Banales Wins 2023 President’s and Cockrell School Staff Awards
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June 28, 2023
Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering (UT PGE) Student Program Coordinator Gabby Banales has won a 2023 President’s Outstanding Staff Award and a 2023 Cockrell School of Engineering Staff Excellence Award.
The President’s Outstanding Staff Award recognizes the contributions of eligible non-teaching employees whose outstanding dedication, competence, conscientious performance, customer service and ingenuity/innovation has had a significant impact on the university. The Cockrell School Outstanding Staff Award recognizes exemplary performance and outstanding and creative contributions to Texas Engineering.
“Gabby is always where the students are, building relationships, learning their needs and ensuring our programming is developed in response,” says her supervisor, Academic Advising Coordinator Jaimie Haider. “She’s a true servant leader, committed to her community of students and colleagues.”
As student program coordinator, Banales organizes department events like the annual “Be a UT PGE” day for admitted students, the First-Year Fall Retreat for new freshmen and transfer students, and the Summer Undergraduate Research Internship (SURI) program. She also coordinates programs like PEN Pals, which pairs freshmen with upperclassmen mentors; senior exit interviews; and corporate speakers and pre-Expo career fair office hours for UT PGE students.
“Gabby's work and commitment to our department is representative of the university's [commitment to] a caring community,” said one UT PGE undergraduate, “and speaks volumes about how one person can make a world of difference."
Banales holds associate’s and bachelor’s degrees in history. She joined UT PGE in 2016 as administrative assistant and became student program coordinator in 2018, and she received the department’s Outstanding Staff Award in 2019.
