2024 UCSC Educational Award Recipients
Each year, many high school graduating seniors submit an application for a chance to be recognized as a deserving student for the UTHealth Houston Classified Staff Council’s (UCSC) Educational Award. Since 2006, the council has granted awards totaling over $243,000 to those students whose outstanding efforts have enabled them to meet challenging standards of excellence.
The council seeks to pay tribute to those students who go the extra mile each and every day in their scholastics and to serve their communities as well as inspire others to do the same. A team of selection committee member, Dr. Nancy McNiel (MMS), Dr. Lisa Cain (SOD), Dr. Latarsha Cheatham and Dr. Melissa Ethington (SON), James Smiley (Admin) and Cindy Bihm (SPH) who are UTHealth Houston leaders in various capacities, reviewed the applications, narrowing the field to the 34 finalists.
On Friday, July 19, 2024, UCSC held its annual workshop in at the Denton and Ralph Cooley University Life Center at UTHealth Houston. During the workshop, winners for the 2024 Annual Educational Awards were announced during a ceremony to honor both students and parents.
Keynote speaker for the event was University President Dr. Colasurdo, as $52,000 in cash awards were awarded to 34 graduating high school seniors of UTHealth Houston classified staff.
Note from the Chair Alainna Talton… It is always a pleasure to celebrate the staff of UTHealth by honoring these students. Dr. Colasurdo donating to help us give out more money to the students every year is a testament to his appreciation for the Classified Staff. He sees all of our hard work and dedication. We are grateful to have his support. Our hope is that in the future we can give out $100,000 a year to the students.
The following winners were selected from a pool of 36 applicants:
Parent: Joseph Faulk – Utility Worker I
Parent: Nelly Arias – Sr Administrative Manager
Parent: Christie Bowden – Diabetes Educator
Parent: Te’An Parker – Compliance Coding Analyst
Parent: Anitha Chandran – Sr. Manager EPIC Integration Practice Plan
Parent: Latanya Williams – Professional Coder III
Parent: Kristen Daul – Sr. Program Manager
Parent: Kristen Daul – Sr. Program Manager
Parent: David Fanucchi – University Communication Specialist
Parent: Nathan Fernandez – EPIC Clinical Technical Support Manager
Parent: Christelle Hernandez – Nurse Practitioner
Parent: Teresa Gonzales – Sr Administrative Coordinator
Parent: Belkys Veliz – Manager Dental Clinic
Parent: Claudia Loza – Program Manager
Parent: Alan Lucas – Manager Safety
Parent: Uchenna Mbuba – Staff Nurse II Behavioral Sciences Campus
Parent: Lisa Mitchell-Bennett – Sr. Project Manager
Parent: Juanita Motta – Insurance Authorization Verification Specialist
Parent: Roberto Murray – Sr. Financial Analyst
Parent: Mary Ngoka – Staff Nurse II Behavioral Sciences Campus
Parent: Lucina Maynez – Hospital Reimbursement Operations Specialist
Parent: Martha Uribe – Senior Patient Access Representative
Parent: Martha Uribe – Senior Patient Access Representative
Parent: Alyssa Atkin – Sr. Reimbursement Operations Specialist
Parent: Esmeralda Rodriguez – Sr. Administrative Assistant
Parent: Malcolm Stewart – Mail Clerk II
Parent: Tracy Swoboda – Quality Improvement Advisor III
Parent: Chevonne Thornton – Buyer II
Parent: Tran Thuy – Nurse Practitioner
Parent: Miesha Burks – Texas Rising Star Mentor II
Parent: Stephanie Unger – Manager Performance Improvement and Data Analytics
Parent: Rachel Neave – Sr. Project Manager
Parent: Anna Marie Zaske – Research Scientist
Parent: Yongmei Yu – Research Assistant III
This year’s UCSC Educational Awards committee members were:
Ruth Palmer (Chair), Tara Green (Co-Chair), Nena Fairbanks, Shantel Beasley, Tricia Hill-Thomas, Monica Bennett, Catherine March, Tanja Calixto, Leslie Feld, Telisha Green, Patricia Herwig, Ebony Wolford, Assol Kavtorina, Felecia Peterson, Sherron Scott, and Ashley Galvan.