Pogue receives staff employee award

Project Coordinator Michele Pogue has been named the SNRE Employee of the Quarter for Jan. 1 to March 31, 2015.

Co-workers who nominated her cited her care and dedication to submitting accurate grant proposals. One of her co-workers noted, “Michele takes pride in her work and it shows in the number of funded grants that go through our system. Her dedication spills over to evening and/or weekend work to take advantage of quiet time reviewing detailed budgets in order to make the deadlines.”

Another nominator wrote, “Without Michele’s diligence, our grants would not be submitted on time. She is integral to the grant submission process. It has been a very grant deadline-heavy month — and she is making it happen.”

Pogue joined the Marine Corps after she graduated from high school in Florida, and she was stationed in South Carolina. After leaving the military, she earned her bachelor’s degree in business and economics (double major) from Eastern Montana College. She also worked in Montana and then Washington State handling grants for city governments then in Oklahoma to manage a temporary service.

Pogue moved north in October 1994 to live close to her daughter and family, while her son-in-law was stationed at Eielson Air Force Base. She had lived in Montana so she was knew what the cold was like.

“I knew it was a challenge up here, but holy Toledo, what was I thinking?” she asks.

Her 20-year stint with Cooperative Extension began in January 1995. She likes working with numbers and with people.  She started work at Extension and the school, when it was known as the School of Agriculture and Land Resources Management. She handled recruiting and HR work. After a time, she started working on grants and then grant proposals, which she enjoys the most, working with faculty to make the best proposal possible.

“Every grant is different,” she said. “There are absolutely none that are the same.”

In her free time, she likes to read, everything from nonfiction to science fiction and mysteries. Her daughters live in Oklahoma and Alabama and Michele visits them often.

Michele is known for a wry sense of humor. “I just live a quiet life in North Pole with my cat,” she joked.