SIU Med School Employees Honored

Southern Illinois University School of Medicine has honored two civil service employees and a team in the Department of Internal Medicine for exemplary work. All were recognized during the School’s employee recognition activities this spring.

Monty Webber, chief building operations engineer, was named supervisor of the year. His nominators said he "maintains a delicate balance between what is best for the School and getting the best from his staff. Monty is supportive, compassionate, polite and understanding with his staff." Originally from Mt. Vernon, Webber is the son of Wiley Mays of Springfield and has one adult son, Jason.

Debbie Kemper, an office systems specialist for the SimmonsCooper Cancer Institute at SIU, was named civil service employee of the year. She was selected from the 2005 employees of the month. Her nominators said "she consistently completes every task and new assignment. Debbie is fair-minded and brings wisdom and insight to her job." Kemper is the daughter of Mildred Hinds and James Hinds of Petersburg. She and her husband, Dennis, live in Pleasant Plains and have two children, Timothy in Springfield and Rachel in Surprise, Ariz. She is a graduate of Lincoln Land Community College.

The first Group Quality Award was given to the General Internal Medicine Project Team, which included Dr. Robert Bussing, Dr. Maureen Francis, Dr. Susan Hingle, Waneta McKemie, Stefanie Slightom and Dr. Andrew Varney, all faculty and staff in the internal medicine department, and Kathy Mahaffey and Brenda Vilayhong, both in the SIU Physicians & Surgeons administrative office. Their nominators said "this group has made tremendous strides in quality improvement for their patients by implementing an advanced open access system. This has made the School one of the leaders in quality improvement among academic medical centers."

The Group Quality Award recognizes a group for their outstanding contributions in delivering service or improving health outcomes or work processes.

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