Beginning the year with a win — Staff Council recognizes Renee Schlickenmeyer as Staff of the Month

Renee Schlickenmeyer began her current job at the University of Idaho about two years ago, but her experience at UI reaches back more than 30 years.

“I’ve been here since 1990,” Schlickenmeyer said. “I worked in the art office for about five years, and after that I worked in the library for about 18 years, before moving to my current position.” Schlickenmeyer, a budget specialist for the NASA Idaho Space Grant Consortium, was named the January Staff of the Month by Staff Council.

Before beginning her career at UI, Schlickenmeyer grew up living all across the United States.

“My dad worked for Chrysler, so that required us to move about every three years,” Schlickenmeyer said. “I’ve lived coast to coast — from San Francisco to New York.”

Schlickenmeyer said when she traveled from Detroit to the Palouse to visit her sister, she instantly enjoyed the community.

“It was such a change from Detroit,” Schlickenmeyer said. “In a place as big as Detroit, it really starts to close in on you. The climate here is similar to what I was used to in Detroit, and I fell in love with the area.”

Schlickenmeyer said she, her husband, her sister and her parents all reside in the Moscow area today. Schlickenmeyer said her work in the NASA Space Grant Office is almost exclusively focused on attaining grants for people in the STEM fields.

“We basically administer NASA’s money, and we give it to research students in the form of scholarships and internships,” Schlickenmeyer said.

She said another thing the grants from NASA go toward are “sub awards.” These sub awards are basically a small section of UI’s grant that are awarded to researchers of other universities. Schlickenmeyer’s department gives more sub awards than any other department on campus.

“These awards go to Boise State, ISU or NNU,” Schlickenmeyer said. “Their researchers give us a proposal, they give us details about how their research will benefit NASA and we administer the money that NASA gives us in grants.”

Schlickenmeyer said it is in this section of her job where she often interacts with her associate, Claire Freund. Freund, an associate contract review officer for the Office of Sponsored Programs, is the woman who nominated Schlickenmeyer for the Staff of the Month award.

Freund said the reason she nominated Schlickenmeyer was because of her constant hard work on administering the sub awards. She said Schlickenmeyer is a joy to work with, and her professionalism makes everything easier for everybody she interacts with.

“Renee is always so on top of her game,” Freund said. “She’s always so reliable at her job. She is always very cheerful, friendly and always willing give a person great feedback.”

Schlickenmeyer said she adores her job, and everybody she works with in her department.

“I love my job, and I work with awesome people,” Schlickenmeyer said.

Andrew Ward can be reached at [email protected]

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