Two Cornell employees were among six winners of Pride of Workmanship Awards from the Ithaca Rotary Club last week.
At its fourth annual ceremony Oct. 22 at the Women's Community Building, recognizing local employees who display positive attitudes, creativity and outstanding performance in the workplace, the club honored Mark Roach, trades supervisor in the Pipe Shop, a unit of Cornell's Department of Planning, Design, and Construction, and Patrick Graham, facilities manager for the Department of Athletics and Physical Education, for their exemplary work.
In nominating Roach for the award, Superintendent of Shops Bruce Bush cited his leadership, noting that during emergencies such as water-main breaks or steam leaks, "he is often the first to arrive and the last to leave, usually working right along side his trades people. He never asks his workers to do something he is not willing to do himself and always puts safety ahead of everything else."
Roach also was commended for his campus volunteer work on behalf of the Cornell Recreation Community, Commencement, Employee Day and the CIT Fair. In addition, he has been a leader in the Cornell On-Top program, which gives area high school students the opportunity to work in Cornell shops during the summer. Roach also recently won his department's PDC Boot award for his group's work on a difficult asbestos-removal project.
Pat Graham, a 20-year veteran of the Department of Athletics, is responsible for all maintenance, game preparation and construction projects for the Athletics Department. In the past several years the department has added major facilities and teams and has taken on a number of special initiatives which Graham has led, all without additional staffing.
In recommending Graham for the award, Athletics Director Charles H. Moore said, "We spend a lot of time selecting and encouraging our coaches and our student-athletes, but the one person who makes all of their activities so successful is our facilities manager. Pat Graham has done an absolutely sensational job supervising the preparation of all our indoor and outdoor competition fields as well as overseeing the many construction projects we have undertaken over the last several years. He really deserves his own varsity letter!"
One of the Rotary Club's honorable mentions was given to Larry Liddington, a journeyperson carpenter with Cornell's Carpenter Shop, nominated by Trades Supervisor Robert Markes.
Another honorable mention went to the TCAT Maintenance Department, nominated by the transit system's General Manager Rod Ghearing.