Nathan Curry, a grounds worker, has been named the University of Illinois Springfield Employee of the Month for August 2025.

Curry is recognized as a conscientious employee who is kind and considerate. He helps maintain the beauty of campus by planting flowers and cleaning up leaves, and keeps the community safe in the winter by spreading salt and shoveling snow.

“Nate is an asset to our campus and should be recognized for his hard work,” said one nominator.

His colleagues also complimented his willingness to learn new things from other team members.

“He even collaborated with the more experienced landscape crew to place border rocks to create new flower beds with plantings around SLB this last fall,” his nominator said.

Curry’s supervisor, Brian Beckerman, described him as highly dependable, efficient and a great team player.  

“Nathan always strives to deliver a work product that exceeds the expectations of our customers,” Beckerman said. “He is always friendly and helpful in his dealings with other members of the campus community.”

According to his supervisor, Curry, who has worked at UIS since February 2023, has made important contributions to the unity of the grounds team.

To improve camaraderie among his team members, Currey proposed transitioning some individual tasks into group projects, which the team has begun implementing.