A University such as ours is an exceptional place, but it is only as good as the people who
sustain it. We are a large institution in one sense, but we’re a very close knit community
that supports each other. When I think of the leadership and the service beyond the call of
duty that so many illustrate in this room, I’m so proud to be associated with you.
So you have to do that research…
From a very personal perspective, what makes me passionate about serving students in the
way that we do is that there is so much potential in individuals who have often been left
out of higher education. The college decided to start something called the David T.
Kearns Center for leadership and diversity in Arts, Sciences, and Engineering.
The goal is to increase the number of low income students, underrepresented minority
students, and first generation college students throughout the educational pipeline.
When I found out I was being nominated for and then won the Witmer Award, I was truly
humbled. I don’t necessarily believe that I would have been able to do what I’ve done
here at another institution. I think what I’ve been able to do is uniquely Rochester.
They never come up on Excel, so you always have to call in.
I’ve lived in Rochester all of my life, and I’ve worked at the University of Rochester
Medical Center for 33 years. Because I am not a healthcare professional, I like the
opportunity to be able to give myself in other ways.
Intervol is an organization that was founded by a local physician. The stringent
restrictions that we have here in the United States lead us to discard of a lot of medical supplies.
So, it’s the ones that go on top.
There are many needy individuals and organizations over in 3rd world countries, which
we help support by sorting through these medical supplies and donating them. It does
give me a great deal of satisfaction to be able to try to make a difference in another
person’s life whether it be directly or indirectly.
For the day to day officer, there is not a typical day. We may take a fairly routine service
call opening a door, and the next call might be backing up another officer in the hospital,
someone in the psychiatry area or someone in the emergency department. The Meloira
Award was a really great honor to receive. It’s one of those moments where you receive
something for probably one of the darkest days we’ve had as a department and at the
university. It was a very tragic incident. Within just a few short minutes, they were on the
scene responding to an urgent report that a student had a potentially life threatening
injury. The initial call was received in the early morning hours. It was a fight that
occurred in one of the buildings on campus between two students, and it resulted in the
death of one of the students. You don’t expect that to happen on your campus in your
building. I think as a staff, we really tend to think of them as our buildings and our
students. Every person did absolutely the best that they could do given the situation and not
really knowing what was going to happen next.
Since I began here, I started as a temporary secretary and I now serve the college as
associate dean. So, it shows that at the University of Rochester, if you have motivation
and drive and determination and are really interested in solving a problem that there is
space for you here.
I’m not expecting to receive any sort of award for what I do. It’s something that comes
natural to me, and I enjoy giving back to the community in any way I can.
I think it shows that the university cares about the people that are here, and it also
recognizes the professionalism of the individual departments and the people that support those.
A production of the University of Rochester.
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