Gipson Is Named ARS Secretary of the Year

BELTSVILLE, Md., Feb. 13—Agricultural Research Service secretary Aisha R. Gipson is the 2001 winner of the federal research agency's "Secretary of the Year" award. She and other agency award winners will be honored in a ceremony today at 1 p.m. at the ARS Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center.

Gipson has worked with ARS, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research agency, for eight years. For the last year and a half, she has been a secretary in the Research, Education, and Economics (REE) Services Branch. She is the first and only secretary of that branch. Gipson had to create and deploy new office procedures for more than 30 employees.

"She's done this in an outstanding manner," said REE Services Branch Chief Martin W. Brumback. "She's an exceptional employee."

Brumback cited numerous organizational tasks Gipson has designed and completed successfully. He said her actions had resulted in outstanding fiscal management of branch funds.

Gipson used some of her own time to complete three USDA Graduate School correspondence courses and applied the skills she learned to improving office operations. She created many work charts, including one that makes it easier for supervisors to keep track of employee attendance, as well as one for customers to see which employees handle specific tasks. Gipson also improved the flow of paper throughout the office and created better procedures for proofreading. "And she always goes out of her way to help callers when they phone for assistance," Brumback added.

The purpose of the Secretary of the Year award is recognize the outstanding achievements and creative efforts of ARS secretaries. Gipson's citation is "for a documented record of improving the REE Services Branch operations."