The Center for Information Dominance (CID) announced four employees as civilians of the quarter (COQ) for the first half of calendar year 2015.

"We are very fortunate to have so many talented and dedicated employees at CID headquarters," said Capt. Maureen Fox, CID commanding officer. "Choosing only two civilians each quarter is tough out of our many high-caliber candidates. In each case, these four members of our team clearly performed at such high levels and deserve the special recognition."

For the first quarter, Donald Watts and Michael Longoria, both members of the Navy Center for Language, Regional Expertise and Culture (CLREC), were acknowledged for outstanding performance.

Watts, an education technician, supports the Navy's Defense Language Testing Program. His extended reach includes Navy College Offices, personnel support detachments, and other foreign language testing facilities, as well as command language program managers and individuals.

As the mid-grade COQ, Watts was recognized for processing more than 3,400 examination result reports, including Defense Language Proficiency Tests, Defense Language Aptitude Batteries, and Oral Proficiency Interviews from approximately 350 testing sites. He created three application user guides to assist administrators and also recommended a strategy to further mitigate risk to personally identifiable information, in addition to ensuring complete compliance for data integrity.

"Throughout the first quarter, more than 100 customers delivered personalized feedback thanking Mr. Watts for his outstanding customer support," said Chris Wise, CLREC director. "He is one of only a handful of true experts in the Defense Language Testing Program."

Michael Longoria, the senior COQ for the first quarter, performs a wide variety of duties as a program analyst, planning and delivering training and guiding curriculum development. As the CLERC point of contact for the Naval Expeditionary Combat Command, the bulk of his efforts are devoted to preparing the Navy's expeditionary forces and Individual Augmentees to deploy to the Horn of Africa, Afghanistan, and other regions.

In person as well as behind the scenes for Navy e-Learning courses, Longoria ensured the successful delivery of language and cultural training and support to more than 7,000 Navy, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Army personnel. Of note, he coordinated cultural orientation training materials for the first of several Navy medical teams deployed to Liberia to combat the Ebola outbreak in the West African region.

Longoria also created an electronic working aid for audio translation of explosive ordnance disposal terminology between English and Japanese. As a result, CLERC received more requests from the fleet to create the tool in more languages and for other missions.

"Mike Longoria never ceases to amaze me in his dedication and productivity," said Wise. "His experience in leading Sailors, Navy training, and instructional design are indispensable to my organization.

"I'm proud to work with Mike and Don. Their accomplishments are truly representative of the entire team."

For the second quarter, Thomas Seith from Navy Credentialing Opportunities On-Line (COOL) was selected as the mid-grade COQ, and Arthur Evans from CID's Training Directorate was chosen as the senior COQ.

Seith, a program analyst, volunteered to fill in as the command public affairs officer during a manning gap. One of the highlights during the quarter was his coordination of coverage of CID's training programs at Corry Station by Bloomberg Businessweek. He also wrote articles, improved information sharing across the CID domain, and managed social media and command websites.

In addition to performing his Navy COOL duties, Seith was selected to participate as an assessing member of the Naval Education and Training Command Navy Inspector General team and as a member of CID's Managers' Internal Control Program (MICP).

"Mr. Seith exemplifies the 'can do' attitude and commitment found throughout the Navy COOL team and Center for Information Dominance staff," said Keith Boring, Navy COOL program manager. "He continues to exceed expectations and demonstrates a work ethic other employees and co-workers can emulate. I'm truly proud to have him as part of the team."

Arthur Evans, a training manager for three high visibility courses, impacts the preparation of more than 3,000 Information Systems Technician (IT) students annually as they prepare to support the fleet.

He navigated contractual requirements and analysis, managed software licensing and classroom scheduling issues, and led course revisions and curriculum updates. As a result, fully certified instructors trained thousands of students to that same level through completion of commercial certification exams and standards by the end of their IT classroom experience. He also identified cost and time savings and continually found better ways to do business.

"When called upon for expertise, he was more than willing to share his knowledge and experience to help further solutions and contribute to the training of ITs across CID's domain," said Cmdr. Dave Wojda, CID IT training program manager. "His flexibility and foresight have proven to be invaluable."

The Center for Information Dominance (CID) based at Corry Station in Pensacola, Fla., is the Navy's learning center that leads, manages and delivers Navy and joint forces training in information operations, information warfare, information technology, cryptology and intelligence.

With nearly 1,300 military, civilian and contracted staff members, CID provides training for approximately 24,000 members of the U.S. armed services and allied forces each year. CID oversees the development and administration of 226 courses at four commands, two detachments, and 10 learning sites throughout the United States and Japan.

For more information on the Center for Information Dominance, visit http://www.netc.navy.mil/centers/ceninfodom/; facebook.com/CenterForInformationDominance/; and twitter.com/CenterInfoDom/.

For more news from Center for Information Dominance, visit www.navy.mil/.