Heather Moore is one of first Chauncey’s Champions
Heather Moore, who works in Information Technology Services, is one of the first Chauncey’s Champion recipients, thanks to her “fast and friendly responsiveness” and making the switchover from I Spy to the new employee recognition program be seamless and successful.
A recognition subcommittee of the Feel the Teal Task Force has been working this year to create and implement a universitywide recognition program that tangibly and visibly rewards Coastal Carolina Universisty employees who exemplify service excellence. The subcommittee has officially launched and rolled out Chauncey’s Service Excellence Champions, which replaces the former “I Spy” recognition initiative and expands on its success.
Employees can nominate faculty and staff members who they see or experience performing service-oriented actions that meet at least one of the following five dimensions of service quality: reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy or tangibles. Nomination forms are online and, once submitted, are sent to the recognition committee for review. If merited, the nominee and his/her supervisor are alerted via email that they have been nominated as a Chauncey’s Champion.
As an award for their excellent service, all Chauncey’s Champions through this academic year will receive an exclusive teal Chauncey’s Champion pullover as an award for their excellent service, delivered by a member of the recognition subcommittee. Those who get nominated multiple times will be considered for further recognition.
Getting the recognition program converted from I Spy to Chauncey’s Champions was no easy feat. So, it’s only fitting that the person who made Chauncey’s Champions a logistical reality was nominated as a Chauncey’s Champion herself.
Moore, an ITS web applications programmer, was responsible for helping the recognition team make the switch from I Spy to Chauncey’s Champions, and she tackled the project with excitement and dedication.
“She wrote the book on responsiveness that is fast and friendly, and she is so detail-oriented that she fixed issues during the switch from I Spy to Chauncey's Champions before we even noticed them,” said the nominator. “Throughout the whole process, she went above and beyond to help and to follow up. CCU is so blessed to have Heather!”
Nick DeStefano, service excellence program coordinator, echoes that sentiment.
“Without Heather Moore, we would not have the Chauncey’s Champion recognition program up and running. Throughout the process of designing and coding everything for the website to function, Heather was quick and reliable. Despite our countless additional changes and last-minute requests, she worked on the project with a smile and the best attitude of service. There is no doubt in my mind that she feels the teal!”
Moore started working at CCU in February 2015, six months after completing her master’s degree in information technology at Southern New Hampshire University. She has lived in the Myrtle Beach area since 1988 and was originally interested in graphic design after high school.
“There was nothing offered locally for that degree, so I went into the next closest thing I could find, which was the associate’s program for computer technology at Horry Georgetown Technical College,” Moore said. “While attending HGTC, I was offered a job working with the faculty and teaching them how to use technology in the classroom. I fell in love with technology and teaching!”
Moore went on to complete her dual associate’s degree and completed her bachelor’s degree online with Western Kentucky University. She loves working in higher education and hopes one day to become a college professor. Her current role as a web developer helps her improve her skills and is excellent preparation for a future teaching position, she said.
Not only does she hone her skills in her current profession, but she is also enrolled in the Office of Training, Development and Service Excellence’s Leadership Institute for Managers, Supervisors and Emerging Leaders.
“Even though I fall under the emerging leaders heading, I have learned so much about how the processes and leadership skills can be utilized to improve my personal and professional relationships,” Moore said. “I am a constant learner at heart, so I love that Coastal promotes and offers so many training sessions to build upon your skills.”
Moore skillfully balances her workload with the extra training. A day on the job for her is never the same, but is always a balancing act.
“My typical day, I am working on one or two projects in between taking care of smaller support tickets that come in. These include updating forms on the forms page, creating editable PDF documents, and updating text on webpages to reflect current semester information. I handle tickets from almost every department and college.”
Her favorite part of working on IT projects is finding solutions to problems that inevitably arise and learning how to write code so it is cleaner and easier for future developers to work with. The Chauncey’s Champion project was one that involved multiple pages and layers.
“Larger projects typically utilize a database to store and manipulate data collected from the web forms. They have an administration area for the users to view and edit the stored data. To finish off the projects, they have to have the look and feel of the rest of the website.”
When Moore isn’t working or in training, she loves to spend time with her 6-year-old daughter Ever, read (currently “Boundaries” by Henry Cloud), and go to the gun range to practice shooting. She recently got her concealed weapons permit, and also likes to play Bunco once a month with a group of girlfriends.
That sense of community is what Moore loves most about CCU.
“I didn’t attend the University, but I feel like I’m a part of the culture,” she said. “I rock my teal every Tuesday, and I am proud to be an employee here.”
