Each year, UW–Madison honors university staff members for their outstanding dedication and commitment to excellence. We are so pleased to share that our own Jay Tucker was one of the ten winners of the University Staff Recognition Award, chosen from over 100 nominations!
Jay Tucker Stack Manager
In regular times, Tucker coordinates and oversees the shelving of books in the library. In the early days of the pandemic, Tucker worked from home, updating spreadsheets and procedure manuals. Although he could have continued to work from home, he was worried about a backlog of work piling up and staff not being able to access parts of the collection, so he asked for permission to work on site. Since Tucker was one of few staff allowed in the building, he volunteered to assist with other essential on-site duties at the Law School, including receiving and delivering mail to the school’s active legal clinics. Tucker researched and suggested safe classroom designs and assisted with measuring rooms to ensure a 6-foot distance between chairs. He helped move and remove hundreds of tables and chairs around the building to storage. He is conscientious and notices any oddities with things and people around the building, intervening or bringing them to the attention of supervisors if needed. Tucker is an active volunteer with the Red Cross, spending many weekends and often vacation days driving supplies from one part of the state to the other, providing support wherever needed.
Another member of our Law Library team, BJ Ramsay was also named to the University Staff Roll of Honor.
BJ Ramsay Evening/Weekend Supervisor
The services the Library provides and the software the Library uses are constantly changing. BJ is usually the first to recognize how UW System and campus initiatives will affect our procedures but she always provides ideas on how these new challenges can be met. Covid presented the Law Library with a significant number of problems on how to keep providing services and still maintain safety for employees and patrons. BJ has been instrumental in determining Covid safety protocols for the Law Library’s public service area and was an important contributor to all of our Covid discussions. When the lockdown was first lifted, BJ came onsite to help ready the Library to reopen according to Covid safety protocols. She measured five floors and three wings of Library space to determine the correct six-foot distancing for each area. Furthermore, she assisted with the removal of furniture to ensure safe distances would be maintained. BJ also taught herself Smart Draw, a diagramming program, to create maps of each table and chair in the Law Library to use with our new seat reservation system.
There were also several other honorees from the UW Law School. Karma Bhutia and Adam Bushcott also received awards. And eight other Law School staff members were named to the honor roll: Darryl Berney, Justin Boehm, Jennifer Gardner, Kelly Hallmark, Angela Haugen, Patrick Long, Carlos Pimentel, and Nick Thout-Petkovich.
I’m so proud of Jay, BJ, and all of the other Law School honorees. Congratulations to all!