Every year, the University of Washington honors a select few with the Distinguished Staff Award. This award is given to a handful of staff members who “provide extraordinary service beyond their basic job description and demonstrate the university’s values of integrity, diversity, excellence, collaboration, innovation and respect.”
Our very own Jane Messerly was nominated for this prestigious award this year. The recipients will be announced at the upcoming Awards of Excellence Ceremony on April 3 from 2:00-3:30 pm in the HUB Ballroom.
Jane has been at POC since 2012 as a database developer. She has been instrumental in creating the Washington State Child Well-Being Data Portal – a powerful, easy-to-navigate web tool that provides information about the children and families involved in the Washington State child welfare system.
The Data Portal has transformed the way that the public understands the child welfare system. For policy makers and other stakeholders, having access to data at the click of a mouse is extremely useful when assessing how programs and policies affect the children and families interacting with the system.
But Jane’s dedication goes beyond the creation of the Data Portal – she serves as a role model for her team. “Jane takes the time to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to learn as much or as little as they desire about technological problems and solutions to these problems. When teaching others, she is patient, kind, and accommodating of the widely varying technological skills among members of our campus community,” said Joseph Mienko, POC research scientist.
Whatever the outcome of the Awards of Excellence Ceremony, we are proud to have Jane at Partners for Our Children. As team member Maureen Newby put it, “quite simply, [Jane] is doing exceptional work as a database developer and inspiring work for the families and children in Washington State.”
We’re rooting for you, Jane!
