UC Spotlight: 37+ staff who inspired us this month

Join us in celebrating UC staff who are making a difference for our university and California communities — whether working on the front lines or behind the scenes!

Staff stories: Insights into working at UC

• Sarab Aziz, Department of History events coordinator and cofounder of the Arab American Faculty and Staff Association at UC San Diego, shared how her dual identities as an American and Syrian have shaped her life and career.

• Kristina Bair, director of the UC Davis Health Sustainability Committee, shared how staff are creating a resilient and sustainable health care model through community engagement and education.
• Joe Burns, high-voltage supervisor for utilities at UC Davis, shared his critical role in ensuring safe and reliable electrical infrastructure in the day-to-day operations of a world-class university.
• Daniel Chau, facilities assistant director of recycling and waste at UCSF, shared why his team introduced Oscar — a smart recycling assistant from Intuitive AI — to help staff and visitors understand waste and recycling bins.
• Lucky Corral, project and communications manager for Supply Chain Management at
  UCSF, shared how her team makes an impact, and how a new family member inspired her to complete her undergrad degree.
• Maribel Gomez, director of UC San Diego’s LGBT Resource Center, shared how she supports students and the best advice she’s received.
• Elizabeth Gonzalez, Hispanic-Serving Institution Initiatives director at UCLA, shared how the Bruin network program brings together undergraduate, graduate and Extension students, along with UCLA alumni, to build networking skills.
• Katrina Graziano, Hannah Yick, Theo Erickson, Annie Bui, Kasper Lee and Kyle Hauschild, former and current student employees at the UC San Diego Library, shared how their experiences have prepared them for life beyond campus.
• Henry Jenkins, executive director, Enterprise Infrastructure and Operations at UC Irvine, shared his perspectives on emerging tech and working at UC.
• Axa Liauw, interim head of library access and discovery interfaces and lead user experience designer at the UCLA Library, spoke with LibTech Insights about her role and career path.
• Katie Machada and Carolina Jimenez Acosta, senior coordinator and coordinator for Leadership & Service Programs at UC Riverside, shared how the student life team is helping students gain real-world leadership skills and a sense of community.

• Richard Mejia, director of emergency communications and information at UCLA, shared what inspires him and advice for new colleagues.

• Nicole Presley, senior executive director of student resilience and mental health services at UCLA, shared how the programs she leads are supporting student mental health and building resilience — and what she loves about working at UC. 
• Marcia Soares, operations specialist at UCSF Learning & Organization Development and Engagement Ambassador Program lead shared how her work empowers colleagues and the value of community.
• Dean Tanioka, director of the Navigating the University of California, Berkeley (NAVCAL) program, shared how his own college experiences inform his work helping first-gen and non-traditional students find community and thrive.
• UC Davis Energy Engineering team members shared how their nearly 100 years of combined experience balances long-term strategy with daily operational excellence.
• Jennifer Wilson and Darnell Sy, Office of Career and Residency Advising (OCRA) residency and career advisor and OCRA career and residency advising coordinator, shared how they support UC Riverside School of Medicine students throughout their academic careers.
• Molly Wofford, grant writer at the UC San Diego Qualcomm Institute, provided helpful dos and don’ts for fundraising peers — from using AI to following the rules.

Staff awards and milestones

• Ramona Agrela, senior vice president at UC Irvine Health and vice chancellor of human resources at UC Irvine, was named a Becker’s Hospital Review CHRO to Know.
• Joseph Carmichael, chief medical officer and senior vice president at UC Irvine Health, was recognized as a CMO to Know by Becker’s Hospital Review.
• Rocko DeLuca, UC Davis director of athletics, has been named a 2025–26 NACDA Athletics Director of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.
• Associate HR Business Partner Carlee Gnos; Change, Communications and Training Manager Henrique Teixeira; and HR Analyst Jordon Nakada received 2026 UC Davis Finance, Operations and Administration Excellence Awards.
• UC Irvine Health nurses Katherine Hermosillo and Ronny Ao were honored with DAISY Awards for making a difference in patients’ lives. Barenka Cano and Alicia Cortero Tepal, senior hospital assistants, received Sunflower Awards for going above and beyond for patients and co-workers.
•  Deepti Pandita, chief medical information officer and vice president of clinical informatics at UC Irvine Health, was recognized with a Changemaker Award by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society for her visionary use of information and technology.
• Blake Simmons, director of the Biological Systems and Engineering Division of the Biosciences Area and chief science and technology officer at the Joint BioEnergy Institute at Berkeley Lab, was among the UC researchers recently admitted to the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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Submit your achievements!

UC Spotlight honors workplaces, teams and individual staff members that make UC a great place to work. To send a recognition or achievement for consideration, email the relevant URL and information to the UCnetwork editorial team or complete this form. Your story may also be featured on our new @ucnet_work Instagram page!

Please note that UC Spotlight is intended to reflect staff-specific achievements; to that end, we do not accept recognitions that are student, faculty or alumni-focused. Submissions are chosen for publication at the editor’s discretion. Funding and promotion/hiring announcements are not appropriate for this feature.