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Cherry Hill Resident Honored with EPA Employee Award

Release Date: 07/02/2009
Contact Information: Donna Heron 215-814-5113 / heron.donna@epa.gov

PHILADELPHIA (July 2, 2009) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s mid-Atlantic region presented its Instructor of the Year Award to Allison Gardner, of Cherry Hill, NJ at its annual Employee Recognition Ceremony on May 5.

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

In announcing Gardner’s name at the ceremony, last year’s EPA winner, Jose Jimenez, said that the words used to describe Gardner, a senior attorney in the region’s Office of Regional Counsel, include “consummate teacher, learned, enthusiastic, good communicator and always accessible.”

In December 2006, a set of complex federal rules of civil procedure and evidence requirements became law. These e-discovery laws apply to the preservation and protection of electronically stored information. Failure to adhere to these laws, even inadvertently, could result in court sanctions, including case dismissal, monetary sanctions, and findings of contempt of court.

“Allison managed to take an immensely difficult, confusing subject -– how to protect and preserve electronically stored information in accordance with court discovery rules -- and made it understandable to our EPA staff,” said Jimenez.

Gardner, who has been with EPA for ­­­six years, grew up in Cumberland, R.I. and graduated from Cumberland High School in ­­­­­1993. In 1997 she received a bachelor's degree in political science and classics from Wellesley College. In 1998, she received a master’s degree from Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario in political science, and in 2001, she graduated from New York University School of Law.

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