Kevin Verhulst

I’d like to nominate Kevin Verhulst for a spot award. Kevin has proven to be an intelligent, cheerful, resourceful field tech who is willing to take on extra work. In Missouri he accepted additional work duties without complaint. During a recent survey project in Des Moines county he volunteered to help after hours to help survey Fort Johnson, an important early historic War of 1812 site in Warsaw, Illinois. He has demonstrated flintknapping to the public numerous times at his own expense and on his own time. He was part of the successful RAGBRAI team that helped spread the word about Iowa archaeology across the state. In addition he has always been an eager student of archaeology, willing to learn as well as share.

Bill

Steve Lensink

Steve Lensink has tirelessly expressed his commitment to the Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist (OSA). His commitment has been proven many times over through his participation on boards, membership in various professional and amateur societies, and authoring or co-authoring many grant proposals. His work not only reflects the University of Iowa’s mission and service goals but also the OSA.

Steve has been a member of the Iowa Archeological Society (IAS) since I can remember. He also has served on the board, once again since I can remember. He has put in many long hours to create and promote a greater public interest in the prehistoric cultures of Iowa. This is most evident in the newsletter he has co-edited over the last two years. His contributions to the IAS encourage all to become researchers through discovery, marking, preservation and recording of the monuments and remains of ancient people as an integral part of the history of Iowa. Steve also serves on the University of Iowa Collections Coalition, the Guidelines Committee for the Association of Iowa Archaeologists, and the advisory committee for the Plum Grove Historical Site, which is managed by the State Historical Society of Iowa.

As you can see from the above he is very comfortable working with outside research entities and “reaching across the aisle”. Through his grant proposals which he has been the primary author or principal investigator, he has included private and other university based research groups. His Transportation Enhancement Grant for the Loess Hills study not only included the General Contracts Program but also Tall Grass Historians. And with the new economic stimulus package just accepted by our own governor Culver, I am sure Steve’s next “shovel ready” Transportation Enhancement Grant project, work on Glenwood culture with Joe Tiffany of the Mississippi Valley Archaeological Center, will be accepted at the next round of awards.

Steve’s desire to share and develop archaeological research across the Midwest is also evident through his help in securing the University of Iowa as the host for the Midwest Archaeological Conference this fall

And finally, Steve’s dedication to digitizing our archives and making sure it is done in a way that makes them researchable and of top quality has been very appreciated by all archives users.

OSA SPOT AWARDS

“SPOT Awards” (referring to on-the-spot, or instant recognition of value) are a University of Iowa incentive program in which OSA participates. The goal is to have up to two eligible salaried and up to one eligible hourly (PZ05) staff members awarded each calendar quarter with awards announced at the respective monthly staff meeting (March, June, September, and December). OSA utilizes UI General Education Funds for SPOT Awards; eligible recipients may receive these awards (up to $75) only once per calendar year.

Awards are by nomination. Self-nominations are not permitted, but eligible staff may recruit a nominator. The committee members should not be recruited for this purpose and should generally refrain from serving as nominators during their term of service. Nominations can be submitted by anyone (UI or external) other than an immediate family member of the person being nominated. Nominations should be e-mailed to the committee chairperson by the date announced each quarter for this purpose. Nominations will be held in confidence by the committee. Nominations that result in awards will be shared at the OSA all-staff meeting when awards are announced. Recipients will receive a signed certificate from the Committee Chair and a copy will be added to their personnel folder. Names and photos of award winners will be added quarterly to this webpage and submitted to the editor of the Newsletter of the Iowa Archeological Society.

Nominations should identify the individual being nominated and describe in 50 to 100 words why the named person deserves the award. From the UI guidelines: “These awards are for exceptional performance which may include, but is not limited to, rewarding a variety of outcomes and behaviors. Examples include expanded scope of duties, completion of a major project, extraordinary performance, the development of significant new initiatives, cost savings, process improvement, or outreach and engagement” (emphasis in original). Identification of applicable OSA mission and strategic plan linkages (see http://www.uiowa.edu/~osa/index.html) will enhance the nomination. Nominations ranked highly by the committee but which are in excess of those selected in any given quarter may be saved by the committee for consideration during following calendar quarters. The committee may at its discretion weight differentially new vs. rollover nominations.