Jaime Andres and Yolanda Veals from the Texas A&M University College of Engineering were selected to receive the 2021 President’s Meritorious Service Award. They will receive their award during a virtual award ceremony Monday, April 19.
The President's Meritorious Service Awards recognize and reward 25 individual staff members, two supervisors and two teams for their commendable service to Texas A&M. Recipients of this highly prestigious award have demonstrated their commitment to the Aggie core values of excellence, integrity, leadership, loyalty, respect and selfless service. A nomination period was held in January and an anonymous committee selected the award winners.
Andres ’14, ’20 is senior administrative coordinator in the Department of Chemical Engineering. He joined the department in November 2019 and has been with Texas A&M for over six years. He previously worked in the College of Education and Human Development, and the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences. Andres has a business management degree from the Mays Business School and completed his master’s degree in December 2020.
Hired during a time of uncertainty where the department lost key faculty and staff members, Andres was invaluable to the department as he took the initiative to help establish faculty affairs procedures aligning with the college's internal process, as well as the Dean of Faculties. These established procedures have reduced the time to complete faculty promotion and tenure packets. He also leads by example as he expects nothing but the best from the staff and demonstrates a high level of attention to detail he asks others to follow.
Yolanda Veals is senior business administrator in the Engineering Business Services Division in the College of Engineering. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Texas A&M, both completed while working full time. She has served Texas A&M for 28 years. In her current role, she manages the finances and business personnel for four different departments and several large research centers.
In addition to her formal education, Veals has accumulated many hours in continuing business and personnel management education, which adds significantly to her abilities as a staff leader. Her career performance has earned her multiple staff achievement awards at the department and college levels.
“To each of them, I extend my most sincere congratulations and deep appreciation for their tremendous efforts that make Texas A&M such a great place to live and work,” said Dr. John Junkins, interim president of Texas A&M, in a press release.