2008 Infinite Mile Award Recipients

You are always the first person the President calls when something unexpected arises—at any hour of the day or night. You are unfailing in your prompt and thoughtful attention to the myriad issues that cross the President’s desk. Your foresight, finesse, and command of the President’s priorities have made you indispensable. There is no travel, computer, scheduling, or culinary mishap that cannot immediately be smoothed by your gracious attention. Your warm welcome and presence have established you as one of MIT’s finest ambassadors. You match a remarkable dedication to the President with a genuine grace and warmth for all who visit.

Together, you show and encourage respect through your efforts to resolve disputes, manage conflicts, and teach productive ways of communicating. You serve as role models, helping members of the MIT community to realize that they have options and resources available to them. Your behind-the-scenes work, whether in terms of providing administrative support or historical perspective and advice, is invaluable. You foster a diverse and inclusive community. You promote a work environment that is collegial, supportive, and characterized by positive morale.

You demonstrate a remarkable gift for organization. You have refined deadlines and publication schedules to ensure timely delivery of the MIT Bulletin and directories. Your colleagues marvel at your perseverance in resolving a billing issue with a vendor that reached back over 10 years. Ignoring brush-offs, buck passing, and pleas of ignorance, you fixed a seemingly unfixable problem, a feat that would have broken a less resilient and resolute individual. You showed great attention to detail and excellent communication skills in standardizing the subject-description terminology in the MIT Bulletin, not an easy task on such a large and heterogeneous campus.

You ignite and inspire collaboration, teamwork, and excellence. You took the reins in helping to coordinate the MITAC/MIT Federal Credit Union Dinner-Dance, going the extra mile and inspiring everyone else to do the same. Your efforts to link the MIT campus and Lincoln Lab communities are integral in creating a sense of connection and inclusion. Your exceptional spirits and sociable personality uplift and inspire those around you. You approach every new project with a level headedness that helps the team stay focused on the task at hand. You actively pursue opportunities to engage colleagues in a way that contributes to a common sense of mission and purpose.