President Jim Ryan recognized Charles Rush Jr., Batten's director of finance and budget, with the Leonard W. Sandridge Outstanding Contributor Award, the highest honor bestowed upon staff for their dedication and service.

Whether it’s helping coworkers and the community or revamping the financial system, University of Virginia employees put in myriad efforts over the year that contribute to the University’s aims to be “great and good.”

The award’s namesake, Leonard W. Sandridge, and current UVA leaders, President Jim Ryan among them, recognized 11 employees Monday with the Leonard W. Sandridge Outstanding Contributor Awards, the highest honor bestowed upon staff for their dedication and service.

In 2010, the Outstanding Contributor Awards were named for Sandridge, the former UVA executive vice president and chief operating officer who gave more than four decades of service to the University.

The outstanding employees work in the Academic Division, at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise and at UVA Health, including the Medical Center and School of Medicine. Here are the honorees, who received $1,000 and an engraved gift, presented in alphabetical order.

Charles Rush Jr., director of finance and budget

“I genuinely aspire to be more like Charles Rush, personally and professionally, pretty much every day,” wrote Jay P. Shimshack, the Batten School’s associate dean of academic affairs, in supporting Rush.

Approaching financial problems with a creative and critical approach, Rush acts as “a consummate professional with the utmost integrity, always calm, always even-tempered,” his nominators wrote. They said people from all walks of life, both at work and outside of work, seek his wise counsel.

Rush has worked at UVA since 2001, in roles with the Procurement Office and Student Affairs before becoming Batten’s second director of finance and budget in 2015.

During this time, the school has undergone a period of explosive growth, according to assistant director James Cathro, with nearly everything doubling in size.

“His leadership was especially evident over the last 18 months, as Batten had to fill three key leadership roles, including the dean of the school, the associate dean for administration and the associate dean of academic affairs,” Cathro wrote.

“He is a model citizen at Batten, at UVA, in the community and beyond, setting the bar high for those around him,” his nominators wrote.