Two staff members honored with USNH Perry Award

By Lori Wright, Media Relations

Michele Stone, director of finance and administration for the School of Health and Human Services, and Kate Roberts, director of financial services for the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, have been awarded the USNH Bradford K. Perry Award.

The award is given each year to one or more business officers or individuals serving in a business-related function for contributions to the improvement of USNH business operations and/or cooperation among the USNH entities.

Those nominated are evaluated based on the impact of the individual’s contributions to operations throughout USNH (reduced paperwork, more effective use of time, estimated cost savings or revenue enhancement, improved service to students, faculty and staff); improved effectiveness in operations within local unit, department and/or campus; extent of collaboration with business officers or co-workers from other campus/USNH units; and extent of positive change in the processes or procedures for resolving issues and addressing problems pertinent to business officers.

According to James McCarthy, dean of HHS, Stone has played a critical role in the school’s effort to transform financially. “Without her amazing skills as a financial analyst, and her outstanding dedication to her job (we regularly get e-mails with budget updates that arrive at 9 or 10 at night), the School of Health and Human Services could not have turned from massive deficits to solid surpluses in three years. This transformation demanded timely and accurate financial information, and Michele provided that. She not only knows as much about the UNH and USNH financial systems as anyone, she also knows how to use them superbly in the service of an academic unit,” McCarthy said in his letter nominating her for the award.

McCarthy also cited Stone’s expertise when other UNH units became part of the school, specifically the Browne Center and Institute on Disability. Stone took the lead regarding both the financial mergers and the cultural transformations necessary to bring these units into the HHS fold.

Roberts is widely respected among CEPS faculty and staff, and has played a crucial role in assisting the college address its budget challenges, according to Arthur Greenberg, dean of CEPS. “She has been very effective at working with deans and department chairs in negotiations with research centers and principal investigators. She is a bright, thorough, hard-nosed manager who has saved CEPS tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Greenberg said in his letter nominating Roberts for the award.

“I find Kate Roberts to be an efficient manager but also very fair and empathetic. I cannot overstate the respect in which she is held in CEPS and in UNH,” Greenberg said.