USDA To Honor Its Own June 4
    The Department’s annual Honor Awards Ceremony for 2001 is scheduled to be held on Monday, June 4 at 12:30 p.m. at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center in Washington, DC.

     Sandra Anglade, USDA’s employee recognition program manager with the Office of Human Resources Management and coordinator of the Ceremony, noted that this is the 55^th Honor Awards Ceremony held by the Department. “USDA will honor individuals and groups of employees for their outstanding achievements, based on recommendations to Secretary Ann Veneman from USDA’s Honor Awards Committee,” she noted.

    The Honor Awards Committee, chaired by Sherie Hinton Henry, acting deputy administrator for operations and management in the Rural Development mission area, was composed of Henry and four individuals selected from agriculture, academia, and the private, non-profit sector. Committee members met at USDA headquarters in Washington, DC on April 11 to evaluate the nominations received for the Department’s highest awards. 149 nominations were submitted to the Committee, including 45 individual nominations and 104 group nominations.

    Cecilia Matthews, USDA’s incentive awards officer in OHRM, noted that Committee members then forwarded their selections--which consisted of 31 individual and 62 group nominations, for a total of 93 nominations--to Veneman for her consideration as USDA Honor Award recipients.

    Matthews added that the Ceremony is to be transmitted live via satellite to employee locations around the country. All USDA employees are invited to attend.