The 2009 Ken & Toby Baker UND Proud Award

Pat Hanson, Director of Payroll

This UND Proud winner is well known and respected by everyone she works with across campus.  Her role has changed significantly in the 12 years since she took her job.  She was intimately involved in the PeopleSoft conversion and facilitated changes in the business processes and timelines that many of us work with every day.  Federal regulations can be daunting and confusing, but this award recipient is always up to speed on the newest regulations, and she goes the extra mile to obtain and share information.  She also has an extraordinary ability to communicate the most complex information in a way that all of us can understand.  Everything she does demands accuracy and timeliness, and she’s often working under tight deadlines.  Her patience and grace under pressure are to be admired by all of us.

This winner is also highly respected by her peers on other campuses who often seek her advice and opinions.  Vice Chancellor Laura Glatt frequently requests her participation on committees or work groups, knowing that her contributions as an experienced and knowledgeable professional in her field are unmatched throughout the University system.  She readily volunteers to participate on campus-wide committees that involve much time and effort outside normal business hours, but one nominator wrote, “I am not certain there is such a thing as ‘normal business hours’ for this person.”

This winner’s activities outside of her day-to-day work are also noteworthy.  She experienced the ups and downs of political life as the mayor of Thompson, ND.  These  days, she is the number one supporter of the UND volleyball team! 

• Former Baker Award Winners