The exemplary staff of the University of Michigan’s Museum of Zoology was honored with the College of LSA Outstanding Team Award at a special ceremony recently.

LSA Dean Andrew Martin presented the awards to the deserving honorees: Robbin Murrell, administrative specialist; John Megahan, biological illustrator and webmaster; and collection managers in the following divisions: Janet Hinshaw (birds); Taehwan Lee (mollusks); Doug Nelson (fishes); Mark O’Brien (insects); Greg Schneider (amphibian and reptiles); and Cody Thompson (mammals).

For the past several years (and for a few more years ahead), UMMZ has been undergoing extraordinary change and a multitude of accompanying challenges, including UMMZ’s formal merger with the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the University Herbarium; the relocation of the museum’s vast ethanol-preserved collections to a location adjacent to the Herbarium on Varsity Drive; and the “Transforming Ruthven” initiative that will relocate the three Ruthven research museums, including UMMZ (millions of “dry” specimens, and all supporting documentation) to Varsity Drive over the next two years. These relocations are in association with the construction of the new Biological Sciences Building on central campus.

“The UMMZ staff was centrally involved in all aspects of the planning and implementation of this move,” said Professor and EEB Chair Diarmaid Ó Foighil. “This is a vast task for a program that has grown organically in Ruthven over 90 years.”

“I have been most impressed by the professionalism and teamwork exhibited by our UMMZ staff in meeting these multiple waves of change, while simultaneously performing all of their standard job functions at the highest level as well as implementing a number impressive programmatic innovations,” said Ó Foighil.

The invitation-only Staff Recognition Awards event was held January 30, 2015 in the Michigan League Ballroom. Each member of the team was presented with a cash award and a framed certificate by LSA Dean Martin.