Mary Portillo, Senior Business Manager in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, has received the Billy Joe Varney Award for Excellence, presented by the Staff Council and the President's Cabinet.

 

Joining Portillo in being recognized at the University of Arizona’s 2024 Awards for Excellence are the Business and Academic Support Services Team in the School of International Languages, Literatures and Cultures, honored with the Team Award for Excellence, and Kate Mackay, Associate Director of the Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language and Literacy, who is one of nine recipients of the Individual Award for Excellence.

 

The top staff honor is given to someone with a career of service to the University and the community who loves the University and acts in the spirit of Billy Joe Varney, associate vice president emeritus for planning and budgeting, who retired in 1988 after a 30-year career. The award comes with a $1,500 cash prize.

 

Portillo, who has been with the Department of Spanish and Portuguese since 1989, is known as the “heart of the department,” according to one nominator, who added that she “expertly manages” a department that has more than 5,000 undergraduates taking classes.

 

“The logistics in managing such large numbers is not for the faint-of-heart,” wrote the nominator. “It takes years of training to understand the day-to-day workings of the department, to say nothing of the University's ever-changing policies and technological systems.”

 

The nominator also cited Portillo's work in maintaining regular contact with the descendants of Mary Bernard “Mamie” Aguirre, the University's first Spanish teacher, who worked more than a century ago. The family has endowed a scholarship for upper-division female students majoring in Spanish.

 

Another nominator praised Portillo’s ability to be a one-stop shop for answers for students and employees in the department.

 

“Need to charter a seaplane that can land on the Amazon River? Mary can give you some phone numbers,” the nominator's letter read. “Got students on study abroad trapped at an embassy following a violent coup? Mary knows who to call and in what order so that those students get home safely.”

 

The Business and Academic Support Services Team, which provides administrative functions for the School of International Languages, Literatures and Cultures – housed within the College of Humanities – received the Team Award for Excellence, which honors exceptional contributions toward efficiency and effectiveness of operations, outstanding service to the University community and/or visitors, and special efforts in practicing inclusive excellence in the workplace. The award comes with a $1,500 prize to support an activity or purchase to benefit the team.

 

The Business and Academic Support Services Team— Jess Collins, Grace Cottrell, Leonora Escobar, Lindsey Fera, Adil Mohyuddin, Gennady Sare, Hector Silva, Marcela Thompson, Stephanie Topete, Julian Tran, Greg Urquidez, Frank Whitehead and Summer Witting—was praised by one nominator for having “worked incredibly hard to support faculty and students while the school has been growing through hiring and increased activity of every kind.”

 

Another commented on the team’s diversity, “which directly translates into enhanced creativity, innovation, problem-solving, decision-making, skills, resources and many other much-needed efficiencies and benefits associated with such diverse and inclusive teams.”

 

Kate Mackay, Associate Director of the Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language and Literacy, received an Individual Award for Excellence.

 

One nominator said Mackay, who has helped lead the center since 2007, has helped it “become a major contributor to the University and the broader field in research and professional learning on second language and culture education.”

 

In another letter, two nominators commended Mackay’s outreach efforts, including organizing the Tucson Meet Your Languages booth at the annual Tucson Meet Yourself community festival.

 

This is the sixth consecutive year a College of Humanities staff member has received an Individual Award for Excellence, following Richard Edmiston, Natalie Olsen, Amy Warren, Nichole Guard, and Toni Alexander and Tyler Meier.

 

Gennady Sare was also nominated for an Individual Award for Excellence, as was Jeremiah Webb, Student Success and Retention Specialist.