2016 Infinite Mile Award Recipients

From your crow’s nest atop the masthead, you constantly scan the horizon for the hidden reefs that can wreck a reputation, and for the rising breeze of media interest that can advance the great mission of MIT. We relax in the knowledge that you have built an expert public relations crew. We delight in the marvelous stories that you conjure from the deep blue sea of science and innovation. (And we hear that most of them are even true!) Knowing that we can count on your strategic thinking, first-class poker face and exceptional media relationships, we have simply come to expect success. So don’t mess it up! With your reporter’s lightening instincts for what makes news, you naturally have a devoted pack of actual reporters who admire you as much as we do. Across MIT, you have won the trust and confidence of those with the fanciest titles and highest standards – not to mention adoring fans absolutely everywhere. We learn something every time we talk to you. From new hires to senior faculty to MIT President #17, you graciously mentor anyone who needs to know more about the mysteries of media relations. Whether helping the world grasp a scientific breakthrough or helping the MIT community cope with tragedy and crisis, you are a campus leader whose unwavering confidence calms our nerves, steadies our course – and makes us grateful to be by your side. In the vital work of building, maintaining and defending MIT’s reputation around the world, the Institute is blessed to have your brilliant service.

When you arrived at MIT, we immediately enlisted you to help build the new MIT News website, one of the biggest, most complex and most heavily trafficked sites at the Institute. To our surprise, this overwhelming assignment seemed to make you even more energetic and cheerful! So we assigned you to build and manage the most high-stakes, high-profile web properties we could think of, from the Chancellor’s new website, to the “Affordable MIT” page on financial aid, to the page that shared with the world MIT’s Plan for Action on Climate Change. Yet no matter how hard we try, you consistently deliver excellence in impressively short timeframes. You create technical solutions that are sound, modern and reliable, and you have built new alliances with colleagues from IS&T to support them over time. For bonus points, you often produce graphic designs so elegant and practical that we forget that design is not the heart of your job. You are a consummate professional who cares deeply about your work. You are exceptional at your craft and work tirelessly and with great humility. In fact, the only real challenge of working with you is trying to persuade you to accept the praise you deserve. Just this once, we’re going to insist!

Whether sending a routine email to a colleague or announcing a party to the whole of MIT, your communications are graceful, articulate, engaging and direct. Even though we really like numbers, we cannot begin to count the number of MIT people who rely on you as a thought partner and collaborator on communications, event planning, website design, social media, event photography and the fine points – nay, the nanopoints – of grammar. Your expert work and deep understanding of MIT’s people and values help make our community as strong and joyful as it can be. With aplomb, good humor, diplomacy and care, you happily juggle the fireballs of multiple large projects. You are on the spot before we know we need you – raising questions, anticipating problems and devising graceful solutions. And you are still there when we change our minds, decide to invite a different ambassador or spill the soup of an entire event down the Institute’s last clean shirt. We bask in the sunshine of your competence and delight in the fizzy drink of your cheerful wit. You make every day at the Institute feel like a party – almost – and we are eternally grateful that you got us on the list.

The MIT community is an unusual concentration of unusual talent – anchored by an equally unusual assortment of real estate interests. From negotiations and closings to land use, licenses, permits, off-site leases and fees, your masterful knowledge of the world of real estate law gives MIT the space to do its best work. We stand in awe of your preparation, organization and follow-up. Calm, clear and thorough, you are relentless in your pursuit of excellence. No amount of chaos or complexity can withstand the organizing power of your color tabs! With breathtaking attention to detail, you see each issue through to resolution ¬– even if it takes ten years. And your colleagues treasure your ability to make the most arcane case manageable and clear. You are a leader, role model and teacher. With the longest tenure of any in-house attorney at MIT, you helped set the tone and standards that define our office – a legacy that will serve the Institute long after you retire. As one of your colleagues wrote, “I have enjoyed being Margaret’s colleague immensely and have learned a great deal from her about lawyering, about MIT, about professionalism, about collaboration – and about a job truly well done.”