Employees honored for dedication and service
Princeton NJ — Five University staff members were recognized for their exceptional performance during the annual Service Recognition Luncheon on March 27 in Jadwin Gymnasium. In addition, two staff members were honored for their leadership potential.
Those honored as recipients of the President’s Achievement Award were: Linda Chamberlin, special collections assistant in the Psychology Library; Barbara Gershen, program manager in the Program in the Study of Women and Gender; John Glasson, foreman of the fire protection shop in grounds and building maintenance; Karen Malec, assistant athletic director for event operations in the Department of Athletics; and Susan Powell, assistant director of the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics.
President Tilghman (front row, left) congratulated the winners of the President’s Achievement Award (clockwise from top left): Susan Powell, John Glasson, Linda Chamberlin, Karen Malec and Barbara Gershen. (photo: Brian Wilson)
The award was established in 1997 to recognize members of the support and administrative staff with five or more years of service whose dedication, excellent work and special efforts have contributed significantly to the success of their departments and the University. The winners receive a framed certificate and a $2,000 award and have their names inscribed on a plaque that is displayed in the Office of Human Resources.
The President’s Achievement Awards are part of the University’s Staff Recognition Program administered by the Office of Human Resources. Staff members with 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 and 45 years of service were presented with a certificate during the luncheon; those with 25 or more years of service also received commemorative gifts. A total of 344 University staff members with a collective 6,795 years of service were honored for their dedication this year (see “By the numbers” below).
In introducing the award winners at the luncheon, President Tilghman said she was pleased to recognize both them and the University’s long-serving staff members for the dedication, teamwork and creativity they have demonstrated as Princeton employees.
Chamberlin has held several library positions since joining the Princeton staff in 1979. In her current role, she works closely with faculty, students and staff of the psychology department and is responsible for the management of the library when the librarian is not on site. In his nomination, Steven Adams, biological and life sciences librarian and interim psychology librarian, wrote, “Linda is the ideal Princeton employee — someone who facilitates excellence in research and teaching while, at the same time, creating a warm and supportive environment in which to work and study.” According to the psychology department chair, Deborah Prentice, “The support that Linda provides to our faculty and students is extraordinary. It is not an exaggeration to say that the majority of our undergraduate concentrators could not imagine writing a junior paper or senior thesis without Linda.” Adams also cited how Chamberlin excels at teamwork, is well known among her peers and superiors as an innovator and is someone who “goes above and beyond the call of duty.”
Gershen joined the University as a staff member in major gifts in 1984 and came to the Program in the Study of Women and Gender in 1985. She now oversees and administers the program, providing support to undergraduate students and faculty. Gershen also has been active in the Academic Managers Group, often serving in a leadership role. In her nomination, Deborah Nord, professor of English and acting director of the Program in the Study of Women and Gender, wrote, “I have come to think of her as the best of Princeton: dedicated, imaginative, incredibly hard-working, supremely gifted as a collaborator and co-worker, and devoted to the ideals and values of a liberal arts education.” Maria DiBattista, professor of English and comparative literature, who hired Gershen when serving as acting director of the program, wrote, “She has become the personal as well as administrative heart of the program, a generous, warm-hearted and inspiring presence known and admired across campus.”
Glasson has been at Princeton since 1982, first serving as fire captain in the plasma physics laboratory and then coming to the alarm shop on the main campus in 1990 to maintain the University’s fire sprinkler systems. He was selected to oversee the fire protection shop when it was separated from the alarm shop in 2003. Responsible for the fire protection and sprinkler systems in Princeton’s buildings, Glasson is the liaison with Princeton Township and Princeton Borough and works with building inspectors to assure code compliance. In his nomination, Bill Traubel, director of maintenance, wrote of Glasson, “He far exceeds what is required of the position. John maintains a consistency of character, no matter who is interacting with him. The best word to describe John is integrity.” Bob Allen, architect and code analyst in the Office of Design and Construction, wrote, “From the beginning, John has always proudly done what is needed for the University in a quality manner.”
Malec joined the athletics department in 1990 and has been in her current position since 2004. She coordinates all athletic facilities events, including special events, such as when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice came to campus in 2005 and when Jadwin Gym hosted Gov. Jon Corzine’s inauguration in 2006. According to Robert Durkee, University vice president and secretary, “Karen was absolutely spectacular in all the planning leading up to the Rice visit, and then … we relied on her heavily during the visit to accompany President Tilghman and Secretary Rice as the person who had complete command of Jadwin. Not only was she thoroughly professional in all respects, but she was calm, resourceful, creative, decisive and unfailingly reliable.” Gary Walters, director of athletics, wrote in his nomination, “Each day, the work of Karen Malec touches the lives of students, faculty and staff and countless members of the community. Each year, Princeton hosts hundreds of athletic events that are open to the public, [and they] are of the highest quality. Each event comes off flawlessly.”
Powell, a Princeton staff member since 1998, worked in the chemistry and molecular biology departments before assuming her current role as central administrator of the Lewis-Sigler Institute in 2002. In his nomination, David Botstein, the Anthony B. Evnin ’62 Professor of Genomics and director of the institute, wrote, “Susan has earned the respect and admiration of everybody in the institute. She is the person to whom almost anyone will turn first. She has been very creative in thinking of ways to fund, for instance, research and teaching infrastructure, and has contributed many of the ideas that ultimately have been accepted by funders. She has managed funds flexibly and fairly, so that we have gotten more out of each dollar as a result. Susan is an all-around outstanding administrator, and deserves extraordinary recognition for an extraordinary level of excellence and innovation in her work.”
Griffin Management Award
In addition to the President’s Achievement Award winners, two staff members were honored as the first recipients of the new Donald Griffin ’23 Management Award. They were: Deborah Fahey, department manager in the Department of Geosciences, and Denise Sarcewicz, payroll operations lead in the Office of Payroll, Payables and Taxation.
The award was established to honor Griffin—a 1923 alumnus who served as the longtime secretary and general secretary of Princeton’s Alumni Council—through a gift from his son James, a 1955 alumnus; his granddaughter, Barbara Griffin Cole, a 1982 alumna; and her husband, Chris Cole, a 1981 alumnus. The award was instituted by human resources to recognize administrators who would like to develop their leadership and management skills. The winners receive a grant of up to $2,500 to participate in professional activities scheduled within the next year to provide new insights and perspectives, renew motivation and/or enhance skills applicable to their current responsibilities.
Fahey was hired at the plasma physics lab in 1979 and joined the geosciences department in 1997, becoming department manager in 2001. She will attend the Center for Creative Leadership Program for Women Leaders this summer.
Sarcewicz, who joined the payroll office in 2004, will attend the American Payroll Association’s Annual Congress in May, a conference featuring a broad spectrum of topics on payroll and related career and management development.
