Deb Ply is the November EOM

Deb Ply walked into the Public Affairs Center Restaurant ready to work with her laptop in tow. However, she soon realized she had walked into her Employee of the Month party. Co-workers, friends, and family surprised her on November 15, 2012.

Ply is an Office Manager for the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and has worked at UIS since August 2008. Her nominator describes her as a “consummate professional” who is able to manage her complex and multifaceted job with “precision and accuracy.”

“She consistently works to improve the function of the Office of Undergraduate Education by developing new strategies and tools to manage the workflow and insure timely completion of office tasks. She works smoothly and professionally with a diverse population of students, faculty, staff, and external constituents,” said her nominator.

Ply has an interest in new technologies and recently developed a document tracking system for the office, which ensures that importance university documents are processed.

“Deb is always positive about her job and views the work she does as an opportunity to learn and grow professionally. She came from the business world, but believes deeply in the value of higher education and in the work that universities, like UIS, do,” added her nominator.

She is known for always being willing to help and tries to learn more about university processes so that she can answer questions and provide more support for student and faculty.

“Her professionalism is quiet – she does not gossip, is never negative towards co-workers, and is always customer friendly,” said her nominator.

Ply is active in volunteer activities on campus, including serving on the LGBTQ Resource Office’s Safe Zone Committee. She helped plan and implement many of the Safe Zone trainings that took place this fall.

As Employee of the Month, Ply will receive a special parking spot for the month along with some extra spending cash on her i-card.