First Business Officer to Manage Two Departments Recognized With Award

| May 2, 2011

Steve Ford has been named the recipient of the 2011 Betsy Faught Award, which recognizes excellence and outstanding achievement in the management of general campus academic units. Ford serves as the business officer for the departments of cognitive science and communication.

The Betsy Faught Award honors the memory of Betsy Faught, an exceptional department manager who adeptly and skillfully managed an academic program at UC San Diego for more than 20 years. The award recipient is selected by a group of peers based on nominations from within the Academic Affairs units.

Ford's service to the campus began more than 19 years ago in the department of music, where he spent six years as a financial assistant. He then moved to the San Diego Supercomputer Center, working as a fiscal analyst for both SDSC as well as the Center for Research in Biological Structures. Ford joined the department of cognitive science in 2002 as its fiscal officer, and was promoted just one year later to the position of business officer for the department. Ford added management of the department of communication to his portfolio in July 2010, supporting an administrative consolidation necessitated by the current budget crisis. The fact that Ford is the first business officer to be asked to take on permanent management responsibility for two distinct academic departments is a testament to his chairs' and dean's faith in his abilities. Ford's success in cognitive science and communications is serving as a model for additional consolidations under consideration.

Outside his regular work duties, Ford has been a willing volunteer in service to the campus and university. He is an active member of the Academic Business Administrators group, having served on the Professional and Administrative Review Committee and as co-chair of the ABA HR committee. In 2005 Ford was a critical member of the group of MSOs responsible for development of the Social Sciences MSO Academy, which morphed to become the Academic Affairs Business Officer Academy. Coming full circle, Ford is chairing the Business Officers Academy committee again this year. At the campus level, he participated on the Financial Link Enhancement Committee, the BLINK Advisory Committee and the ShareCase Organizing Committee. And Ford's service extends beyond the confines of the UCSD campus.  Since 2006, he has been a facilitator for the systemwide Business Officer Institute. This has allowed scores of employees from across the UC to benefit from his knowledge, expertise and unique perspective, as well as enjoy his famed sense of humor.

Despite his myriad commitments to the campus, Ford does his best to maintain a work-life balance, especially when it comes to supporting San Diego's local football teams. He can usually be found tailgating outside of Qualcomm Stadium before, after, and sometimes during, the games.

Ford's tremendous impact on the departments he has served and his long-standing and dedicated service to the university make him an ideal recipient for this year's Betsy Faught Award, officials said. He was recognized at a special ABA ceremony on April 28 in the CMRR Auditorium.