[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Charon_McCain_donation.jpg” caption=”Charon McCain”]By donating its $2,000 President's Award for Outstanding Service to a student scholarship, the Student On-Line Academic Registration (SOLAR) team epitomizes what the award is about, feels Gary Warner, director of McMaster's Arts & Science Program.

SOLAR donated its award at a small reception this week for an in-course scholarship named in memory of Charon McCain, who died of cancer on March 22 after a five-year fight with this disease. McCain worked in Financial Services for five years, in Student Financial Aid for 13 years and finally as the administrator in Arts and Science for almost two years.

The donation has brought the endowment close to its goal of $10,000, which will be used to fund a scholarship annually for a student in the Arts & Science Program. Details about the scholarship are still being finalized.

McCain was a member of the SOLAR team, which constitutes 31 people from: the Office of the Registrar, Computing and Information Services, Financial Services, all faculties and programs, undergraduate and graduate administrations, and a team of highly skilled people in various areas of computing technology. This team was involved in processes that required the skills, co-operation, goodwill, tolerance, understanding and vision. The SOLAR project made the team and the team, in turn, has created one of the best student online registration systems.

The President's Awards for Outstanding Service recognizes employees who are non-faculty members, and who are not senior managers, who have made an outstanding contribution beyond that normally expected for their positions to the Mission of the University. To date, more than 490 such employees have been recognized through this program.

Photo caption: Pictured from left, Sue Pennington, project manager with the Office of the Provost and Vice-President Academic,
Trudy Sykes, senior associate registrar, Barb McKenna, business manager with the Faculty of Engineering, and Gary Warner, director of the Arts & Science Program.