Hedrick given statewide
Award for Excellence

It’s been a long year for Karl Hedrick, but certainly hasn’t been without its rewards. In August, Hedrick received the State Employees’ Award for Excellence for Outstanding State Government Service.

Contributed photo

Karl Hedrick, a 16-year employee of NC State, was recently named one of 10 statewide Award for Excellence winners.

The award, which is given annually, is the highest honor a state employee can receive. Hedrick and nine other award recipients will be honored at a ceremony on Oct.17.

“Well, it was a long year,” Hedrick said, “but it’s coming together. The award felt pretty good. It’s nice to know that others recognize and appreciate your work.”

Hedrick, who has worked for the university for 16 years, is a laboratories mechanic and building liaison for the Schaub Food Sciences Building. Among other things, the building houses about 20 coolers and freezers where research projects are stored. They are on an alarm system that detects any failures in the mechanics of the storage units. Hedrick says they always seem to go off at night or on weekends.

“I can only remember one or two times an alarm has gone off during 9-to-5 hours,” Hedrick said. “It’s always nights and weekends.”

Dr. Donn Ward, food science professor and Hedrick’s supervisor, said Hedrick “just gets the job done.”

“Karl is the go-to guy for just about anything that needs attention in our building,” said Ward, who nominated Hedrick. “He just gets the work done. He’s invaluable.”

That work includes managing the move out of Schaub while renovations were taking place, then arranging the move back in.

“What was particularly amazing to me,” Ward said, “is that rather than move with the rest of us, Karl stayed behind in Schaub and worked with the contractors. There were a lot of things that would have gone wrong had he not taken that on himself.

“We have some pretty technical specifications and needs in this building. He was able to tell them things about the work specifications. The contractors learned they could count on Karl to help them get the work exactly right. He’s just always willing to help.”

How willing? He once stopped beside the road to help “an older man” change a tire. The man turned out to be Gov. Jim Hunt. “I changed his tire for him and we talked about the university. He tried to pay me and I told him ‘No, just remember food science and see if you can get state employees a good raise.’”

Dr. Allen Foegeding, food science professor, said Hedrick “does everything. If I need anything fixed or modified, he figures out a way to do it. If something goes wrong, Karl is quick to get it fixed.”

Foegeding moved to Withers during the renovation.

“I was behind on some work and had made plans to come in very early on a Saturday to start catching up,” he said. “The building was dark when I got here. None of the lights were working. My first thought was ‘Call Karl.’ Before I could do that, I stepped outside where the transformers are located, and there was Karl with the electricians. He was already on it. That’s Karl.”

Posted Sept. 16, 2005

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