ME Kudos is a quick and easy way to thank or recognize any member of the Mechanical Engineering Department who:
| Had a great idea or suggestion | Found a solution to a difficult problem |
| Helped you better understand or learn something | Had a positive attitude or perspective |
| Excelled in a challenging task or situation | Demonstrated great teamwork |
| Inspired or motivated you | Showed kindness |
ME Kudos can be submitted by anyone in the UW–Madison campus community (including fellow Mechanical Engineering colleagues). Recognize someone now!
Recognitions
| Date | Kudos Recipient | Recognized for | Details | Recognized by |
| 11/20/2024 | Jun Meng | Showed kindness | Thank you for all your help with purchasing, while I have been focusing on our Workday meetings! I really appreciate all that you do, as part of Team Finance 🙂 | Kat Rasmussen |
| 1/18/2024 | Hannah Douglas | Helped me better understand or learn something, Had a positive attitude or perspective, Showed kindness | Hannah – I’ve had so many information needs as a new faculty member relating to who/what/when/where/whys. Day-in and day-out you have answered multiple questions from me with accurate and timely information. Moreover, you have been incredibly gracious even when my questions are repeats or covered on the intranet. You always help with patience, friendliness, and care. I know we haven’t been colleagues for much time, but I will truly miss you when you depart for Colorado. You are a saint!! |
Graham Wabiszewski, Mechanical Engineering
|
| 8/28/2023 | Caroline Hansen | Excelled in a challenging task or situation | Thanks again for being my presentation buddy! We survived! I learned a lot from your suggestions (plus my writing benefited a lot from your editing 😀 ) and it was great getting a chance to work with you more. | Kat Rasmussen |
| 8/21/2023 | Caroline Hansen | Helped me better understand or learn something, Inspired or motivated me, Had a positive attitude or perspective | Thank you for all that you do for our payroll and benefits team! I’m so glad that you’re my counterpart and that we can share ideas, processes, and laughs together! I will truly miss working with and seeing you every day. <3 | Meghan Opgenorth |
| 8/21/2023 | Alex Delvoye | Demonstrated great teamwork | Thank you for all of your continued diligence on the hecticness that is salary cost transfers! I wouldn’t be able to keep everything straight without you! Thank you for being an exceptional colleague – I’ll miss you truly! | Meghan Opgenorth |
| 8/28/2023 | Caroline Hansen | Excelled in a challenging task or situation | Thanks again for being my presentation buddy! We survived! I learned a lot from your suggestions (plus my writing benefited a lot from your editing 😀 ) and it was great getting a chance to work with you more. | Kat Rasmussen |
| 8/1/2023 | Caitlin Scott | Excelled in a challenging task or situation, Found a solution to a difficult problem | Caitlin does a great job of keeping the ME Intranet up to date and well organized. I’ve noticed a lot of changes she’s made behind the scenes that can go unnoticed since they keep things running smoothly from a user perspective. ME is lucky to have Caitlin and her skillful organization and creativity. | Hannah Douglas, ME |
| 8/1/2023 | Steph Tomlinson | Had a great idea or suggestion, Excelled in a challenging task or situation, Demonstrated great teamwork | Steph has learned and accomplished a lot in a short amount of time since joining the department. She is an expense report and purchasing machine! She has been a huge help to the finance team and we’re lucky to have her. I appreciate the new ideas and questions she has shared that challenge us and help us grow as a team. | Hannah Douglas, ME |
| 6/21/2023 | Kathryn Rasmussen | Excelled in a challenging task or situation, Found a solution to a difficult problem, Had a positive attitude or perspective | Kat has gone above and beyond to help with multiple transactions, providing coverage for a colleague out on leave. I’m very grateful for all the support! | Caitlin Scott, ME |
| 4/18/2023 | Caroline Hansen | Had a great idea or suggestion, Excelled in a challenging task or situation, Had a positive attitude or perspective, Demonstrated great teamwork | Caroline has been doing an excellent job in learning everything to be successful in her new position! Not only that, but she also brings forth great ideas to boost inclusion, diversity, and equity objectives within our department! | Meghan Opgenorth |
| 2/16/2023 | Caitlin Scott | Demonstrated great teamwork, Showed kindness | Thanks for helping Kassi and I with Visit Wisconsin on Friday. Your extra set of hands, flexibility, and calmness were much appreciated! | Hannah Douglas, ME |
| 2/16/2023 | Kassi Sprecher | Had a great idea or suggestion, Excelled in a challenging task or situation, Had a positive attitude or perspective, Demonstrated great teamwork, Great leadership | Just wanted to say great job and congratulations on a successful Visit Wisconsin event! You did a great job navigating this not-so-easy to plan event that made a huge impact on several prospective students and current faculty. I really enjoyed working with you and the rest of the committee to coordinate the event. | Hannah Douglas, ME |
| 2/16/2023 | Kat Rasmussen | Demonstrated great teamwork, Showed kindness | Thanks for helping me set up for Visit Wisconsin! I know how busy you’ve been and really appreciate that you were willing to lend a hand. | Hannah Douglas, ME |
| 1/30/2023 | Meghan Opgenorth | Excelled in a challenging task or situation, Had a positive attitude or perspective | Meghan has been incredible these last few months with handling excessive workload and a challenging professional landscape. She’s still managed to smile, be courteous and get a mountain of work done efficiently. Way to go! | Zach Smith |
| 12/8/2022 | Hannah Douglas | Excelled in a challenging task or situation | Hannah has been doing an excellent job on coordinating several different activities and presentations for the administrative staff retreat. We wouldn’t have the opportunity to learn about so many great topics without her assistance in coordinating everything to ensure we have a successful retreat! | Meghan Opgenorth |
| 12/5/2022 | Coco Kinzley | Had a great idea or suggestion, Helped me better understand or learn something, Found a solution to a difficult problem, Demonstrated great teamwork | Coco provided great insight and perspectives while working on our file naming system. Her questions and suggestions were extremely valuable and will help create a better file management system. | Zach Smith |
| 11/18/2022 | Kat Rasmussen | Helped me better understand or learn something, Found a solution to a difficult problem, Had a positive attitude or perspective, Demonstrated great teamwork, Showed kindness | I would like to thank Kat for her patience with showing me how to explore Shop@UW+, and help me understand how to find things. She’s empowered me and she’s always happy to help, and a great teacher. | Zach Smith |
| 11/18/2022 | Meghan Opgenorth | Inspired or motivated me | Meghan’s presentation on the EAO inspired me to reach out and connect with them. It has been wonderful working with them and I want to appreciate Meghan and offer my gratitude that she shared the resource with us. | Zach Smith |
| 11/18/2022 | Yan Xu | Inspired or motivated me, Found a solution to a difficult problem, Had a positive attitude or perspective | Yan is always an inspiration to me, and I want to recognize her for her commitment to finding out the answer, digging deeply and always being happy to assist me. She’s a wonderful colleague and I’m happy she’s here! | Zach Smith |
| 11/18/2022 | Alex Delvoye | Alex has been excelling at onboarding, catching challenging mistakes, asking wonderful questions and quickly becoming a great asset to our team. She’s really doing a stellar job. | Zach Smith | |
| 11/10/2022 | Kassi Sprecher | Excelled in a challenging task or situation, Inspired or motivated me, Found a solution to a difficult problem, Had a positive attitude or perspective, Demonstrated great teamwork | Kassi had completed the “gauntlet” of student events this fall for the first time. I want to recognize her perseverance, major organization skills and fortitude. This was not an easy thing to do and she did it with grace. | Catherine Carter |
| 11/10/2022 | Zach Smith | Excelled in a challenging task or situation, Had a positive attitude or perspective, Demonstrated great teamwork, Showed kindness | Zach has been working with me and the RAs to define his new role as a supervisor. He has approached this with thoughtfulness, creativity and humor, which is appreciated. I want to recognize Zach for his efforts. | Catherine Carter |
| 10/31/2022 | Kassi Sprecher | Excelled in a challenging task or situation, Had a positive attitude or perspective, Demonstrated great teamwork, Showed kindness | Kassi had the herculean task of processing all ME scholarships and did an OUTSTANDING job with handling all the thank you letters to donors. We recently got feedback that one donor was so moved by the thank you letters and meeting the students that he wants to do more. He may wind up making a gift for some of the WME students to receive ANOTHER scholarship in the spring. | Caitlin Scott, ME |
| 10/31/2022 | Kassi Sprecher | Excelled in a challenging task or situation, Had a positive attitude or perspective, Demonstrated great teamwork, Showed kindness | Kassi did an incredible job planning and executing the 2022 ME Advising Day! | Caitlin Scott, ME |
| 10/17/2022 | Hannh Douglas | Had a great idea or suggestion | Thanks for all your hard work coming up with special event ideas for Partners in Giving! I am excited to participate. | Kat Rasmussen |
| 9/30/2022 | Caitlin Scott | Excelled in a challenging task or situation | Caitlin did a really great job organizing the Faculty Investiture event and everyone in attendance really enjoyed it! It was great to attend the event and support those who were recognized, as well as Caitlin, as she had worked diligently on this special occasion to ensure its success! | Meghan Opgenorth |
| 9/29/2022 | Meghan Opgenorth | Had a positive attitude or perspective | You’ve been getting a lot of HR questions/walk-ins, and you’re always so friendly and you do your best to help them, while also handling the extra HR work while we are in the process of hiring a new P&B specialist. Your work is appreciated! 🙂 | Kat Rasmussen |
| 9/26/2022 | Caitlin Scott | Has gone above and beyond in her role in ME! | Pretty much immediately after starting in ME, Caitlin jumped right into writing articles, blog posts, and social media posts about the department. She’s done a great job of getting out lots of information and updates about the department. I am proud to be in a department with a strong online presence and representation. Thanks for making us look so good! | Hannah Douglas, ME |
| 9/23/2022 | Catherine Carter | Inspired or motivated me, Showed kindness | Catherine is a really great manager in many aspects. She is clearly invested in every one of her employees’ professional development and she makes the office a fun and friendly place for everyone. I’m also very grateful for the flexibility she allows us to pursue new projects or areas of interest within the department. Thanks for everything, Catherine! | Hannah Douglas, ME |
| 9/23/2022 | Kat Rasmussen | Inspired or motivated me, Demonstrated great teamwork | Kat is so fun to have around the office and does really great with finding new ways to include others and recognize them! She also does a really great job creating visually appealing information for administrative staff meetings! | Meghan Opgenorth |
| 9/22/2022 | Yan | Helped me better understand or learn something, Had a positive attitude or perspective, Demonstrated great teamwork, Showed kindness | Yan is so knowledgable and alway there to help, plus she is a very kind person, it s such a pleasure to work with you! | Coco Kinzley, ME |
| 9/22/2022 | Yan Xu | Helped me better understand or learn something | Thank you for all you’ve done to help get me trained in my new position. I’ve learned a lot and I appreciate you always finding the time to answer all my questions. | Kat Rasmussen |
| 9/22/2022 | Zach and Coco | Helped me better understand or learn something, Demonstrated great teamwork | Zach and Coco do a great job of following up with the purchasing team and answering our questions about funds in a timely and reliable manner. Thanks for always being there for us! | Hannah Douglas, ME |
| 9/22/2022 | Meghan Opgenorth | Helped me better understand or learn something, Had a positive attitude or perspective, Demonstrated great teamwork | Meghan always has a positive and energetic attitude that helps keep the office fun and lively. She also does a great job of making sure students, staff, and faculty have accurate and detailed benefits information to help them make informed decisions about this notoriously complex subject. | Hannah Douglas, ME |
| 9/21/2022 | Hannah Douglas | Demonstrated great teamwork | Thank you for all the help training our new purchasing student while I was gone!! Thanks for all the work you do as part of Team ME Purchasing. | Kat Rasmussen |
| 9/20/2022 | Kat Rasmussen | Excelled in a challenging task or situation, Had a positive attitude or perspective, Demonstrated great teamwork, Showed kindness | It has been a busy summer with travel and purchasing and finally, Kat is fully staffed with students. I’m proud of the efforts she has made over the summer to support our faculty and staff and also delighted to see her work so well with everyone around her. Kat has a positive attitude and cares. | Catherine Carter |
| 9/20/2022 | Shannon | Helped me better understand or learn something, Had a positive attitude or perspective, Demonstrated great teamwork, Showed kindness | Besides being great at her job, Shannon has amazing human qualities! | Coco Kinzley, ME |
| 9/16/2022 | Kassi Sprecher | Had a great idea or suggestion, Inspired or motivated me | Thank you for the work you have done on the bulletin boards in the building. NOBODY has done this for ME before, and it looks great, helps our students and inspires me to continue to make our department more visible and appreciated for what we do! | Catherine Carter |
| 9/15/2022 | Hannah Douglas | Had a great idea or suggestion | Your CASI name idea is almost officially our new CASI name. Everyone love it and it is perfect. Thank you! | Zach Smith |