Service Award: Shellie Willoughby, 10 Years

At the February meeting of the Conservation Commission, Shellie Willoughby, GIS Specialist, in the Information Technology division, was acknowledged for 10 years of service. From left are George Stunkard, OCC Chair' Shellie Willoughby; and Mike Thralls, OCC executive director.

At the February meeting of the Conservation Commission, Shellie Willoughby, GIS Specialist, in the Information Technology division, was acknowledged for 10 years of service to the Conservation Commission and the State of Oklahoma.

Shellie traces her roots back four generations in Mayes County. She graduated from Pryor High School and attended college at Northeaster Oklahoma A & M in Miami, graduating in 1995 with an associate degree in Pre-Engineering. While at Miami she became familiar with the recreational aspects of the chat piles at Tar Creek. Little did she know that in a few short years she would be visiting these chat piles again but this time she would be concerned with the reclamation opportunities of the area. Following NEO Shellie attended OSU in Stillwater where she majored in Geography, earning a Bachelor of Science in 1997. Immediately following graduation she began working on a Master of Science degree in Geography.

Shellie started work at the OCC in January, 1999, as a GIS Specialist in the Water Quality Division. She earned her MS degree in December, 2000. After a short tenure in the Administrative Division, she transferred to the newly-formed Information Technology Division in 2001 where she applies her GIS skills assisting all OCC divisions with their mapping projects.

Shellie is active in a variety of organizations, mainly associated with her GIS work. She has been involved with the South Central Arc Users Group (SCAUG) for the past nine years. During the past six years she has served as both the chair of the Oklahoma Chapter of SCAUG and the membership coordinator. Also, during the past three years she has been the membership coordinator and Oklahoma representative in the regional SCAUG organization.

Shellie has participated in GIS Day at the Capitol since 1997 and has been the coordinator of the event since 2002. She serves on the steering committee of the Mid-America GIS Consortium (MAGIC), a regional nonprofit educational organization. Shellie is an instructor and course developer for the Office of Surface Mining TIPS courses dealing with image and spatial analysis.

Shellie is also chairman of the OCC Awards and Recognition Committee and which has received praise for doing an outstanding job in boosting agency enthusiasm and making OCC an enjoyable and rewarding place to work.