Chell Nyquist and Lisa Crain honored at COE staff awards
Two AAE staff received recognition for their dedication to Purdue AAE's mission at the 21st annual College of Engineering Staff Awards of Excellence ceremony this month. Chell Nyquist, instruction manager, received the Professional Achievement Award. Lisa Crain, undergraduate program coordinator, was a finalist for the Customer Service Award. Both are long-time Purdue employees.
Chell has been with Purdue since 2004, and in the College of Engineering since 2007. Chell’s nomination referred to his commitment to his work and perseverance even in difficult times. Room capacity restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic added a challenge to his ongoing role as Purdue Space Day program administrator: Only two people could be in the same room at one time, but he and his volunteers still managed to prepare 27,000 activity kits for that year’s PSD participants.
The nomination also lauded his methodical approach to managing the needs of AAE’s hands-on labs and courses. In a recent shuffling of rooms, he ran many scenarios in determining the optimum locations for each course, including making scale models of wind tunnels and other experiment equipment to find the ideal arrangement in each lab. He has also shouldered many responsibilities in AAE when there have been vacancies in the department, including acting as events manager for the 2022 Outstanding Aerospace Engineer banquet.
The nomination document said he handles his duties with a quiet, down-to-Earth presence that has been invaluable to the smooth operation of the department.
"I was surprised that I did win, because I'm familiar with the other two finalists," Chell said. "I'm very appreciative that people consider what I do to be beneficial. But for me, I'd much rather fly under the radar."
Lisa celebrated her 25th anniversary in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics earlier this year; she began in the mail room and advanced to her current role, proving herself to be an invaluable resource for the School throughout its time of exponential growth.
Her love of Purdue has shown in her years here: Her workspace is dotted with Purdue knick-knacks and memorabilia, many of which were gifts she received as thank-yous throughout her Purdue career. The nomination mentioned her friendly, welcoming personality, and dedication to serving students. "She doesn’t do her work because it’s 'her job,' she does it because she loves what she does and is devoted to the AAE department," the nomination says. "We would not be as functional and fun as we currently are without her."
She was commended in part for her dedication to duties as Schedule Deputy, which involves working with more than 40 faculty to schedule courses and find the necessary spaces for those courses. She takes a polite, professional approach to the demands of that role, which can include last-minute requests and changes.
Lisa also became the department's point person for WebEx at the beginning of the pandemic, when all courses went online. Even though the transition and technology was relatively new to everyone, she quickly became the expert and handled every question that came in.
Her selflessness shows in how she feels about the nomination: "It certainly wasn't expected," she said. "It's nice to be recognized."