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Excellence at COM/UMA
Employee of the Year honored
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 The
Department of Medicine honored its Employee of the Year, Gerry Garza,
at a celebration Aug. 18. Garza, an MUSC employee since 1977, has
worked in the Department of Medicine since 1993. He was selected from a
group of 18 Department of Medicine employees who had previously been
selected as Employees of the Quarter during fiscal year 2009.
Below is the text from the nominations submitted:
 Department of Medicine's Dr. John Feussner, right, presents Gerry Garza with Employee of Year Aug. 18.
“This fiscal quarter was extremely demanding for the Department of
Medicine (DOM) chairman’s Office Research Administration Unit. One
employee resigned from her position and our highly productive grants
administrator was out on three months maternity leave for the entire
quarter. Consequently, Gerry had to manage almost all grant management
activities of DOM: grant submission processing, grant finances, and
other miscellaneous grants-related administrative duties. As if not
challenging enough, the workload was increased even further due to the
myriad of new NIH ARRA Stimulus initiatives. For DOM, this included
additional department submissions for lab equipment grants,
supplements, a renovation grant and other off-cycle, one-time grant
opportunities. I watched as he simply put his head down and
worked...meeting all deadlines, assisting faculty and division staff,
providing reports to the department chairman on short notice, etc. Yet
he endured this increased stress and workload by simply using a
positive attitude and commitment to the tasks. The only change I saw he
made was to increase his work hours to meet the demand. He worked so
hard and accomplished so much for this department this quarter. I know
of no one more deserving of this award than him.”
The second nomination read: “Honor, integrity, loyalty. These are words
that describe, Gerry Garza. He began his MUSC career in the Department
of Pharmacology where he served 16 years as the departmental business
manager. In 1993, he was recruited to the Department of Medicine. The
previous department administrator/vice chair-man once told me ‘to be
the best, then you have to hire the best.’ He referenced Gerry in this
statement. When this previous vice chairman arrived at MUSC, he asked
colleagues who is the best grants administrator. The answer was Gerry
Garza. In 1993, DOM had approximately $12M in extramural funding.
Today, our research funding exceeds $45M. This is certainly
representative of the department’s investment in new faculty; however,
I believe it’s also a reflection to Gerry Garza and his commitment to
Medicine’s success. During his 16 plus years in medicine, Gerry has
given so much to the department, college, and university. In
fiscal year 2009, he served under a heavy workload and pressure as his
research team of four was reduced to two. During this time, he
administered the submission of $26M in stimulus grants single handily.
He is seen by this institution as a grants management resource. I like
to think of him as a human grants encyclopedia. Under pressure as well
as facing adversity, he maintains a calm, professional demeanor. I
honestly believe Gerry Garza is one of medicine’s best assets, and he
is a definite contributor to our success.”
Friday, Sept. 18, 2009
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