News Release, Kansas Geological Survey, Feb. 18, 2016
LAWRENCE--The operations manager at the Kansas Geological Survey has received the third annual KGS Outstanding Support Staff Recognition Award. The KGS is based at the University of Kansas.
Kathy Sheldon, 2015 recipient of the award, is a certified public purchasing officer and certified professional public buyer. She manages the daily operations of eight research and support sections and is responsible for the procurement, contracts, facilities and fleet management activities at KGS. Sheldon also serves as a liaison for building security issues and is the primary public safety and emergency contact person for the KGS.
The KGS has a staff of about 115 employees, including 34 student employees. The facilities include the main office in Lawrence and a branch office in Wichita that also serves as a storage facility for rock cuttings from oil and gas wells drilled in Kansas. The KGS has two storage facilities, one at the main office and one north of Lawrence, that house drill cores--cylindrical sections of subsurface rock brought up intact during oil and gas drilling operations.
"We rely on fieldwork and instrumentation to do our research, and the work Kathy and her staff do is particularly important to the mission of the KGS." said Rex Buchanan, KGS interim director. "Though their work is not always visible, they enable our researchers to do their jobs."
At KU, Sheldon is a coordinator for JaySpace, a collaborative effort to efficiently allocate space for classrooms, research labs, office space, and other purposes. She has also served on the KU Parking Commission and was a University Unclassified Senate research representative. She is an active member of the National Institute of Government Procurement and past president of the Kansas Association of Public Purchasing Professionals.
Sheldon was presented a cash award and certificate during a KGS recognition ceremony in late January. The award, established in 2013, is presented annually to a member of the KGS support staff who has excelled in such areas as innovation, problem solving, and leadership.
The Kansas Geological Survey, a non-regulatory research and service division of the University of Kansas, studies and provides information on the state's geologic resources, particularly rocks and minerals, oil and gas, and groundwater.