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Willingboro Resident Honored with EPA Employee Award

Release Date: 07/18/2008
Contact Information: Donna Heron 215-814-5113 / [email protected]

PHILADELPHIA (July 18, 2008) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s mid-Atlantic region presented its Instructor of the Year Award to Jose Jimenez, of Willingboro, N.J., at its annual Employee Recognition Ceremony on May 13.

The Instructor of the Year Award is given to an EPA employee for exceptional dedication and effectiveness in the training of fellow employees.

Jimenez, the coordinator of the region’s federal facilities program, was honored because of his dedication to increasing environmental awareness, developing environmental management systems, and improving compliance with environmental regulations among federal agencies such as the Department of Defense, Veterans Administration, U.S. Postal Service and the Department of Justice.

“Jose designed, developed and continually updates a curriculum of courses to sharpen the environmental focus of federal facilities,” said Garth Connor, last year’s winner. “Because of their popularity, the classes are typically filled and waiting lists begun within a day or two of their announcement, based on recommendations of former participants. He frequently receives requests to expand the size of the classes and the number of times they are offered.”

“Many of the federal facilities in the mid-Atlantic region, don’t have the money in their budgets to send staff to privately-offered trainings,” Connor said. “Jose offers the trainings at no cost to the agencies, and travels himself to their location to minimize their travel costs. In 2007 he offered the environmental management system auditor training in several locations around Maryland and Virginia to accommodate the large number of participants.”

Jimenez, who has been with EPA for 17 years, grew up in San Juan, Puerto Rico and graduated in 1990 from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus, with a bachelors degree in chemical engineering.

“Receiving this award is a recognition by management and my peers for the work we do with federal facilities,” Jimenez said. “I spend countless hours planning, organizing and traveling across the region to offer these training sessions. But this award is not only for me, but also for all those who helped me to organize and conduct the training sessions.”

EPA’s mid-Atlantic region covers Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.