Melody Richards, Budget Analyst in Cooperative Extension, and Sariah Tillotson, Administrative Assistant in Admissions & Records, are February's Employees of the Month, the Staff Employees Council announced.

Richards has helped Cooperative Extension through a challenging period of transition, wrote nominator Ashley Andrews.

"Melody's responsibilities as our Finance and Facilities Manager increased as she took on the position of Human Resources Manager," Andrews wrote. "This left her doing the work of 2-3 people all on her own. Cheerfully and without complaint, she found us a new facility we could afford (after a building lease was lost) and maximized our meager budget in a fight to reduce layoffs. Simultaneously, the restructuring of the college increased her responsibilities as Finance, Facilities and Human Resources Manager from three Nevada counties to seven."

Andrews continued, "Recently, Melody was able to hire a Human Resources Manager to help alleviate the problem of her ever-increasing workload. As she returns now to being our Finance and Facilities Manager, which is still a lot of work, recognition of all she has done and continues to do for Cooperative Extension is overdue. I do not know how she does it, but I appreciate her and all she does; the College of Cooperative Extension would not be the same without her."

Tillotson brings an inordinate amount of passion and focus to her job, according nominator Deserie Tillman.

"She proved this from the beginning, when she was a temp classified employee and continued to shine when she was hired permanently," wrote Tillman. Tillman, a program officer, noted that while she was on maternity leave, Tillotson filled in ably for her: "She did an amazing job of handling all the challenges and additional duties, assisting the AVP of Enrollment Services and the biggest feat of them of all, handling the insane changes and planning of May commencement. ... What impressed me and others in the office the most was she did all of this with no complaint of her own, showing amazing patience, compassion, kindness and a smile."

Tillman added that Tillotson has proven to be a strong mentor for student employees: "Sariah gained the student employees respect and admiration by being there to guide them and listen. In addition she helped motivate them to be great employees. Something as little as doing their individual timesheet correctly she found a way to motivate them to strive for perfection. She started a gold star sheet for perfect timesheets." Tillman said Tillotson also excelled at always being available to help with tasks of the more than 40 employees in Admissions & Records: "Not only will she do these small favors, she is there to listen to employees, figure out solutions to a problem ... and motivate you to be a great worker."