Jesse Mashbaum, assistant director of business services for the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, and John Moran, university police officer III for the University Police, are the Employee of the Quarter recipients for July 1 to September 30, 2007. Each recipient will receive a check for $500, a personalized parking space, one day of administrative leave, a certificate, his/her name on the Employee of the Quarter plaque and an invitation to the annual Service Award Ceremony for all recipients.
Human Resources extends a special thanks to everyone that nominated an employee for the award. Previous nominations received will be eligible for consideration for one year from the date received. The next Employee of the Quarter recipients will be selected in October. For more information, visit www.umbc.edu/hr/EOQ/EOQ.html.
Jesse Mashbaum, assistant director of business services for the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, is UMBC's Exempt Employee of the Quarter. Mashbaum began his career at UMBC in October 2001 as a business services manager and was promoted to assistant director in July 2005. He is responsible for the department’s budget, financial aspects of sponsored research activities, coordination of the administrative end of faculty recruiting, staff and student recruiting and procurement. Prior to coming to UMBC, he taught for nine years at a small private college and worked for fourteen years at a technology start-up company where he was vice president of operations.
“I am proud to say that I nominated Jesse, in recognition of his stewardship during the chair-transition, staff hiring and training we went through last year” said Nagaraj Neerchal, chair of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. “The department has seen a number of changes over the past year. Jesse has been an invaluable resource to our department by keeping our administrative machinery functioning, in spite of the severe staff shortage we experienced. Due to staff turnover, Jesse had to shoulder many additional responsibilities. Jesse coordinated the hiring process for several positions. As the only person left in the department with institutional memory, Jesse had to shoulder the responsibility of training the new people.”
Mathematics and statistics faculty and staff were pleased to hear that Jesse was selected. Boris Alemi, network administrator, said, “Jesse is a very good employee and is serious about his work.” Assistant Professor Muruhan Rathinam said, “Jesse assists me in writing grant proposals by handling the administrative side and preparing the budgets. He is knowledgeable about the rules and regulations. His abilities allow me to focus on the technical side of the grant proposal.”
Janie Stevenson, assistant dean, College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, agreed. “In light of all of Jesse’s hard work, it is not surprising to learn that Jesse was given the Employee of the Quarter award. This past year has been especially difficult due to a change in staff and the appointment of a new chair. Throughout all of this, Jesse has continued to stay on top of the PeopleSoft reports while providing excellent service to faculty, staff and students. Jesse is an expert when it comes to maintaining the details of the department’s financials in his very own custom built shadow system. He will take the necessary steps to accomplish the current task in a timely fashion.
“One of his strengths is his willingness to share his knowledge and techniques with others,” added Stevenson. “He typically shares his spreadsheets with new business staff. Jesse always provides sound advice and is considered one of the most successful peer mentors when it comes to managing the PeopleSoft conversion. On a personal level, Jesse is always willing to take time to catch up with co-workers. It is a pleasure working with Jesse and I can always count on his assistance and cooperation, I have always found him to be friendly and eager to help out whenever necessary.”
Mashbaum has a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts from Johns Hopkins University and a Ph.D. in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University. He has been married for over 30 years and is the proud father of two children. In his free time, Mashbaum enjoys reading and playing piano. He is also an avid amateur photographer who has exhibited work in local galleries.
The formal EOQ presentation ceremony will be held during the CIRC social hour on August 31 at 10 a.m. Faculty, students and staff will be in attendance to help Jesse celebrate this honor.
John Moran, university police officer III for the University Police is the nonexempt Employee of the Quarter. He began his career at UMBC in July 2001 as a university police officer II and was recently promoted. Moran has over 20 years of state service in law enforcement.
Sergeant Bruce Perry, university police officer IV, nominated Moran for the award. “John is involved in many initiatives and programs at UMBC and in the community,” said Perry. “He shows his leadership by constantly motivating members of his squad and participates in our community policing effort by patrolling on his mountain bike and on foot. He participates in the department’s ARRIVE program, which aims to reduce the alcohol availability to minors and reads to two classes of fifth graders at North Glen Elementary as part of the Reading Across America program. He participated in a campaign with the Center for Missing and Exploited Children to mail out 250,000 missing child cards in Anne Arundel County.
“John took the initiative to create a map for the department so officers could identify and quickly locate apartments in the new Walker Avenue Apartment complex,” added Perry. “This map can be found on the departmental web site. John constantly makes recommendations to the Department and took the initiative to attend first responder training given by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. He made arrangements to receive a command board to be used should a major incident occur at the University and also took the initiative to attend the Standardized Field Sobriety Training at the Baltimore County Police Department.”
Moran asisted in successfully negotiating the first employee contract [Memorandum of Understanding] with the University representing the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #82 and serves as its vice president. He is a member of the Arundel Gardens Improvement Association. He is a major in the Maryland Army National Guard. Moran has a master’s degree in criminal justice and a bachelor’s degree in business management.
The University Police will present Moran with his award at a celebration in the near future.
