Kimberley Mentus, an administrative specialist for the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment (OIRA), has been named the 2026 Outstanding Classified Employee by the University of Maine Employees Advisory Council.
The award recognizes classified employees’ exceptional service and dedication to UMaine, increasing the campus community’s awareness of the indispensable contributions that represented and nonrepresented classified employees make to the quality and overall mission of the university. Award winners receive $1,000 in recognition of their contributions.
Mentus has been a part of the UMaine community since 2013, when she joined the Advanced Structures and Composites Center. In December of 2022, she then joined OIRA.
Beyond her primary professional duties, Mentus also serves as the voluntary building manager for Alumni Hall. In this capacity, she manages everything from maintenance and access requests to the vital safety coordination required between UMaine facilities and the UMaine Police Department to keep the building secure.
Mentus’s positive impact on the UMaine community and consistent ability to exceed expectations were highlighted repeatedly throughout her numerous nomination letters.
“But the quality that truly sets Kim apart is the way in which she combines her dedication to our
collective work and goals, with her compassion and commitment to our well-being as people and
professionals,” wrote one of her nominators. “For example, one of our office tasks requires that for a period of one to two months each year, someone takes on supervising student workers on weekday evenings. Kim, knowing that being away from home in the evenings is challenging for some of us due to family commitments, has volunteered for this task for three consecutive years. Not only does she supervise the student workers so that others of us can get a break from the task; but she truly invests in the students as people, taking the opportunity to make a positive difference in their lives as well.”
