Payne Earns Chancellor’s Award for ASU Work
February 28, 2012
The Rowan Award recognizes a staff member who has gone above and beyond the call of duty in carrying out a major project during the last academic year, and includes a $500 honorarium. The recipient is selected by Chancellor Kent Hance of the Texas Tech University System from campus nominees for the award. This year five ASU individuals were nominated for the honor.
In her position, Payne manages contracts, verifies costs and reconciles the applications for payment. Her award nomination lauded her for her initiative, diligence and courtesy in working with contractors to make certain they are paid promptly and efficiently while at the same time ensuring that the university has not been overcharged in the complex billing process.
Her nominating letter said she “works with little supervision and in a very diligent manner to process the application for payment in the least amount of time. She treats the contractor with the utmost courtesy and works hard to educate them in the proper process, so the process can be smoother in the following month.”
“Many times,” the nominating letter continued, “Pat has to basically prepare the application for them so they can see what they missed, what they overcharged and how we must track our costs to maintain consistency from one application to another.…Pat has literally saved the university thousands of dollars that could have easily been overpaid if she had not been so diligent in her work.”
Payne has been on the ASU staff since 2005. She is the first recipient of both the Rowan Award and ASU’s Staff Excellence Award, which she earned in 2010.
Candidates for ASU’s Rowan Award are nominated on the basis that they demonstrate the ability to 1) accomplish an objective quickly and efficiently with minimal oversight; 2) accept clearly communicated assignments with minimal instructions; 3) ask the right questions first, so they can seek precise answers; 4) prepare plans with goals, milestones and deadlines; 5) ask for resources or help when needed; 6) report back and show their work; and 7) under-promise and over-deliver.