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Myra Strother

Unclassified employee of the month

Started at KU: Myra Strother joined the staff at Watkins Student Health Services in 1991 and was chief of staff from January 2001 until February 2005.

Current title: Staff physician. She managed the SHS Emergency Response Team and is a consulting physician for the Nurse Allergy and Nurse Triage clinics. She initiated the Nurse Triage Clinic, which has been well received by students and staff. Waiting time for appointments has decreased, and students appreciate the home-care instructions they receive.

Notable: Myra has an endless amount of positive, can-do energy that is infectious. Her colleagues know her first concern is the well-being of KU students and staff. Two years ago, a student was hospitalized with a life-threatening case of meningitis. Myra immediately made contact with the student’s housemates and classmates, spending long hours for many days to help educate, medicate and vaccinate the students and working tirelessly to address their personal concerns and alleviate panic. She also worked with university administrators to develop a policy to ensure that those living in student housing facilities have been vaccinated for meningitis.

Recent feat: Myra was instrumental in helping address last winter’s shortage of influenza vaccine. She gathered a committee of health center representatives that developed a plan to dispense the vaccine first to students who were most at risk. She coordinated clinic schedules to make sure the vaccine was available at variable hours so students would not have to miss classes. When a supply of vaccine was made available unexpectedly, Myra contacted the Douglas County Health Department to develop a plan to use Allen Field House as a mock emergency site to dispense the vaccine to the larger community.

Rosalee W. Neibarger

University Support Staff

Started at KU: Rosalee Neibarger began her KU career in 1968 as a Clerk-Steno II in the Department of Social Work, a year before the School of Seocial Welfare was established.

Current title: Administrative officer in the school.

What that means: Rosalee is the primary administrative support to the school’s top officials. She handles correspondence and calendars, coordinates meetings and travel arrangements, and is a representative and liaison to university, state, agency and other public officials. She also is responsible for personnel processes, is a key resource for the faculty search and promotion and tenure committees, manages all payroll appointments and oversees all budgetary matters for the school.

Notable: Rosalee has worked with (faculty members say she has "trained") every dean, assistant and associate dean the school has had. She was on hand to assist when the school moved from the third floor of Blake Hall to Twente Hall in the mid-1970s and has been the support person on subsequent space reallocations and building upgrades.

Over the past year alone, Rosalee has assisted with major space reallocations, coordinated credit-card processes for Professional and Community Education programs, assisted in numerous searches and helped plan and arrange a 10-day visit for two faculty and 10 students from the University of Costa Rica. Every seven years, she coordinates the production of materials necessary for the school’s reaccreditation.

Colleagues describe her as the original multitasker, able to shift from one thing to another instantaneously and with tact and grace. Says one faculty member, "Rosalee is both the rock on which the School of Social Welfare rests and the glue that holds it together."