JOSH FIELDS/Arizona Daily Wildcat UA staff members were honored at the annual Awards for Excellence Friday in the Student Union Memorial Center Grand Ballroom. President Peter Likins and Provost George Davis presented the nominees and winners with certificates and cash awards.

A staff member's job is like juggling apples, oranges and bananas, Provost George Davis said to university employees at a luncheon Friday.

That was the message Davis tried to get across at the 17th Annual Awards for Excellence organized by the Staff Advisory Council and Employee Recognition Steering Committee.

At the awards ceremony, administrators lauded university staff for their contributions to the UA.

"The university doesn't function unless you make the dedicated effort I know you all do," President Peter Likins told staff members.

But during the ceremony, the advisory council also presented a "Special Recognition Award" to an unsuspecting Likins for his demonstration of respect throughout campus.

Kathi Hart, the council president, said Likins' open-door policy has made staff members on campus feel welcome and appreciated.

"People used to feel overlooked, but President Likins has given (staff members) more of a voice," Hart said.

With Likins' final year approaching, Hart said finding a president who believes in shared governance, like Likins, is key to university staff.

Davis said the UA's staff is unique because not only are they the backbone of the university, but they've also had to respond to a changing university in the past few years.

The staff dealt with the introduction of Focused Excellence in 2002, which Davis said may have felt more like "Focused Workforce," with staff sizes getting smaller and workloads getting bigger.

On top of Focused Excellence, Davis said staff members had to realize key institutional objectives the university aimed for, such as creating diverse work environments and increasing mentorship.

As Davis described staff members' growing responsibilities, David Kha, son of former UA spokeswoman Sharon Kha, juggled fruit in the background, a metaphoric message Davis thought up himself.

The UA employees comprise more than 6,000 classified staff, making up 43 percent of university employees, according to the UA Fact Book.

Award recipients were nominated by their peers and chosen by the Staff Advisory Council, a 27-member group of volunteers.

Christine Krikliwy, program coordinator for the Poetry Center, received the Billy Joe Varney Award, which came with a $1,500 award.

Krikliwy is president of ArtsReach, a writing program for American Indian students, and is a member of the Unified Community Advisory Board, which oversees a cleanup site for trichloroethylene, a toxic chemical that has been detected near Sunnyside High School, 1725 E. Bilby Road.

Her nominator, Gail Browne, executive director of the Poetry Center, said Krikliwy carried a sick fellow staff member to a car and drove her to a physician, helped a foreign graduate student with medical bills after her newborn baby died, and is the first to help colleagues.

The six awards for excellence were given to Richard Brindamour, senior instructional specialist for the University Teaching Center; Walter Buchanan, office supervisor for financial services; Corey Jean Mason, accountant for the department of ecology and evolutionary biology; Stephanie Pearmain, administrative assistant for the department of English; Leslie Porter, director of benefits and employment for human resources; and Rachel Tapia, senior office specialist for the department of chemistry.

The team awards were given to CatCard Services, the McGuire Entrepreneurship Program and the Undergraduate Program Student Services Team for the Eller College of Management.

Each individual and team winners were awarded $1,000.

In conjunction with Employment Recognition Week, the annual staff art exhibit "On Our Own Time" will be open at the Student Union Memorial Center Gallery through Thursday.