise coordination and checking in with a variety of stakeholders,” a colleague wrote. “Rebecca is consistently meeting or exceeding the many demands associated with these tasks.”

Amy LadendorfAmy Ladendorf, the assistant director of education in the department of physical therapy, coordinates several aspects of the Doctor of Physical Therapy and Doctor of Rehabilitation Science programs, including admissions, student services, marketing, educational events, student data tracking and accreditation.

“Amy is unique because she continues to set the highest of standards for our administrative staff while remaining ever-encouraging and calm in a hectic environment while successfully juggling continually growing and highly varied work priorities,” a co-worker wrote. “Her seemingly ‘laid back’ demeanor belies an enviable stamina for work.”

Colleagues said that Ladendorf has distinguished herself in the past year as she coordinated a record number of student applications to the Doctor of Physical Therapy — more than 1,500 — and handled the increased workload “flawlessly.” She also initiated special visit days for top applicants that resulted in 86 percent of these candidates accepting admission to the program.

“She is always willing to assist in any task,” a nominator wrote. “She has served as a consistent wealth of knowledge and a wise counsel. She works independently and her work is always of the highest quality.”

Lorie MartinLorie Martin, the associate director of human resources in the dean’s office, is responsible for all human resources operations of the college. This includes managing all aspects of recruitments, tenure and promotion, performance evaluations, HIPAA compliance, records management, and many more functions.

“She not only manages these processes, she takes ownership of them, down to the smallest detail,” a co-worker wrote. “She holds a remarkable amount of information in her head and never hesitates to share it with anyone who wants to learn.”

Colleagues said that Martin is respected across campus for her human resources knowledge and willingness to help others. She is often called upon to evaluate new systems and processes before they are rolled out across campus. Co-workers also said that within the past year, Martin stepped in multiple times to help college departments who were going through staff transitions, accepting the heavy workload without complaint.

“Lorie is one of those staff you hope you work with at least once in your lifetime,” a colleague wrote. “Her ethics, professionalism and work effort are beyond reproach, and we are a much stronger college because of her efforts.”

Catherine PriceCatherine Price, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the department of clinical and health psychology who also holds a joint appointment in anesthesiology. She leads two multi-million dollar grants, directs a new clinical service and teaches graduate courses. Yet, despite her heavy research and patient care load, she provides exceptional mentoring for her students, nominators wrote.

“Dr. Price always takes into account personal interests of her graduate students and tries to create opportunities for us to explore our academic interests and achieve our professional goals,” students wrote. “One of her greatest interpersonal strengths is that treats everyone as her equal.”

During the past year, Price initiated the Perioperative Cognitive and Anesthesia Network, or PeCAN, a clinical service at UF Health Shands Hospital that seeks to identify older adults who may be at risk of developing cognitive problems after surgery so that clinicians can intervene to lessen the risk. It is the first of its kind in the U.S. and co-workers praised her dedication in developing this pioneering service.

“Dr. Price makes detailed, personalized recommendations for every single at-risk patient that are given to the anesthesia team prior to surgery,” a colleague wrote. “She dedicates numerous hours to this program weekly with the goal to maintain the highest quality of patient care. It is hard to capture in words how important this screening program is for each patient.”