Employee Excellence
in Service Award

Firefighting isn't something Brian Purcell ever thought he'd do. But many of his Health Science Center colleagues consider him to be one of the best at putting out their "fires" — computer fires, that is. Brian is the local area network manager for the office of educational resources (OER). He is responsible for maintaining 14 servers and 120 computer workstations.

"Brian always has a can-do attitude," said Sally Crouser, office manager for the office of educational resources. "He has the desire and the tenacity to solve a computer problem no matter what it takes. He gets calls from employees throughout the university who request computer assistance. Usually they'll say in a panic, 'It's an emergency!' No matter what the situation, Brian is always willing to help. And he does it with patience and a smile."

Purcell recently developed a computer program that tracks employee leave time. The new program saves the OER administrative staff from the labor- and time-intensive task of keeping manual records for the employees in OER. Instead, the program requires simple data entry. The rest is automated. Purcell even added a feature that allows employees and supervisors to access leave balances via the Internet.

"The result of Brian's work is a highly efficient, effective and easy-to-use method of timekeeping, providing reports and meeting compliance," Crouser said.

Clyde Fulkerson, local area network specialist in the office of educational resources, said Purcell is always looking for ways to improve his skills so he can better serve the Health Science Center. In 1999 Purcell completed requirements and passed a number of grueling exams to become a certified Microsoft software engineer. He is one of only four on campus who have this designation.

"Brian deserves recognition for his unselfish efforts and for his dedication to his job and to the entire Health Science Center," Fulkerson said.

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