The Employee Council held their only semester event at Preciado Park on the New Mexico State University campus on Friday, Oct. 19 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Employee Appreciation Picnic is an annual event to thank employees for all that they do on campus.

Monica Dunivan, chair for the Employee Council, said events like this are important because it shows employees that they are cared for.

“It shows that we appreciate everything they do even when it gets rough and with new administration coming in, no matter what, it’s not going to change. We are going to continue to appreciate them,” Dunivan said.

The event was catered by Sodexo and served flautas, rice and beans, along with cookies for dessert.

Dunivan said she was also glad to see a sunny day after many days of cloudy skies.

“Thank goodness for good weather,” Dunivan said.

Dunivan also said she was happy with the turnout of the event.

“Everyobody loves it,” Dunivan said. “They love coming out, seeing everybody.”

President of NMSU, John D. Floros, Ph.D. also came to the event. He said he was glad to see so many people at the event.

“We can celebrate our staff and our faculty.” Floros said, “And thank you for what you do everyday.”

He thanked the employees for their dedication and taking care of the students and each other.

“On behalf of the chancellor and myself, I wanted to say that we’re here to help you make this university better,” Floros said.

He said priority number one is always the students and student success, and everyone needs to do their part in order to make ensure that students excel.

“It’s all about people, folks,” Floros said. “It’s all about all of us working together and making this place better for all of us, for our students and for the community beyond this, for the region, for the state, for the world.”

Floros also awarded the “A” Mountain Staff Award to Theresa Chavez. She is an Administrative Assistant for the Arts and Sciences at the NMSU Alamogordo campus.

“We did have a lot of worthy candidates but I think Theresa deserves it,” Floros said. “And let this be a motivation for all of you to nominate people next year.”

Kim Allbright, business manager for Department of Agriculture and treasurer for the employee council said they were able to allocate enough money this year to the event that they were able to rent buses to transport staff from the community colleges to the event.

Allbright said that with the new admnistration, changes are just beginning to take place.

“Right now, we’re all just moving in a great direction,” Allbright said.

The Employee Council is an advisory body to the president on matters affecting NMSU employees and works to promote and support the NMSU mission and vision. There are more than 18 standing committees. Their next meeting will be on Nov. 8 at 2:30 p.m. in Milton Hall room 85.

The Employee Council will also be holding an open forum on Oct. 30.