2008 Infinite Mile Award Recipients

Individual Awards:
Mary Curtin - Community & Customer Service
Heidi Demers - Community & Innovation
Mary Enterline - Community
Gen Filiault - Customer Service
Kristen Hort - Leadership
Wayne Johnson - Innovation & Creativity
Ed Moriarty - Community & Diversity
Rick Rosa - Customer Service
Rosanne Santucci - Communication & Collaboration
Marisa Zepeda - Communication & Collaboration

Team Awards:
STAR Team – Chuck Shubert, lead, and developers Ivica Ceraj, and Justin Riley
Innovation & Creativity

Educational Council Team - Kathy Breland, Michelle Tom & Elizabeth Mulcahy
Communication & Collaboration

Financial Aid– Emily Bassett and Kimberly Mann, Student Financial Services
Customer Service

Mary Curtin, Office of Educational Innovation and Technology
Community & Customer Service

Mary joined DUE over a year ago when the new Office of Educational Innovation and Technology was formed. As with any transition, there were lots of details to attend to including space, finances, and building a sense of community for an organization that was working in three separate locations. Formerly supported by IS&T’s central administrative staff, the staff of OEIT learned quickly that DUE operates with a much more distributed model where each unit is responsible for oversight of their own finances and management of their space. No longer able to call a central group for support and not knowing where else to go, staff went to Mary to process travel vouchers, procure goods and services, schedule meetings and anything else that needed doing. Mary quickly determined just what needed to be done so she could provide valuable assistance and guidance to the staff in OEIT.

Mary began to make connections, and developed working relationships with those who could provide assistance in areas that were new to her. One such example is in the area of finances. Mary has rolled up her sleeves and is learning about OEIT's accounts as well as all the ins and outs of MIT’s financial systems so she can help oversee OEIT's accounts. Mary gets things done. If she doesn’t have the answer, she finds someone who does and if she can’t do something herself, she gets someone who can.

Last summer, the geographical separated groups that comprised the new office were moved to one central location in NE49. Mary stepped up to make sure all details were taken care of. There are many, many details of a move that when handled well, are invisible to the folks who move. Mary’s efforts in advance of the move, which were above and beyond her usual responsibilities, paved the way for a smooth and painless move day. She worked behind the scenes with IS&T to make sure the right number of network drops were in the right places, that furniture and cubicle components were installed and ready to be occupied and directed the moving company to make sure everything was scheduled and ran smoothly. Mary’s focus on these necessary details “the little things that make a big difference” in the day-to-day activities of an office allows for the OEIT staff to focus on educational technology and innovation projects. Mary is a hard working, dedicated, roll-up-your sleeves and do what needs doing kind of person who does it all with a steady hand, in a respectful manner and with a sense of humor on top.

Heidi Demers, Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Education
Community & Innovation

Heidi brings a high level of excellence to everything she does. She is driven by learning new skills and then applying what she’s learned to improve administrative processes within DUE and elsewhere at MIT. She thinks in terms of continuous improvement and is constantly making small changes to processes and programs - always with the end user in mind. Since joining the DUE administrative group 6 years ago, Heidi has contributed to, created or improved a range of programs aimed at building community across DUE. She is the driving force behind the planning and execution of the new employee breakfasts, which take place several times a year, as well as the annual end of year DUE Community luncheon. Heidi works diligently to ensure that all new members of the DUE community (20-30) each year, receive a warm welcome through the new employee buddy program, the new employee interview program, and other programs designed to help new DUE employees settle in and acclimate to their new surroundings as quickly as possible. This is of great benefit both to the new employee and to the organization.

Last year, despite an already very full plate, Heidi served the Institute and DUE as a member of the HR/Payroll implementation team. She was able to offer myriad helpful suggestions on systems usability and how to structure training programs to help ensure a smooth implementation. In doing so she helped employees within DUE who utilize SAP as well as employees in other departments across the Institute. Heidi is extremely well organized and knowledgeable about administrative systems at MIT. As a result, she is often consulted by people outside of DUE on the usability of forms, databases and processes. Heidi is generous with her time and knowledge, quick with a smile, a joke and an offer of assistance.

Mary Enterline, Office of Faculty Support
Community

Mary’s dedication and loyalty are undeniable, her work to create an environment of respect and collegiality unflagging. Her time-consuming and crucial role in the Subject Evaluation/Who's Teaching What project is only the most recent demonstration of a career-long dedication to undergraduate education, our students, and the DUE. As a multi-office team member, as a staff participant in faculty governance, and as a senior member of the OFS staff, Mary is a beacon of integrity and good will. Mary serves as a residence-based freshman advisor, giving of her time beyond office hours to our students both directly and indirectly, through her many extra hours of service to the DUE's mission and projects.The Subject Evaluation project has taken far more of her time than initially anticipated, but she fulfills her duties there and beyond, sometimes by working well after nightfall. Mary has strived to create bonds between OFS and TLL, OEIT, and the Registrar's office, among many, and always tries to understand the perspective of others. Her attention to the diversity of legitimate perspectives on key issues is exceptional, and her respect for others great indeed. She takes the extra time to support her team members from other offices, and always focuses on the good of the Institute and the students.

Within OFS, Mary oversees several support and administrative staff members, and is deeply loyal and obliging in her role as mentor. She has helped staff take on new roles and has been willing to try new roles herself, including taking a leading role in the review and administration of Alumni Class Funds. Professor Diana Henderson, says, “Mary has been without exception supportive of a relative novice coming in from the faculty to run the office in which she now works; she has provided wise council, stepped in to leadership roles when asked, and remained true to her team spirit, sense of integrity, and deep humility.”

Gen Filiault, Office of Faculty Support
Customer Service

Gen has moved from support to administrative staff with grace and humility, and also taken on a new leadership role with assurance and commitment. Simply put, the first major piece of legislation following from the Task Force on the Undergraduate Educational Commons is in great part the result of her extraordinary efforts and thoughtful preparation every step of the way, from internal DUE discussions and a working group, through the many committee and council presentations, to the faculty floor. Without Gen, we wouldn't have the data, the consultations, or the answers necessary for a successful outcome. This was a major achievement. But it is only one of many instances in which Gen has risen to the occasion, taking on tough assignments and dedicating her full energy and capacious intelligence to our service. She has repeatedly helped out in OFS when support staff turnover and restructuring required her to wear many hats. Gen helped train a new Communication Requirement staff member even as she took on new Task Force implementation roles, helped with scheduling and budget at the same time as she was asked to rethink the content of the General Institute Requirements. The sheer range of work, and her ability to move elegantly from one type of labor to another, is remarkable. We are fortunate to have her with us in OFS, to have watched her grow and exceed our expectations as we have asked more and more of her. She is respected and beloved by all who work closely with her, and always puts the customer's need first.

Gen provides thoughtful council and meticulous preparation, whether the topic is policy, logistics, or strategy. She constantly seeks to improve education and the lives of students at MIT and serves as a positive role model for support staff who seek to advance and who strive for new levels of excellence, as she has done. Her trustworthiness, diligence and preparation are all impeccable. Gen Filiault embodies the highest goals of customer service at MIT.

Kristen Hort, Aerospace Studies
Leadership

Kristin is a natural born leader who inspires ROTC cadets, MIT students, and Air Force instructors across the nation to achieve their goals. She leads by example as a dynamic instructor, mentor, and top staff officer. As the Assistant Professor of Aerospace Studies, Kristin teaches an introduction course to the Air Force that historically is one of our least popular courses. Her interactive teaching style and updated lesson plans engage the students and encourages them to learn. Her course is now our highest rated course (6.9 on 7.0 scale) and she is also our highest rated instructor (6.7 on 7.0 scale) of seven instructors from the past six years. She is as an active mentor that is actively sought out for her advice by our cadets and MIT students. She is a freshman advisor for the second straight year and mentors six freshman students. She was a teaching assistant for the weeklong Undergraduate Professional Opportunities Program and mentored 200 students.

Kristin is responsible for retention programs for Air Force ROTC at MIT. In this capacity she mentored and counseled 39 cadets. Our 90% retention rate is one of the highest in the nation and is a direct result of her efforts. As Unit Admissions Officer, Kristin is also responsible for recruiting programs for Air Force ROTC. As one of the smallest programs in the nation, we constantly strive to improve the size of our program and its viability. After her first year at MIT she recognized the need to expand our eligible student population in order to improve the size and viability of our unit. She worked tirelessly to plan recruiting programs at three new north shore colleges and she implemented them once MIT policy enabled students at these colleges to participate in our program. As a result of her efforts, our detachment grew 8% last year and our eligible student population is one-third larger. She sets the example for Air Force ROTC staff members across the country. As a result of her dedication to our recruiting and retention efforts, she was identified as the #1 of 144 Unit Admissions Officers in Air Force ROTC for 2007. Her flawless management of the program was recognized during a Regional Headquarters inspection as a "benchmark program for all of ROTC."

Kristin is willing to take on any job. She is always the first to volunteer. Perhaps the best example of her dedication this year is when she volunteered to sponsor the Air Force Band of Liberty at MIT for a 60th Air Force Anniversary concert. This additional duty required hours of coordination defining requirements and setting up MIT support. As it turned out, this concert was one of the premier events for the Air Force on a national level recognizing its 60th anniversary.

Wayne Johnson, Registrar’s Office
Innovation & Creativity

Wayne runs the Schedules Office which is responsible for the scheduling of a much in demand but very limited resource – the MIT classrooms. This entails understanding and working to meet the needs and desires of hundreds of faculty, departments, and administrators. Given the constraints it is simply not possible to meet everyone’s desires (or needs) but Wayne does his best and does so superbly and cheerfully despite the fact his efforts are sometimes negatively met. The scheduling group under his leadership is a model of mutual support and teamwork. Wayne has a range of talents and skills, among them graphic design. Working with his colleagues in the Registrar’s Office and the UAAP Assistant Dean for Freshman Advising, he radically redesigned the Freshman Registration Form to make it much more user-friendly. Its concise instructions and clean design have significantly reduced the number of registration errors and confusion. Based on this work, UAAP invited him to redesign the Declaration of Major Form as well. He asked perspicacious questions about the purpose and use of the form, listened carefully to the answers, and created a much-simplified, better-organized document that has now been used successfully for three years. He has made several changes to this form as new problems or needs arose - always with a smile. As word of this skill travels we expect Wayne will be asked to help redesign other forms.

Ed Moriarty, Edgerton Center
Community & Diversity

Ed is the person responsible for creating the Edgerton Center’s high school outreach programs in the Cambridge Public Schools and more recently in the Boston Public schools. Ed joined the Edgerton Center staff in 2000. He began at 50 % effort, went to 75 % effort, then 85 % and just recently due to increased funding we were able to bring him to 100 % effort. Through all these years, regardless of his appointment level of effort, he’s regularly and generously given more of his time. One example of that is a Saturday program that he ran over a few years, in which high school students from many neighboring schools built underwater remotely operated vehicles. In his first few years he also ran the Engineering challenge curriculum in the MITES program each summer at the Edgerton Center.

Ed has used great energy and creativity in establishing programs and brought the same energy to developing relationships. He relates well to all students and really knows how to motivate them. To place this in context, the goal of the Center’s K-12 outreach program is to get more students interested in science and engineering. We know that this requires an investment in programming that engages students consistently through middle school and high school. We began our outreach program in about 1997 by bringing middle school teachers and their classes to the Edgerton Center for hands-on science lessons. Ed then began building up the high school program largely through a FIRST Robotic’s team at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School. Ed has been the team advisor for many years. One of the keys to his success has been through the development and training of a cadre of talented MIT student mentors.

The high school connection has been especially important in bringing talented students to MIT. Whereas, ten to fifteen years ago MIT received no applicants from Cambridge, today we receive eight to fourteen a year and one to three per year attend. Ed and his student mentors deserve significant credit for this. Four years ago Ed began working with a Physics teacher, Steve Fernandez, at the John D O Bryant high school in Roxbury. O Bryant has a predominantly under-represented minority population and MIT has not been able to admit its students due to poor preparation. We set out to change this. Ed created hands-on projects for Steve’s classes. Ed helped to start a Community Science Workshop (NSF funded resource center) and recruited its first director, Jamie Drouliard, who before graduating from MIT, was one of Ed’s cadre of MIT student mentors. Ed helped O Bryant field a FIRST Robotics team. He also helped create teams at the Engineering School (a high school in Hyde Park) and at Madison Park, the voc-tech school next door to O Bryant. For the current school year, Ed was recruited by the Headmaster of O Bryant, Joel Stembridge, to participate in the creation of a four year engineering pathway for students at O Bryant. Ed has spent four days per week in the classroom and has been responsible for creating most of the hands-on curriculum. After a four year investment of his time and boundless energy, Ed has been rewarded this spring by having two of his O Bryant students admitted to MIT. These are the first admitted students from O Bryant and their success is certainly due in part to Ed’s efforts. There are many other examples of Ed‘s extra effort and generosity. When asked what motivates him? He says, “It’s about the kids.”

Rick Rosa, Admission’s Office
Customer Service

Rick Rosa, Senior Administrative Assistant, in the Office of Admissions consistently provides exceptional service and dedication to the graduate admissions process. Rick provides the leadership, vision, and long-term knowledge to continually provide high-level customer service. Rick's customer service is provided to two different, but equally important groups: graduate departments and applicants. Rick is the primary liaison with all 30 MIT graduate departments and programs. Rick is revered by the graduate department administrators, a notoriously demanding group. With any problem, the administrators pick up the phone to call Rick, and Rick is always gracious and helpful in providing assistance. Rick personally trains the administrators on the graduate admissions software programs, including Grade20 and Filemaker. He makes "housecalls," going to the department offices. In troubleshooting, he is patient. In teaching, he is empathetic. And when a brand new program, Microbiology, was created and needed soup-to-nuts help during the peak graduate admissions season, Rick was there, providing his always exceptional assistance. The respect and trust that all of the administrators have for Rick is heartfelt.

As for Rick's responsiveness to the very large group of applicants - this too is excellent. Despite what you may think, graduate school applicants can be just as needy as undergraduate freshman applicants. And though you'd think adults looking for graduate school could take care of things themselves – their parents call too. Rick is excellent at anticipating needs. After hearing frustration from professors, including MIT faculty, about the online recommendation forms, Rick worked with the outside application provider, CollegeNet, to develop a solution. As a result, complaints have been dramatically reduced this year. However, the CollegeNet solution required much more manual labor from both Rick and his team -- they went above & beyond, working many late hours, so that the system would work better for the recommenders. While Rick’s technical and interpersonal skill sets are advanced – he never hesitates to roll up his sleeves - open mail, file, copy, fax – whatever it takes to get the job done.

Rosanne Santucci, Office of Faculty Support
Communication & Collaboration

Boy we're sure glad she's back! In the relatively short period of seven months since Roseanne returned to MIT she has delivered on a number of significant areas. Her contributions to the team developing the new Who's Teaching What and Online Subject Evaluation systems have been critical to the success of the project. She has been the center of communications and collaboration for the team itself, served as a primary liaison for the business staff with the technical team, wrote users' guides, tested the applications, and provided outreach to the faculty and administrators in the four academic departments piloting the systems this spring.

As soon as she joined the team, Rosanne quickly identified what needed to be done and did it. She reorganized the team wiki and volunteered to take minutes at team meetings, which she produced in real time. She was quickly put in charge of communications for the team. Roseanne single-handedly created a rich project website, writing the copy, designing the layout and graphics, and coding the site itself. The site has been instrumental for sharing information about the project with faculty, departments, students and the wider Institute community. Rosanne was the interface with Nimble Partners, the external company that created the user interface for WTW. She worked to build consensus amongst project team members, Nimble Partners, and departmental administrators in developing the initial proposed interface, and she continues to work with departmental administrators to improve the site's usability and functionality.

Rosanne's can-do attitude helps energize the team. Day after day she has proven herself an invaluable collaborator and communicator. Her efforts insured the successful pilots of this spring, and her positive attitude and incredible productivity continue to keep the project moving forward. Most recently she has been working tirelessly with Digital Measures, the vendor for subject evaluation, to produce accurate customized reports on evaluation results for departments and faculty. Through every crisis and delay, Rosanne has remained calm, proposed alternatives, and adapted quickly to new approaches.

Marisa Zepeda, Admission’s Office
Communication & Collaboration

This past cycle Marisa served as the event planner and manager of Campus Preview Weekend (CPW), which by all accounts was our most successful CPW ever. And she succeeded at this despite taking over the role from two experienced staff members who left at the end of last year.

Marisa did an outstanding job leading the CPW program. Attendance of both admitted students and parents increased by over 10% this year and the scope of programs offered increased as well. Even with these increases Marisa rose to the occasion. Marisa not only excelled at coordinating large events at the macro level, but also was always willing to pitch in where needed, be it helping an individual prefrosh or emptying trash cans. In spite of several last minute challenges she remained positive and professional throughout the entire program, adding to the overall success of the event. Marisa began planning for the weekend well in advance. She established institute-wide planning committees early in the academic year to focus on separate areas of the CPW operation. Although she participated on most of these committees, she clearly encouraged others to take leadership roles and provide input, which helped to build the cohesive, collaborative teams that developed. These established relationships will serve us well as we plan for CPW and similar programs in future years.

The bulk of the planning for CPW occurs at a time when the admissions staff is at its busiest. While serving as the single key leader for the CPW program, Marisa maintained a full travel schedule, a full reading load, and she participated fully in all selection committee stages. The effort that she put forth last year and which was previously handled by two experienced staff members one of whom had less selection committee responsibilities was truly remarkable. In summary, Marisa almost single-handedly oversaw one of MIT’s largest campus events, which was only possible because of her hard work, collaborative spirit, and clear communication style. We were extremely fortunate to have Marisa managing this crucial program this year.

STAR Team – Chuck Shubert, lead, and developers Ivica Ceraj, and Justin Riley
Office of Educational Innovation and Technology
Innovation & Creativity

‘This has been the most successful project in educational technology that I have been associated with at MIT, ever.’ Professor John Belcher is speaking of the STAR Project (Software Tools for Academics and Researchers), a 3-year-old collaborative project involving faculty from the sciences and engineering and professional staff from the Office of Educational Innovation and Technology (OEIT). The collaboration between MIT faculty and OEIT’s Star group over the past few years quintessentially brings research into the classroom.

MIT is unique in that all faculty members do research and teaching and all aim for that magic interplay between the two. The Star suite of applications contributes significantly to that ideal. It is this productive collaboration between software developers and faculty for which the Star Group is receiving an Infinite Mile award for Collaboration and Innovation. A good example of collaboration is StarBiochem, a milestone release of OEIT’s Star Group, an application that displays molecules from the Protein Data Bank and that was derived from TEALsim software. It allows students and other users to explore fundamental biological research concepts, target and select components of a molecule, and control how they are displayed. Looking at the screen in the StarBiochem application, you see a high-resolution image of the structure of a particular kind of molecule. One example is human hemoglobin, an oxygen transport protein, with all its subunits coded to support simulations. You can revolve the image to get different perspectives on the structure. The rotating image movement brings out the 3-dimensional feel of the image. Students can change a subunit and see what effect these mutations will have on the molecule. In StarBiochem, students are accessing advanced research tools in bio-chemistry that were far more difficult to access before the Star suite of tools. The professional viewers that Professor Graham Walker investigated before launching Star were powerful but complicated to use. And, he said, the ones made for educational purposes were much more limited in their capabilities, but still difficult to use.

The educational visions of MIT faculty members such as Walker have found a path toward realization through collaboration with OEIT’s Star Group. Three years ago, Walker met with Chuck Shubert, leader of the Star Group, who presented a pathway toward a more usable-intuitive, browser-based, and fully-featured protein viewer. Shubert proposed the 3D protein viewer be built in the TEALsim computing environment, as that would allow it to run on any computer and would take advantage of his previous developmental work with John Belcher. By using a previously developed environment, the Star group created transferable expertise to leverage previous good work into the growing Star suite of applications. Star continues to find new faculty collaborators at MIT such as in bio-genetics (StarBiogene), hydrology (StarHydro) and high-performance computing (StarHPC). The easy accessibility that is a hallmark of the Star suite of tools is itself the best recruiting tool. This team has been extraordinarily productive, focused and collaborative. They have been excellent interpreters of faculty needs and stated goals, and have produced applications that bring MIT’s ideals to fruition.

Educational Council Team - Kathy Breland, Michelle Tom & Elizabeth Mulcahy
Admission’s Office
Communication & Collaboration

The Educational Council is a group of over 2,500 alumni/ae who give their time and talent on behalf of the Admissions Office. This year they interviewed 9,045 of the 13,396 students who applied to MIT. This represents an increase of 13% over last year. Watching over and coordinating this monumental effort each year are the three administrative staff members of the Educational Council: Kathy Breland, Michelle Tom, and Elizabeth Mulcahy.

Starting in the spring of each year, EC staff members are in touch with all Educational Counselors (ECs), Vice Regional Chairmen, and Regional Chairmen to finalize their geographic and school assignments for the coming year and to recruit new counselors and find replacements for those who are retiring. They continue to add to the group of volunteers throughout the year and participate in training sessions held on campus during various events such as Alumni Leadership Conference and Tech Reunions. They ensure assignments to area schools are in place in time for the start of the admissions season each fall and make adjustments when workloads require balancing. The EC staff is in touch with many members of the council daily via telephone or email. Their work extends to applicants and their parents, making sure the best connection is made between the applicants and the ECs in their local communities. Throughout the application and selection process, staff members maintain connections helping students to make timely contact with their ECs, receiving the reports of the interviews from ECs, and insuring that they are received by staff in the freshman records department in a timely fashion.

In addition to their council specific duties, the staff members help track requests for admissions staff members to attend college fairs and make visits to high schools, as well as take part in the travel planning used for recruitment of applicants each year. Their involvement, as a team, in the larger Admissions Office mission is greatly appreciated. Both for the required work they contribute as well as their willingness to pitch in to help in other areas as needed. This past year was an especially challenging one for Kathy, Michelle and Elizabeth. In the spring of 2007, the Director of the Educational Council, Stu Schmill, was asked to take on the role of Interim Director of Admissions. A full time job in itself, this took Stu away from his role as the director of the council. However, Kathy, Michelle and Elizabeth, through their commitment and knowledge of the needs of the council members were able to insure that everything was in place for the successful completion of this year’s interview cycle. The annual thank you letters, acknowledgments of volunteer service, and annual information mailing went out as scheduled and the members of the Educational Council experienced no change in the quality and timeliness of their contacts with the staff members. All of this occurred while also taking part in the testing and execution of a new admissions computer system used in the tracking of applicant’s files and as an online portal for the submission of EC reports. According to the then Interim (and now new Director of the Educational Council, Kim Hunter) the combined efforts of Kathy, Michelle, and Elizabeth were invaluable in ensuring her smooth transition into the role.

Financial Aid – Emily Bassett and Kimberly Mann, Student Financial Services
Customer Service

Emily and Kim are often the first face and voice of Financial Aid at MIT. They offer outstanding customer service, both in person and on the phone, processing forms and answering questions for current students, prospective freshmen, parents, and anyone else who happens to reach our offices on the 3rd floor of building 11. They respond to the finaid@mit.edu email; greet students who walk in for service and often solve whatever issues they bring with them; they process and file thousands of pieces of paper during the freshman application season; keep track of all aid applications once they are complete; and make sure the applications reach the right aid counselor for review. Kim has also served for several years as a file reviewer for graduate aid applications, and Emily will join her this spring as her responsibilities continue to expand.

This year the reception area of the Financial Aid Office was shorthanded as a result of the promotion of one of our reception area employees to fill a vacant counselor position. Although shorthanded, Emily and Kim took on additional responsibilities including some more of the duties involved with loan processing maintaining a cheerful attitude through even the busiest of times. Not only do the two of them work very work well together, but they also incorporate and supervise several student workers who come and go daily, providing extra help on a regular basis. They have grown professionally and accomplished much more than they may have imagined possible.

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