Two Wartburg College employees recently received the fourth annual Exemplary Staff Award for their service to the college and its students.

The Personnel Advisory Committee, elected to represent administrative and support staff, selected Eric Berns, biology laboratory coordinator, and Mary Peters, Science Center office coordinator, to receive the award. One administrative staff member and one non-administrative staff member are honored each year.

Several biology professors nominated Berns for being an “invaluable asset” to the department, students and professors.

“Eric’s support of the faculty in the biology department and his supervision of student workers advances the mission of Wartburg College. He gives us the opportunity to focus more on challenging and nurturing our students, while he does the same for us,” professors Stephanie Toering Peters and Samantha Larimer Bousquet wrote in their nomination.

Mike Bechtel, assistant professor of biology education, nominated Peters because “she has been the integral ‘cog’ keeping the Science Center ‘machine’ running flawlessly.”

“I never realized how much effort, diligence and time was provided directly through Mary’s personal commitment until I joined the department,” wrote Bechtel, who also is a Wartburg graduate. “Mary makes things happen.”