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From
the Administrator:
Updated Strategic Plan to Guide NOAA Through 2010
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| Many
of you throughout the agency contributed to the development
of the 2005-2010 NOAA Strategic Plan, now online here,
which is intended to guide NOAA during the next several years,
and we thank you for your efforts. Only through the hard work
and cooperation of employees, partners, and stakeholders are
we able to achieve meaningful results and deliver the unique
and valuable products, information, and services that society
expects of us. Such achievement begins with planning, and
planning begins with a corporate strategic plan. This plan,
which is an update of the 2003-2008 NOAA Strategic Plan, is
an important document for NOAA … (Click here
to read the rest of this message.)
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Honors
for Exemplary Service
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| NOAA
paid tribute to its staffers this month at the NOAA Honor
Awards ceremony, held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington,
DC. More than 310 NOAA employees and team members from around
the country shared in 86 Bronze medal awards, the highest
form of honorary recognition NOAA gives for superior service,
covering all line offices and many staff offices as well.
Also given were the NOAA Distinguished Career Awards, which
honor long-time NOAA employees who have performed their duties
with sustained excellence, and the Best of the Best Awards,
for their work in environmental compliance, health, and safety.
A full list of the award winners, and their accomplishments
is here.
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Amanda
Wheeland, of NOAA Office of the General Counsel, flanked
by (left to right) NOAA Administrator Lautenbacher,
NOAA General Counsel James Walpole, and Fisheries Assistant
Administrator John Oliver, was honored with a Bronze
award “for preserving Endangered Species Act-listed
salmon through the design of training and warning programs
and creative prosecutorial solutions.”
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| NOAA
Administrator Lautenbacher gave the morning’s
keynote address, and later congratulated each award
winner.
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| William
F. Haden and Christina A. Horvat of NWS (center), alongside
NOAA Administrator Lautenbacher and NWS director D.L.
Johnson, were honored “for increasing the security
of the Nation’s weather radars and supporting
systems to ensure overall system integrity without compromising
the ability to deploy new radar science rapidly.”
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| This
was the last award ceremony to be hosted by soon-to-retire
Human Resource Management director Zane Schauer, whose
formal attire and shaved head endeared him to many as
NOAA’s own Daddy Warbucks.
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A
Silver Spring in their Step
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| Downtown Silver Spring,
Md., held its annual Thanksgiving parade last month, and NOAA,
as one of the pioneers in returning the city to its former
glory, played a prominent part, as these photos attest.
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NOAA
marchers get ready to step off in Silver Spring’s
annual Thanksgiving parade.
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| Lending
their support to NOAA and their presence to the festivities
were Capt. Fish, looking like a representative from
the Royal Navy, the ubiquitous NOAA Guy in a Hammerhead
Shark suit, the ever-lovely yet controversial Miss NOAA
(portrayed by Public Affairs’ Julie Bedford) and
NOAA Corps chief RADM Sam De Bow, who obviously has
a sense of humor.
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| The
NOAA Blues Band, led by Tom Cox (right, playing the
upright string bass) and David Moe Nelson (center, on
harmonica and ukulele), both from NOS, along with Eleanor
Ellis, Roger Coleman, Joel Bailes, Robert Vixen, and
Charles Albert, had their mojo working, and it sure
worked on the crowd as they played that signature Muddy
Waters blues standard, as well as old favorites like
Police Station Blues, Sittin' On Top of the World, and
Jambalaya, obviously one they had practiced from last
year’s NOAA Fish Fry.
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| Employee and Team Member of the Month |
| Employee of Month
Lanetta
Gray
NOS
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Team Member of Month
Tim
Loomis
NESDIS
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December’s
Employee and Team Member of the Month are Lanetta Gray
of NOS and Tim Loomis of NESDIS. Read about their accomplishments
in the upcoming issue of NOAA Report. |
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| Seventh
graders at Grand Island, Neb.’s Walnut Middle School
got the lowdown on that rarest of all Midwestern weather phenomena
— hurricanes — from the staff at the Weather Forecast
Office in nearby Grand Island last month.
Of course, tornadoes are a much more common danger to landlocked
Nebraska, and to Grand Island, where in June 1980 seven tornadoes
touched down in three hours, causing more than $260 million
in damage. NWS meteorologist Heather Stanley gave a presentation
on the many ways that hurricanes and tornados differ, and
showed pictures of her home in coastal Alabama after the destruction
of Hurricane Ivan.
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| NWS
meteorologist Heather Stanley gave a presentation to
Nebraska seventh graders last month.
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Lautenbacher
Meets With Great Lakes Officials
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| NOAA
Administrator Lautenbacher attended the Great Lakes Conveners
meeting earlier this month with numerous state, tribal, local,
federal and congressional officials to kick off the Great
Lakes Regional Collaboration, a group dedicated to the protection
and restoration of the Great Lakes. Also attending were EPA
Administrator Mike Leavitt, CEQ chairman Jim Connaughten,
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, and governors from
the eight Great Lakes states.
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New
Dates for Saving Springer
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| The
next airings of the NOAA documentary Saving Springer
are on:
- Maine
Public Television — WCBB (channel 10), WMEA (channel
26), WMEB (channel 12), WMED (channel 13), and WMEM (channel
10): Dec. 24, 11:30 pm; Dec. 25, 10:30 pm; Dec. 26, 9:30
am; Dec. 31, 11:00 pm and 11:30 pm
- KLCS,
Los Angeles (channel 58): Dec. 16, 9:00 pm
- WGCU,
Fort Meyers, Fla. (channel 3): Dec. 19, 7:30 pm
- WPTO,
Dayton, Ohio (channel 14): Dec. 12, 4:00 pm
- WTVP,
Peoria, Ill. (channel 47): Dec. 13, 9:30 pm
- WNET,
New York (channel 13): Dec. 16, 10:30 pm; Dec. 21, 1:30
am
Saving
Springer is a remarkable and inspirational story about
the work that NOAA, here through the NOAA Fisheries Office
of Protected Resources, does on a daily basis. Springer, a
young and abandoned killer whale, could have been left to
make her way as best she could. Instead, the work and dedication
of NOAA professionals helped Springer return to her family.
This
documentary will be airing on 90 public television stations
around the Nation over the next several months. As we learn
of scheduled air times, we'll publish that information here
so you might get a close look at some of the work being done
by your NOAA co-workers.
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NOAA
kicked off its 2004 Combined
Federal Campaign this October and is enthusiastic about
reaching its goal this year. NOAA and other federal employees
have consistently demonstrated generosity and caring in
support of the CFC. In 2003, federal employees across the
country raised more than $249 million for charitable causes.
If you give to the CFC every year, thank you! If you haven't
participated in the past, please consider it this year.
It is an easy and efficient way to contribute, there are
over 3,000 CFC/OPM approved charities to donate to, and
the CFC was designed and is managed by federal employees
— just like you! Remember that the strength of the
CFC is in the great number of people who make contributions,
large or small — so ever dollar makes a difference.
The CFC ends in mid-December, so make your contribution
now so that you can help those that are less fortunate and/or
have special needs before the start of the holiday season!
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At
accessNOAA, we’re always looking for interesting stories
about NOAA people just like you. Whether your office has received
an award, or your collection of Elvis memorabilia is tops in
its class, if it makes a fellow NOAA reader take a second look,
it’s right for accessNOAA. E-mail your stories and photos
to accessnoaa@noaa.gov,
and you may see it in an upcoming issue. (Digital photos embedded
in a Word Perfect or Word document cannot be used.)
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