USDANEWS
VOLUME 55 NO. 6 - JULY 1996
USDA Spotlights Its "Unsung Heroes"
by Ron Hall, Office of Communications
USDA recognized seven of its employees as "unsung heroes"
during its recent observance of Public Service Recognition Week.
According to Otis Thompson, executive director of the
Organization of Professional Employees, U.S. Department of Agriculture (OPEDA)
and retired USDA public affairs specialist, the purpose of the "unsung hero"
designation is to identify those employees who have been "unusually
dedicated and efficient and had a positive attitude."
Nominees as "unsung heroes" are based on actual "hands-on"
activities rather than supervisory or managerial efforts, he added. However, all
USDA employees were eligible to be nominated.
The idea for an "unsung heroes" contest was developed in 1987
by a group of six representatives of professional organizations in the
Department. This was the ninth year of the contest, which was conducted
USDA-wide. Following a Department-wide solicitation, 50 employees were
nominated, either by fellow USDA employees or by customers of USDA programs and
services. The final selection was made this past spring by a team of USDA
officials.
USDA's "unsung heroes" for 1996 include:
- Francisco Apodaca, a branch chief with the Food Safety and
Inspection Service in Washington, DC, who spearheaded his agency's efforts to "adopt"
a middle school in Washington, DC, where FSIS employees have since been
providing tutoring and mentoring services and supplies to its students. He then
developed a "how-to" handbook titled "The Adopt-A-School Program,"
for use by other interested groups.
- Linda Detwiler, a veterinarian with the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service in Robbinsville, N.J., who--when "mad cow disease"
caused a health scare in Britain--quickly developed reliable and credible
information to assure the public that U.S.-produced beef products were not
similarly infected. Her efforts thereby helped defuse a potential "mad cow
disease" health scare in this country.
- Dave Dewald, a biologist with the Natural Resources Conservation
Service in Bismarck, N.D., for his work on behalf of threatened and endangered
species and on problems and appeals concerning flooding and wetlands--all while
serving as a bridge between the concerns of agriculture and the environment.
- DeeDee Gleven, a recreation maintenance manager on the Forest
Service's Umpqua National Forest in Oregon, who--since 1992, when the local
20-person volunteer emergency medical team was disbanded--has, in effect, served
as a "one-person emergency medical team," responding to about three
dozen emergency calls a year in this remote yet heavily-visited recreation area.
- Mark Jensen, an FS soil scientist in Missoula, Mont., for
developing a unified, standardized computer program concerning management of the
ecosystem in general and natural resources in particular, called the "Ecosystem
Characterization and Description System" project. As a result, local
specialists from FS and area and state agencies and environmental organizations
can now more easily "speak the same language."
- Ralph Johnson, an APHIS plant protection and quarantine officer at
JFK International Airport in New York City, who developed and coordinates a
tutorial program, including classroom instruction and field trips to USDA labs,
designed to help local inner-city high school students become skilled
scientists--hopefully with the Department.
- Dwight Wullweber, Rural Housing Director with the Rural Housing
Service in Huron, S.D., for his efforts in assisting local low-income residents
in obtaining USDA single family and multi-family housing loans. This has
included some of the first such loans in the nation for residents of Indian
tribal lands and reservation areas. ¤
Inside the
"USDA NEWS"