Three ACES staff members receive the Chancellor’s Staff Excellence Award
Three members of the College of ACES community — Lisa Kelly, Carissa Nelson, and Mynda Tracy — are recipients of the 2026 Chancellor’s Staff Excellence Award. This is one of the highest honors for staff at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and reflects the meaningful impact of their work across ACES and beyond.
Lisa Kelly, an administrative aide in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, takes on new duties when there are changes in the unit, ensuring that things run smoothly. She offers her editing and writing skills to students, providing advice on formatting their theses, and to faculty members, advising them on how to format their tenure portfolios.
She spearheads the social media effort for the department and curates the website, making an effort to represent the entire unit. She also assists in the production of a newsletter that connects current and former unit members.
She fosters a culture of continuous learning by seeking out constructive criticism about her performance and department events that she organizes. She has helped in the hiring and training of other office staff and in overhauling several processes in the office that are more efficient because of her input. She makes everyone feel welcome and supports new department members.
Carissa Nelson, a media communications manager for the 4-H program in University of Illinois Extension, delivers marketing and communications statewide. She was instrumental in rebuilding the Illinois 4-H website, which reaches more than 75,000 users. One of her duties includes maintaining an Illinois 4-H Marketing guide that all 4-H staff use in their day-to-day work.
She provides communications support to staff across 102 counties in Illinois, offering personalized coaching, technical help and brand guidance. She created an onboarding process that helps new employees feel welcomed, supported and confident in their roles. She has provided professional media training for Illinois teens and many of the publications she produces have been used by 4-H programs in other states.
Her project management skills allow her to identify inefficiencies and design improved systems that help Extension work better.
Mynda Tracy, a 4-H development educator at the University of Illinois Extension, works in Champaign and the surrounding areas with youth enrolled in 4-H programs as well as adult leaders and volunteers for those programs. Her work ensures that youth across the entire state have access to credentialing programs that prepare noncollege-bound youth in underserved communities for careers.
She certifies local high school teachers and 4-H staff as food handling and certified food protection manager course instructors. These programs have helped the schools expand their culinary programs and provided youth with wider career choices.
She has taken existing programs and initiatives and determined how to maximize them to provide additional opportunities. Tracy has been the driving force that helped the College of ACES offer its first-ever dual-credit course in food management and safety.
She has an instinct for identifying emerging needs long before others recognize them. She is able to build relationships with school districts, community partners and campus leadership to design programs that address real access challenges.
"These recipients join an esteemed cohort of ACES honorees from previous years, whose work continues to strengthen our college through operational excellence, service to our research and teaching mission, and a deep commitment to supporting students, faculty, and staff," said ACES Dean Germán Bollero. "Together, they reflect the very best of ACES by advancing our land-grant mission through the work they do each day."