March MVPs — Greg Roberts and Tara Bruce

By Yavonda Chase

Greg Roberts

Greg Roberts

Greg Roberts and Tara Bruce, a chef and pastry chef, respectively, in Nutrition Services have worked at UAMS for 10 years, and both are invaluable employees, according to Nutrition Services’ Director Tonya Johnson, who nominated them.

“UAMS feeds over 11,000 people per day — that is a lot of food to cook. Thankfully, we have someone like Greg Roberts to make sure all the customers, patients, staff and students at UAMS have good, healthy food to eat. He is always looking at ways to offer healthier food at an affordable price. He also works to keep things fresh with new recipes and menu items. Cooking in bulk for 11,000 people each day is different than a typical restaurant-style service. Keeping food fresh while making sure it is quickly available for the retail outlets and patient food service can be a challenge, but it is one Greg does well. His hard work and dedication benefits staff, students, patients and guest of UAMS each day.”

Tara Bruce

Tara Bruce

“Tara Bruce is one of the hardest working people I know. She comes in early and stays late to ensure the job gets done, especially when we are short staffed. She fills in to assist in catering, production, retail areas and wherever else we need assistance. She never says, “That’s not my job.” She has been instrumental in creating healthier options for our patients and retail locations. She developed the made-to-order salad menu and the fruit bar. She also makes all those sugary sweet temptations in the bakery. Tara started baking our specialty bread from scratch when the local bakery that supplied it went out of business. She is always going above and beyond.”

Both Greg and Tara were instrumental in Nutrition Services’ efforts to feed thousands of employees a hot, delicious lunch for the UAMS Holiday Party, Johnson said in their nominations.

Do you know someone who should be the next MVP? Nominations are being accepted. Any employee can nominate someone, and all employees are eligible to be nominated. The nomination form is available online or paper copies can be picked up in the Office of Communications & Marketing in Ward Tower next to Doc Java.