Two weeks ago, we celebrated this year’s CALS Award recipients, and this week, we begin to share more information about individual winners, starting with the Academic Staff Excellence Awards.

Annie Anderson

Annie Anderson is the department administrator for the Department of Genetics. When the department was experiencing retirements, leaves of absence and turnover, Annie went above and beyond her official duties to keep the department running. She anticipated problems and proactively took the initiative to learn the new skills – including taking on grants administration and building administration.

Annie conducted several job searches to fill the open positions, and she didn’t simply replace positions. She brought creativity to the task, working closely with the department community to re-envision how academic staff can best support the department’s mission.

Annie maintained a supportive and engaged attitude throughout the period of transition when she took on these additional responsibilities without being asked. Her efforts have improved the department’s administrative structure and helped position it for a strong future. Her dedication, effort and excellent performance are greatly appreciated by the department and the college.

Chris Davis

Chris Davis is an Instrument Technologist and an Animal Care Manager in the Department of Nutritional Sciences. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Nutritional Sciences, and then took an Instrument Technologist position in Sherry Tanumihardjo’s group.

Additionally, Chris is an Animal Care Manager for the department’s vivarium and for Eric Yen’s lab. He reactivated the old vivarium space in the McArdle Building – which had not been operational since 2015. This work, and Chris’ expertise in equipment, were critical for establishing the Small Animal Metabolic Phenotyping Facility, a new UW core facility.

Chris oversees and maintains numerous instruments for the core facility and the department vivarium. As the vivarium expanded to over 1,100 cages, he established policies and procedures, recruited and trained professional animal care staff, and supported AAALAC inspections. He approaches his work with creativity and a positive attitude, and his efforts have benefited the department, the college and the campus.

David Egan-Robertson

David Egan-Robertson is a Research Analyst with the Applied Population Laboratory in the Department of Community and Environmental Sociology. Since joining the staff, David has led demographic outreach activities, continuously expanding the scope of services to meet the needs of the state. He is among the state’s leading demography experts addressing critical topics such as racial equity, shrinking workforce and school enrollment declines.

David has partnered with UW System, the Wisconsin Department of Administration, school districts, local governments and community partners to address their demographic data needs. His contributions have taken a variety of forms including peer-reviewed articles, external oversight of the state’s population estimates and projections program, and timely responses to countless requests from journalists.

In all cases, David has demonstrated an unparalleled ability to translate data into meaningful information that helps inform policy, planning and decision making. He is a thoughtful colleague, with a deep commitment to demographic research and outreach in service of the Wisconsin Idea.