DELTA’s Alexis Lockett receives 2022 Provost’s Unit Award for Excellence in Efficiency and Innovation

The Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost honored Online and Distance Education (ODE) Program Manager Alexis Lockett with an Award for Excellence at the in-person ceremony held on March 24, 2022. 

DELTA also wants to recognize nominees Christine Belledin, Alex Stacy, Kaitlyn Tarley and Jessica White, who were commended for their significant contributions to the NC State community.

As an award winner, Lockett will receive eight hours of paid leave, a framed award certificate and a cash award for $250. She will also be considered for the University Awards for Excellence, NC State’s highest honor for non-faculty members. 

Congratulations to Lockett and all of our nominees from DELTA!

Award Recipient

Alexis Lockett, Program Manager, Online and Distance Education

Lockett was nominated in the efficiency and innovation category by Associate Vice Provost of Online and Distance Education Tim Petty for her outstanding leadership and service to NC State.

Lockett joined DELTA in March 2020, shortly before the pandemic halted in-person work. In her newly created role as program manager for Online and Distance Education (ODE), Lockett went above and beyond to forge strong relationships with distance education directors, coordinators and their staff, even while working remotely. 

“Alexis provided direction, support and oversight to the team during difficult circumstances,” Petty said. “She analyzed workflows, identified key areas of focus, and prioritized work for her team, as well as implementing a team training program that increased productivity and efficiency.”

Petty also discussed Lockett’s impressive leadership on several major projects at DELTA, including an ongoing “refresh” of the ODE website to enhance its innovative career focus for prospective students while improving its functionality for other audiences. 

“Alexis rates this as her most challenging project to date because of its large scope, complexity, and the number and variety of different constituents and stakeholders,” he said. 

Petty added that although he nominated her for the efficiency and innovation category, Lockett also excels in customer service and along with her team, “has responded to more than 1,500 ServiceNow inquiries since she took over as supervisor.”

Award Nominees

Christine Belledin, Project Manager, Academic Technology

Belledin was nominated by Director of Project Management Merranie Zellweger for her phenomenal efforts in project management.

One of the major projects Belledin managed was the evaluation of classroom recording and video streaming services in November 2019, which led to the recommendation to move from Mediasite to Panopto. 

She also managed the implementation of Panopto, including the upfitting of 110 classrooms with classroom capture equipment, a project that normally would take a year to complete. Belledin and her team planned and implemented the transition in just six weeks to coincide with the start of the fall 2020 semester.

“While the project was accomplished through a collective team effort between OIT Classtech and DELTA staff, many colleagues in both organizations noted that the project likely could not have been accomplished in such an abbreviated time frame without Christine driving the effort,” Zellweger said. 

Alex Stacy, PHP Developer, Academic Technology

Stacy was nominated by Director of Media Production Services Leisa Bolles and Associate Director of Data, Integrations and Custom Applications Jonathan Champ for her efforts on multiple projects at DELTA that consistently exceeded expectations.

To support hybrid learning, Stacy led the rework of both the lecture capture code and opt-out process in order to automate it. This allowed for a 1,495% usage increase and helped address pandemic-related instructional challenges.

“Alex is an excellent teammate who always brings forth creative solutions to big and small problems,” Bolles said. “She is eager to assist others with finding solutions to problems and making things work better.”

Kaitlyn Tarley, University Program Associate, Online and Distance Education

Tarley was nominated in the customer service category by DELTA Testing Services Director Sharon Broere for her excellent support of students, instructors and staff using the testing center’s services. 

When the DELTA testing center was closed in March 2020 due to the pandemic, Tarley stepped up to the challenge and worked with instructors and students to arrange alternate testing arrangements. She also made the unpredictable transition back to in-person testing as smooth as possible. 

“Not only did Kaitlyn follow best practices for keeping the test center operational throughout COVID-19, she exceeded expectations by helping to maintain the morale of the team throughout stressful and ever-changing protocols,” Broere said.  

Nominated by CALS

Jessica White, Senior Instructional Designer, Digital Learning

White serves as the senior instructional designer for both DELTA and the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences (FBNS) at NC State. She was nominated by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), with input from DELTA colleagues, for her phenomenal work between both organizations. 

In his nomination, Associate Professor and Distance Education Coordinator Clint Stevenson wrote about how White has completed countless course designs and projects for CALS, while still devoting half of her time to DELTA. 

“Jessica has been an extraordinary addition to our department because of her leadership in initiating and maintaining a departmental course design/redesign program, dedication to quality and student success, and contributions toward the scholarship of teaching and learning,” he said.