Lisa Whelpley wins the 2019 Chancellor’s Academic Professional Excellence Award

Lisa Whelpley, director of annual giving and major gift development for the Office of Advancement at the University of Illinois Springfield, is the winner of the 16th annual Chancellor’s Academic Professional Excellence (CAPE) Award. The award was presented by Chancellor Susan J. Koch on April 11, 2019 during a celebration in the Student Union.

Whelpley has been part of the Office of Advancement team for almost 20 years. She is the “go to” person in the office for planning and executing strategic long and short-term endeavors associated with UIS’ $40 million Reaching Stellar comprehensive campaign.

Additionally, Whelpley directs a complex annual fund operation that secures well more than $1 million annually for the benefit of the greater UIS community. She also helps to coordinate and generate hundreds of communications to alumni and donors each year. In FY 18, she led her team in 359 projects that consisted of 760,396 calls, emails and mailings.

Whelpley is also responsible for coordinating UIS’ wildly successful annual Faculty and Staff Campaign, which has garnered 50% giving participation in the past two years.

“None of these accomplishments would get realized without Lisa’s ‘can do’ attitude in working across multiple offices on campus and throughout the University of Illinois System to achieve aggressive goals. Bottom line: Lisa gets stuff done,” said her nominator.

Whelpley is also actively engaged in outreach to departments on campus and was instrumental in piloting two crowdfunding efforts last fall.

Earlier this academic year, she was selected to participate in the University of Illinois System’s inaugural cohort group of the Academic Professional Leadership Program. The mission of the program is to foster and sustain a culture of exceptional, dynamic and transformational leadership at all levels throughout the University of Illinois System.

“She is eagerly and actively engaged in this opportunity to improve her already significant skill set,” said her nominator.

The CAPE Award recognizes U of I academic professionals for their efforts in three general categories: work projects, professional development and affiliations and contributions to their units. The winner receives $500 in cash for personal use.

All academic professionals are eligible to receive the CAPE Award; nominations are reviewed by campus committees and candidates’ names are forwarded to the chancellor, who makes the final selections.

Others nominated for the 2019 CAPE Award include Sean Crawford, Angela Evans, Joan Sestak, Carlyn Shank and Robin Vansacik.