Green and white holiday decorations and the bright chatter of people happy to be together gave a festive air to the employee service awards banquets in the Class of 1953 Commons last month. Held in person for the first time since 2019, the buffet luncheon and dinner honored the milestone anniversaries of 271 employees, including Ralph Gibson, Guarini ’73, who retired in June after 50 years in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
In his remarks, President Philip J. Hanlon ’77 said the service award ceremonies are often the highlight of the holiday season for his wife, Gail Gentes, and himself. And because the 2022 awards were the last he would help celebrate as president, they were especially grateful for the chance to thank the staff members for their “incredible service” to Dartmouth over the years.
“It’s a joy to pay tribute to your extraordinary efforts, your creativity, and your determination,” said President Hanlon, who also singled out 2022 as the busiest of his years as president.
Hanlon noted that staff across all departments helped make a number of major events a success, ranging from the 50-year anniversary of coeducation to the launch of the new West End.
“You orchestrated this on top of all you were already doing with your full workloads. That’s nothing short of extraordinary.”
He also thanked the awardees for the care and concern they showed one another in the fall as Dartmouth mourned the loss of cherished community members, and for their contributions to the Day of Caring.
“The way in which the Dartmouth family rallies around one another in good times and celebrations, but also in bad times, is indicative of the team-oriented approach we take to advancing our fundamental mission, and the reason Dartmouth is so well-loved and respected,” he said.
Executive Vice President Rick Mills told the staff that Dartmouth wouldn’t exist without their work and their contribution to its mission.
“From serving the faculty and students, to maintaining the physical plant, to getting food out on the table for all of us, ordering supplies, managing our finances—all of you are contributing to this mission and we are incredibly grateful,” he said.
Reflecting on Gibson’s career, Mills noted that when he joined the staff in 1972, Richard Nixon was president, Carly Simon had just released You’re So Vain, and momentous events were unfolding on campus.
“Ralph, you’ve been here for it all,” he told Gibson, who received a standing ovation.
Gibson was finishing his master’s degree in physics at Dartmouth when he was offered the job of lecture demonstration manager.
It was an easy choice, and he knew right away that he would never want to work elsewhere, Gibson said after the banquet.
Gibson, who’s known for his professional expertise, creativity, and enthusiasm, was once dubbed “professor of happiness” by a student. The nickname stuck and will be memorialized on a plaque installed in the physics department. The Board of Trustees has awarded Gibson the title “Emeritus Staff.”
Looking back, Gibson said he enjoyed everything about his job—collaborating with professors to create demonstrations, fabricating materials in the machine shop, and the fact that he was always learning. But most of all, he stayed for the “wonderful people,” he says.
“They were just great to work with, to a person.”
The employees recognized for their service this year:
Ten-year honorees: Front row, from left to right: Hui Gunning, Emily Clough, Julie Findley, Julie Doherty, Karin Curtis-Hill, Tammy Muccio Hickox, Jacquelin Carty, Elena Ciobanu, Amy Drapeau Olson, Courtney Rotchford, Jing Qi, Carolee Crossmon, and Shaun Akhtar.
Second row: Chandana Nambukara Kodiweera, Diane Belback, Jianjun Hua, Dawn Cote, Heather Somers, Ben Morgan, Daniel Bergamini, Oleg Timoshenko, Jill Baron, James Martell, Kevin Allen, and Morgan Swan.
Third row: Paul Harvey, Bruch Lehmann, José Sinclair, Nissanka Kiridena, Pamela Kiernan Duffy, Marne Perreault, Adam Knowlton-Young, Caitlin Barthelmes, Todd Lindsley, Richard Clark, Darla Bruno, Yuriko Fujioka, James Reed, Sarah Chamberlin, William Brown, Eugene Driscoll, and Bruce DeRosia.
Ten-year honorees who are not pictured: Michael Alger, Todd Arbogast, Scott Badger, Matthew Banker, Carol Bean-Carmody, Justin Betters, Scott Botelho, Nicole Bowen, Rebecca Butcher, Dakota Collins, Nicole Ryan Constantineau, Sarah Coulter, Loey Crooks, Rob Crossett, Justine Crowling, Charles Crump Jr., Aileen Cunningham, John Dadmun, Kate Eldridge, Jamie Fairstone, Derek Fields, Jennifer Follensbee, Amy Gallagher, Kristina Godek, Geoffrey Gunning, Jennifer Hamilton, Daniel Iliescu, Terry Impey, Richard Jacobs, Jordan Kendall, Joel King, Igor Konayev, Symanie LaBombard, Rachel Logan, Vincent Mack, Katherine Madden, Kirk Maurer, Katelyn McPherson, Kelsey Morgan, Megan Murphy, James Nachtwey, Kevin Nelson, Colleen Newton Pause, Joanne Norton, Aileen Panitz, Matthew Paronto, Christiann Pearson, Gene Purington, Lisa Robinson, Antonio Rodriguez, Eric Romano, Carin Sentman, Michael Slicer, Stephanie Tapp, Rebecca Timmins, Diana Volk, Jared Wasserman, Tracy Ellen Williams, Leslie Anita Woodger, Yanmin Zhang, and Fangfang Zhong.
Fifteen-year honorees: Front row:: Audrey Ranieri, Stephanie Beliveau Hill, Joanna Whitcomb, Diane Nadeau, Allen Severance, and Vamsi Modugula.
Second row: Thomas Candon, Keiselim Montas, Anne Hudak, Holly Wilkinson, Cindy Rosalbo, Kati Hudson, Lauren Morse, and Christopher Magliola.
Third row: David Allen Merker, Josiah Proietti, David Bennett, Maghan Porter, Kristen Post, and Joanna Lovett. Fourth row: Jeramie Tullar, Bruce Crandall, Laurent Perreard, Timothy Wolfe, Bruce Bouchard, Jason Thoresen, and Jeremy Klockars.
Fifteen-year honorees who are not pictured: Margot Ashcraft, Amy Baker, Geri Barden, Karen Becker, Amanda Boughman, Ethan Boyce, Tonya Cameron, Gregg Cerveny, Michael Derosier, Joseph Doucet, Caroline Mildred Eastman, Bonnie Emery, Robert Gerlach, David Graber, Kristin Harrington, Karen Henderson, Scott Jandreau, Kris Keelty, Adam Langley, Stephen LeBlanc, Mark Mierswa, Katherine Milligan, Joshua Monette, Rajesh Munusamy, Michael Niesiobedzki, Nancy O’Brien, Amy Orr, Seth Parker, Jacqueline Paulsen, Daniel Potter, Lisa Purvis, Jeff Quigley, Zheng Shen, Sarah Thompson, Karen Thurston, Sharon Tribou-St. Martin, Katharine Villars, Margaret Welch, Zachary Welch, Jinghong Xu, and Zhao Wenyan.
Twenty-year honorees: Front row: Jennifer Dunklee, Sylvia Racca, Carol Beach, Amy Potter, Debra Stearns, Andrea Gilbert, and Chantal Lambert-Harris.
Second row: Sandra Swain-Bromwell, Sandra Belisle, Tawnia Boutin, Shane Brightly, Judith Fitzpatrick, Stephanie Morgan, Jennifer Taxman, Shawn O’Leary, and Allison Olmsted.
Twenty-year honorees who are not pictured: Gregorio Jr Amaro, Debra Barton, Alan Bergeron, Sandeep Bramhe, Joseph Broemel, Chrismas Converse, Robert Dallis, Vicki Eastman, Ann Fenton, Erik Geno, Dennis Grady, Lynn Guthrie, Timothy Hoisington, Jennifer Jones, Ann Root Keith, Joshua Kol, Joshua Landis, Gina Leger, Annette Lyman, Christian Lytle, Souleymane Marzouk, Wendy McMillan, David Steiner, and Matthew Stender.
Twenty-five-year honorees: Front row: Penniphurr Stevenson, Margaret Funnell, Amanda Bushor, Jennifer Fields, Barbara Mellert, Denise Moses, and Sara Morin.
Second row: Shane Walton, Frank Roberts, Helmut Baer, John DeSantis, Mark Franklin, Arthur Hanchett, Catha Mayor, and Elizabeth Winslow.
Twenty-five-year honorees who are not pictured: Stephanie Acquilano, Matthew Avery, John Biele, Barbara Briggs, Michelle Brown, Heather Carlos, Martha Goodrich, Samuel Levey, Jody Patten, Sydney Stowe, Abigail Underhill, Jenna Wheeler, and Brenda Wilson.
Thirty-year honorees: Heather Woolbert, Kevin Hammond, Cheryl Bush, Darcy Fifield, Paula Therrien, Janet Kennedy, and Kathy Larson.
Thirty-year honorees who are not pictured: Heather Blunt, Sheldon Brown, Brian Cook, Patricia Donahue, Karen Pelletier, Merilee Perkins, Marion Simpson, Rendall Strawbridge, and Julia Weiss.
Thirty-five-year honorees: From left to right: Janice Chapman Allen, Roberta Gilbert, Peter Marsh, Tammy Moffatt, and Jennifer Seiler-Clough.
Thirty-five-year honorees who are not pictured: Jonathan Blake, Samuel Blake, Bradley Hanna, Victoria Hicks, Jane Lipson, and Dorothy Roy-Deyo.
Forty-year honorees: Rebecca Clogston and Christopher Strenta.
Forty-year honorees who are not pictured: Christina McCarthy and Andrew Steele.
Forty-five-year honoree: Carol Greene (not pictured)
Fifty-year honoree: Ralph Gibson
