Oklahoma Animal Disease

Diagnostic Laboratory

Created in 1991 by the late Dr. Louie Stratton (OSU CVM ’55), the first director of the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, the Stratton Staff Award honors a deserving staff member for his or her outstanding service or contributions to the college. Nominees must be full-time employees of the college for three or more years.

 

Meet the 2020 Stratton Staff Award nominees:

 

Jordan Anderson is the grant manager in the dean’s office. She is detail oriented, dependable, efficient and quick to help anyone in need. Jordan’s work ethic is exceptional and she executes her job at the highest level working within the OSU community and with private, state, and federal agencies. Jordan exemplifies the five core values of the college (communication, integrity, accountability, teamwork and leadership). She takes her job seriously and fully understands that managing grants and contracts in the proposal and award stages is critical to the mission of our university.

 

Sue Bickell is a small animal caretaker and supervisor of all small animal caretakers at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. She produces quality work and goes the extra mile to ensure that tasks are done correctly and efficiently for the wellbeing and safety of all small animal patients under her care. Sue teaches other caretakers and has a positive and upbeat demeanor, which creates a comfortable work atmosphere. Always with a smile, she truly cares about the individuals she works with. While being a caretaker isn’t the flashiest job, Sue has dedicated 30 years of outstanding service to making sure things run smoothly on a day to day basis at the hospital.

 

Emily Cooper is the assistant director of the college’s Oklahoma Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory. The quality of her work is outstanding. She is reliable and always goes the extra mile for clients and staff. Emily’s attitude toward work is, “let’s do it right.” She takes great responsibility to ensure clients are happy with the service they receive from OADDL and focuses on doing what is best for the lab. Staff and clients walk away from interactions with Emily knowing that they were heard and their needs will be addressed. In February, before COVID-19 fully hit OADDL, Emily experienced a personal injury that required her to rest and not work. She fought to return to work early to help lead OADDL during a time of unprecedented uncertainty looking out for OADDL and its staff.

 

Amy Hoyt is the serology laboratory manager at OADDL. She is an exceptional employee managing one of the busiest, high volume testing centers within OADDL. Amy balances testing, compliance and proficiency testing, oversight of employees and works in the lab as a technician in addition to serving as manager. During COVID-19 testing, Amy volunteered to serve as a shift supervisor working late into the evening after putting in a normal day. During her tenure as manager, Amy has been instrumental in implementing new testing at OADDL that has allowed us to acquire business from both the poultry and swine industries. She also serves on the college staff council and volunteers at the Humane Society of Stillwater, a testimony to our commitment to animal health and well-being during our day jobs and in our community.

 

Michelle Kuehn is a senior administrative support specialist in the dean’s office. She plays a critical role in several areas including the MS/PhD program in Comparative Biomedical Sciences, the Interdisciplinary Toxicology Program, the 3MT Competition, the recent ExamSoft implementation, the Curriculum and Effective Instruction Committee, and student testing accommodations to name a few. Michelle is knowledgeable, an excellent communicator and personally makes sure graduate students stay on track in their degree programs. She goes above and beyond making sure all students feel welcome and have the information they need to succeed. Michelle handles many of the day to day responsibilities that make our program top notch and help students achieve their goals. Students appreciate her hard work but more importantly her personal touch and encouragement. Michelle was instrumental in making our ExamSoft launch successful with the highest adoption rate in the company’s history.

 

Deborah Shields is the executive assistant to the Dean. She is known for her excellent quality of work and thorough knowledge of the job. Deborah exhibits a ‘can do’ attitude towards any task presented to her. She is always helpful and eager to resolve any challenges that come her way. Deborah is a great ambassador for the college. Any job she takes on she always gives it her best.

 

Sharon Wells is the dispensary coordinator at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. She ensures accurate inventory is always available for our medical teams. She is meticulous and thorough in all aspects of her work. Sharon understands the medications she stocks, the needs of the medical teams, the importance of drug and personnel safety, and the financial impact to the hospital or her department. She serves all in a professional and inclusive nature. On a recent inspection by the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, the hospital was found faultless much to the great work Sharon does daily. Over the past few years, the Prescription Monitoring Program has added an immense amount of ever-changing rules and regulations. Sharon ensures that she knows the details and functionality of these changes. She continually seeks ways to improve efficiency and accuracy for processes in her area and within the hospital.

 

Vickie Yarbrough-Tessman is the coordinator of hospital services at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. She is responsible for purchasing and maintaining inventory for all supplies used for patient care within the hospital. Vickie does a great job ensuring that the medical teams have the necessary resources to fulfill their mission each day. She stays abreast of backorders and imminent backorders and knows when to be proactive to prevent shortages. Vickie has a strong work ethic and maintained a positive attitude during the recent very product-intensive software conversion at the hospital.