The Stan and Paula Warmath Distinguished Service Award is given on an annual basis and recognizes a staff member or specialized faculty member for their dedicated service to the department. This award is made possible by a gift from a generous donor and friend of the department, who wishes to remain anonymous. Lynda Gibson and Annette Ladle are the recipients of the 2021-2022 award.

Lynda is our Graduate Program Associate. Lynda advises current students on their progress towards departmental and university requirements, serves as a main point of contact for prospective students, processes graduate applications, and maintains a database of current and past graduate student information, just to name a few of her tasks. As one nominator pointed out, “There are few people in our department who directly contribute to the wellbeing and success of all our 160+ graduate students more than Lynda. She works tirelessly each year behind the scenes in many ways most faculty are not aware, ensuring that students are on track, that their waivers are in place to cover tuition, that they are registered for the correct courses, that all their paperwork is turned in on time, that milestone deadlines are met, that committees are composed correctly, and that all our students’ questions are answered. Lynda is continuously thinking of better ways to serve our prospective and current students, and her dedication to the job not only makes life easier and better for our graduate students, but for our faculty as well.”

Annette is our Office Manager. Annette’s tasks are varied and numerous. A very incomplete list of some of the tasks she handles for the department includes assisting faculty with binders for promotion and awards, managing phone contracts, assisting the chair with administrative tasks associated with annual evaluations, assisting the associate chair with course scheduling, managing an enrollment database of past course offerings, coordinating SPCIs department-wide, and coordinating work study positions department-wide. Despite the volume and breadth of tasks that fall on Annette’s plate, they are all completed on time (usually early) and accurately.

As one nominator pointed out “Annette is unfailingly gracious in her dealings with personnel at all levels. She responds immediately and enthusiastically to all requests for assistance and follows up on such requests quickly and effectively. She brings a warm and cheerful interpersonal manner to all of her dealings with people that contributes greatly to the overall positive atmosphere of our department. In sum, Annette has served the Department faithfully and tirelessly in her position as Main Office Manager and has done so with outstanding dedication and goodwill.”

The Stan and Paula Warmath Distinguished Service Award was established as a lasting tribute to the vision and commitment of Stan and Paula Warmath and their loyalty and service to the department. Paula earned her BS in psychology at FSU in 1980. She worked for the department for two years after graduation and it was during this time that she and Stan met.

Stan earned his BS in psychology at FSU in 1969 and an MS in experimental psychology in 1978. He became labs manager in 1980 and ended his time in the department as the Director of Facilities and Operations. In that position, Stan played a significant role in the planning of and move to the new Psychology Department Building. In the two years prior to his retirement in 2011, Stan served as the renovation and building coordinator for the College of Arts and Sciences.