Congratulations to Aero staff recipients of the Staff Incentive Awards

The Staff Incentive Program recognizes staff who consistently demonstrate the College’s vision, mission, and values. This initiative is part of the culture pillar of Michigan Engineering’s goal to instill a shared sense of purpose and action. We are proud to announce that two of our members, Katharine Guarino and Khris Henson-Jones, have been selected to receive this honorable award.

Katharine Guarino, the Human Resources Generalist for the Aerospace department, is an essential pillar of our community. She is always incredibly welcoming to anyone who might need assistance and is profoundly committed to promoting DEI initiatives. 

“Katharine is a true leader. She strives to improve and advance the AERO department not only within human resources but also across the department. She has excellent insight and shares that with others in a way that is impactful to the team, which has led to many improvements in our department. She is always supportive of our faculty, staff and students no matter how heavy her workload may be. Katharine is an avid learner and is always willing and excited to learn new things. She is a true asset to not only AERO, but also the College of Engineering,” her nominator comments.

“Winning this award means for me that I successfully contributed to the overall mission of the college. This means a lot to me because I love working with the amazing people of the department every day,” says Katherine on this award.

Khristine Henson-Jones is the Lead Research Administrator of the department. Her responsibilities include coordinating the administrative research process for proposal submissions, as well as detailed management of sponsored funds. Although she joined the Aero team in 2020, Khris has become an integral part of our community. On any given day, she works closely with faculty, students and many U-M units to provide both pre and post-award support, making everyone’s day in our community a little brighter. 

Says her nominator, “Khris has made significant improvements with the quality of work from our research administration department. She is open and honest about areas of improvement needed in the department and College, and her ideas for improvements have led to some great changes in AERO. Khris can be counted on to not only get the job done, but to exceed expectations. She is a true team player and does her best to ensure diversity, equity and inclusion within the department.
On receiving this award, Khris says, “Aerospace Engineering has an amazing team of staff and faculty! To be selected for the 2022 Staff Incentive Award is such an honor and I’m so appreciative of the acknowledgment of a job well done! Thank you!”