At the recent AACRAO Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Margaret Bellon, from Utah Valley University, was awarded the APEX Award. The APEX Award, sponsored by SunGard Higher Education and AACRAO, recognizes individuals for enhancing the administration and delivery of higher education through the effective management and use of information resources, namely information, technology, and services. SunGard Higher Education will donate $5,000 in Margaret's name to the UVU scholarship fund.

Margaret began working for Utah Valley University in 1986 as a student in the Academic Advising Office. Twenty-three years later, she is as the Director of Graduation, Transfer Services, and Veterans Affairs. She has been involved in managing student information and creating student-friendly technology interfacing. When the University decided to move to Banner in 2003, Margaret was asked to build the Degree Audit Program (CAPP). She was able to launch CAPP the same day that UVU went live with Banner! Building CAPP quickly solidified her place as a great leader at UVU.

In 2008, Margaret recommended the move from CAPP to the Degree Works system due to the latter's student-friendly design. Again, she took the lead in building and implementing this new system. When face with road blocks, she persistently looked for solutions and always found them. In the fall of 2009, Degree Works-known at UVU as Wolverine Tracks- went live, and it has been a great success. Students, advisors, and instructors find the new system intuitive and easy to use. Margaret's leadership was crucial to making this happen.

Margaret is a natural leader, and is able to see both the big picture and tackle the details at hand. She has the respect of her colleagues on campus and across the state, and has established a network of Banner users across the country. UVU and UACRAO are very fortunate to have Margaret Bellon as a team member. Congratulations Margaret!!