Meg Padovani, a lead applications developer in Development and Alumni Relations, contributed to 11 projects honored recently by District VII of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, or CASE, and, not surprisingly, she also earned the district’s Rising Star Award.
“UC Davis was lucky to find her,” CASE quoted Angela Joens, assistant vice chancellor of development outreach, as saying. “She has a drive and ambition to serve others and believes in the work she is doing” — the work of creating tools to collect and report data.
Shaun Keister, vice chancellor of Development and Alumni Relations, told CASE that Padavoni has “modeled professional communication, tailoring her style to connect with colleagues at all levels of the university.”
CASE District VII, taking in seven western U.S. states and territories, honored Padovani and other campus award winners at the region’s annual conference held in Anaheim in February.
UC Davis received 21 Awards of Excellence for various projects, including a grand gold for a series of print and digital guidebooks to cultural and ethnicity-based campus resources and community life on campus.
Judges give grand golds only to projects deemed to truly stand above the rest — this year, eight were given among 13 categories.
Designed to be a resource for prospective and current students who identify with underrepresented racial or ethnic communities, “The Cultural Guides” (formerly called “The Cultural Pages”) comprise six booklets — also available online and via the UC Davis NOW mobile app — that feature advice from students, staff and faculty from each community. They also contain information about student life, cultural organizations and events, academic resources and more.
Recruiters take the booklets on the road to showcase campus diversity to prospective students, and retention and community centers use the guides as part of their outreach and keep copies in their offices for students to take.
The booklets were created by a broad team of staff and students in Student Affairs.
Here is an overview of the winners:
2019 Rising Star Award
- Meg Padovani, lead applications developer, Development and Alumni Relations
Grand Gold
- The Cultural Guides, Student Affairs Marketing and Communications, in the category Diversity Programs
Gold
- National Awareness Campaign: Engaging Influencers, Strategic Communications, in the category Advertising: Campaigns
- World Water Initiative: A UC Davis Big Idea Case Statement, Development and Alumni Relations, in the category Fundraising Publications: Case Statements/General Cultivation Publications (Print)
Silver
- Fall Direct Mail Series FY17, Development and Alumni Relations, in the category Fundraising Campaigns
- Arts Proposal, Development and Alumni Relations, in the category Fundraising Publications: Publications
- Blue and Gold Parent Membership Campaign, Development and Alumni Relations, in the category Marketing and Branding
- Volunteer Appreciation Day, in the category Volunteer Engagement and Leadership
- Campus Recreation, Memorial Union and UC Davis Stores 2017-18 Annual Report, in the category Institutional Relations Publications: President's Reports and Annual Reports
- Honoring Difference by Stewarding Data: Achieving Identity Alignment in the Management of Culturally-Sensitive Biographical Data, in the category Diversity Programs
- You Discover, We Defend, Strategic Communications, in the category Advertising: Individual Ads
- Feeding a Growing Population, Strategic Communications, two silver awards in the categories Communications and Marketing and Individual Sub-Websites
- Is the Desert the Best Place for Solar?, Strategic Communications, in the category News and Research Videos
- UC Davis Foundation 2018 Endowment Report, Development and Alumni Relations, in the category Fundraising Publications: Annual Reports and Fund Reports (Print)
- Graduate School of Management Prospect Students Enewsletter Series: “What's Trending,” Graduate School of Management, in the category External Audience Newsletters (Digital)
Bronze
- NOW App, Internship and Career Center, and Student Affairs Marketing and Communications, in the category Innovative Use of Technology
- Picnic Day and Give Day: A Balancing Act, Development and Alumni Relations, in the category Best Use of Social Media/Technology
- Big Ideas one-pager suite, Development and Alumni Relations, in the category Fundraising Publications: Case Statements/General Cultivation Publications (Print)
- Parent and Family Student Send-Offs, Development and Alumni Relations, in the category Programming for Special Constituencies
- Charting Our Future by Tracking the Past: Change Data Capture and Reporting on the "Big Ideas" Campaign, Development and Alumni Relations, in the category Advancement Services (Platinum)
- Aggies Making a Difference, AggieXtra: Spring 2018, Cal Aggie Alumni Association, in the category Periodical Staff Writing