Bringing Out the Best
The assistant dean for finance and administration in the School of Architecture and Planning is involved in all matters related to the school’s budget and operations. Nominators call her an expert on ‘everything MIT’ and her Institutional memory a priceless commodity. She brings sensitivity, kindness, and humor to her job; individuals in her school and across MIT seek her guidance. She is a facilitator, a sounding board; she unravels awkward problems to knit elegant and sustainable solutions. Her deep knowledge of the school’s operations, goals, and needs of its constituents is augmented by human understanding. She has extremely high standards for herself and her staff, but as one letter says, ‘She never forgets that we are all human beings first.’
Although she received many letters of support, it was her own staff who initiated the nomination process. A manager should encourage professional development, but the number of staff she has recruited, trained, coached, and cheered for is extraordinary. By nurturing the strengths of others, she helps them grow into the employees and people they want to be.
For bringing out the best and leading by example, this award goes to Diane McLaughlin.