Staff Appreciation Week is a yearly event that serves to recognize and show gratitude to all CFAES staff members throughout the state for the tremendous work they do. This year’s event was held August 17th through the 21st, culminating in the Columbus Campus’ Staff Appreciation event on Thursday August 20th and the Wooster Campus’ event on Friday the 21st. If you didn’t make it to either event, here’s a sample of what you missed:

The 2009 CFAES Chocolate Eating Contest winner  John Mark Reddish with his championship award of MORE CHOCOLATE! John is a Research Associate in the Department of Animal Sciences specializing in Muscle Cell Biology;

Door prize drawings that included:

• Joanne Kick Raack of Pesticide Education with her $10 Speedway gift card;
• James App of Horticulture and Crop Sciences and his $10 Kroger gift card;
• Gary Wenneker of Food Science and Technology winning a $10 gift card to Anthony Thomas;
• Trish Rarida-Preston in the School of Natural Resources with her $10 Starbucks gift card;
• Art Wells from Hort and Crop Sciences winning his $10 gift card to McDonald’s;
• Elaine Grassbaugh of Hort and Crop Sciences winning “twice the bread” with a $10 Panera Bread

Refreshments sponsored by the OSU Leadership Center and the Coca-Cola Bottling Company and games sponsored by the Office of Student Involvement – a BIG thank you to Adam Burden, Coordinator of Student Involvement at the Ohio Union for his assistance;

Staff Advisory Council owes a hefty THANK YOU to Vinnie Pulsinelli, Nicole Sugaski, Andrea Mosher, and Beth Snyder for their help in set-up, clean-up, ordering and even serving the food to all the attendees in Columbus.

As a thank you to all the staff members across the state in Regional and County Offices, the CFAES Staff Advisory Council also sent thank you notes that included Note Grabbers from Columbus Business Specialists, a minority vendor. Note Grabbers are a re-usable tacky strip that all of the members of Staff Advisory Council felt were more appropriate and useful as an appreciation gift. The envelopes to mail these were donated by Office Max.

In addition to the CFAES and OARDC events, Ohio State employees were also offered special discounts at places like the Scarlet Ribbon Gift Shops, the Recreation and Physical Activity Center, and Barnes and Noble, as well as tours of Ohio Stadium and the newly-renovated William Oxley Thompson Library.

Submitted by: Matt Davis – CFAES Staff Advisory Council Public Relations Officer