In her short tenure at Lincoln Laboratory, Marie Dow has emerged as "a great model" for her peers. Jennifer Murphy is an "unseen heroine" in the Department of Chemistry.
Murphy and Dow were among 13 individuals and six teams from across the Institute and Lincoln Lab who received MIT Excellence Awards in Wong Auditorium on Oct. 15.
The annual awards (part of MIT's Rewards and Recognition program) acknowledge innovation, leadership, collaboration, dedication, outreach, inclusiveness, service and results. The program honors individuals and teams for their exceptional contributions to their office, department or school, or to the Institute as a whole.
Murphy, administrative assistant in the Chemistry Education Office and the department's course manager, has mastered "the intricacies of how to get things done at MIT," said Krzysztof Grabnarek, assistant director of chemistry education, who nominated her for the award.
"She knows where to turn and whom to speak with," Grabnarek wrote in making the nomination. "The relationships she has developed with colleagues in various Institute offices provide Jennifer with a quick response mechanism in times of panic. When a faculty member or student comes to her with a problem, she is able to rapidly find a solution as a result of her knowledge and the respect she has garnered across the Institute."
David Granchelli, assistant publications manager at Lincoln Lab, nominated Dow, who has been a production designer in his group since January 2002.
"Working with Marie is just plain fun," he said. "She gets excited by a new design, is eager to try out a new approach and enjoys seeing the successful final product. She listens to everyone's ideas--customers, artists or editors--never dismisses an idea, and finds the usable nugget in those ideas. Even her panic at getting last-minute changes to a due-in-an-hour presentation becomes a contagious call to action. Marie gets people fired up and moving, glad and proud to be a part of Publications."
The awards help MIT foster an environment of shared success and commitment, recognize that each individual can make a difference, highlight behaviors and activities that have benefited MIT and showcase employees as role models.
The complete list of Excellence Award recipients, photographs and excerpts from their citations will be available soon at http://web.mit.edu/hr/rewards/excellence.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on October 22, 2003.
