UT Facilities Services has announced the winners of the 2015 Chuck Thompson Outstanding Employee Awards.
The recipients of the seventeenth annual awards are IT Technologist Jim McCarter and Zone Maintenance Foreman Johnny Waggoner.
The award is named for Chuck Thompson, former Facilities Services assistant director until his retirement in 1976. The award was created by Thompson’s children in memory of their parents to recognize employees who have given exemplary, meritorious, and unselfish service to the university.
Two recipients are selected every year, one from the skilled craft areas and one from the clerical/services areas, and each recipient must have at least ten years of service with the university. This year McCarter and Waggoner were chosen from more than thirty nominees.
“The awards celebrate the excellence in our department,” said Associate Vice Chancellor Dave Irvin. “What I really love about these awards is that the winners aren’t chosen by me or the directors—they are chosen by a panel of their peers.
“Jim and Johnny are great candidates and they are all about what we as a department bring to the table.”
McCarter works in the Communications and Information subunit of Facilities Services and has been with the department since 1994.
He was nominated for the award for numerous reasons: He is always willing to offer his technical expertise to help with computer issues, he is task-oriented and knowledgeable, and he works tirelessly on problems until he finds solutions. He also has a great attitude, and there doesn’t seem to be any problem too big or small for him to solve.
“I want to thank everyone for the award honor,” McCarter said. “Facilities is a great place to work with great people.”
Waggoner has more than twenty-five years of service at UT and works in Zone Maintenance on the agriculture campus.
His nominations state that he is very outgoing, personable, kind, and polite, while always willing to go the extra mile. He always wants the agriculture campus to look its best, and if something is wrong his motto is “fix it.” No matter what time of day, he is always there to help someone on his or another crew.
“I could not have done any of this without the support of everyone in the department,” Waggoner said. “I would really like to thank my group on the agriculture campus, my One-Call team, and all the other assistance we get.”
Irvin closed the award ceremony by noting that the Facilities Services department has an abundance of dedicated and hardworking individuals.
“Johnny and Jim are among out best, and our employees are among the campus’s best,” he said.