Five 40-year-employees honored at service awards dinner

From left: Penny Horner-Sullivan, Joe Pecha, UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., Rodney Lugert and Joyce Sikora at the recent employee service awards dinner. Horner-Sullivan, Pecha, Lugert and Sikora were honored at the dinner for 40 years of service at UNMC.

It was 1967 — the year of “The Summer of Love,” the release of the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and Cassius Clay being stripped of his heavyweight boxing title for refusing to join the Army.

It also was the year five current UNMC employees began working at the medical center.

The five employees — Janis Bruner of the College of Medicine, Penny Horner Sullivan of the Munroe-Meyer Institute, Rod Lugert of Information Technology Services, Joe Pecha of Facilities Management and SAP’s Joyce Sikora — were recognized for 40-years of service during the annual service awards dinner on June 21.

The five 40-year-employees were the most ever recognized at UNMC. They joined nearly 300 UNMC workers who were lauded during the dinner — during which employees celebrating tenures of service in five-year increments were thanked for their efforts.

From left: Ken Hansen, assistant vice chancellor of business and finance; Nick Combs, director of maintenance; and Dale Miller, manager, financial services; toast John Larson, automation controls supervisor, who marked 35 years of service at UNMC.

Dmitry Oleynikov, M.D., associate professor of surgery, center, helps Melissa Monzu, specialty care nurse, general surgery, and Paul Kawacz, ITS video services, observe their five and 10 year employment milestones.

Also recognized were 32 UNMC employees who had retired since May 2006.

“Having so many people recognized for extended tenures of service at UNMC is a testament to the dedication and loyalty of these valued employees,” UNMC Employee Relations Director Carmen Sirizzotti said. “It’s also says good things about the work environment created at the medical center that so many would chose to stay here for so long.”

Click here to see a list of all employees recognized during the dinner.