2006 Infinite Mile Award Recipients

As the Senior Project Director in the Executive Vice President’s Office, you have been the very best kind of chief of staff. Since assuming this role in 1999, you have had your hand in virtually every success that the EVP’s area has enjoyed. You have staffed numerous searches to fill key positions at the Institute. And you coach newcomers on how to be successful within the special culture that is MIT. During MIT’s Reengineering Project, you were a thoughtful and focused team leader of the Human Resource Practices Design and Development teams. This work ultimately resulted in much more modern and appropriate HR practices to support our employees. You are an ambassador, a connector, a remarkable problem solver, and a supportive colleague. You do your work with great integrity, genuine care and concern for MIT people, and unerring dedication to the Institute.

Your skill in orchestrating MIT community events is extraordinary. You are a key player in planning and managing events such as Commencement, President Hockfield’s Inauguration Week activities, and many special programs such as the recent Energy Forum. Volunteers love working with you because you foster a team approach that encourages new ideas and collaboration. Your quick thinking and cheerful flexibility in accommodating last-minute requests and weather-related venue changes have saved innumerable events from becoming disappointments or disasters. Your work is characterized by professionalism, creativity, and a constant willingness to take on new challenges – all traits that make you an admired and valued member of our community.

As Administrative Assistants in the Office of the Corporation, you provide a critical link between MIT and our Corporation members. Your sparkling spirits, attention to detail, and dedication to service have instilled confidence and gratitude in Corporation members about all aspects of their dealings with MIT. You are tireless in your efforts to ensure that Corporation and visiting committee meetings run smoothly and that members have the support they need. You are noted for the very effective way you work with one another and with colleagues in other offices to provide the information and assistance needed to get the job done.

During your more than thirty years of service to MIT, you have been the personification of community time and time again. You are a tireless communicator in many modes, across and up and down the different parts of the Institute, always focused on making us a more effective university, always principled, always kind, and always resilient. Fittingly, you were the original compiler and editor of the MIT Acronym Dictionary-and remain its quality assurance expert. Why? Because you knew it would help us understand each other better-and because “Somebody had to do it!” The community gardening group and the annual plant swap are symbols of your influence, your organizational abilities, and your belief that work should be joyous as well as serious. You are the ever-reliable “go to” person for colleagues, both veterans and new arrivals, for everything from copy editing to providing an historical perspective. The seeds you plant grow into supportive community.