Dartmouth employees with milestone anniversaries were treated on Thursday to a buffet meal and live music at the annual service award celebrations, hosted by President Sian Leah Beilock and Chief Human Resources Officer Sara Lester, both of whom took part in the events for the first time.
Lester, who joined Dartmouth last summer, highlighted the staff’s skill, professionalism, and commitment to building community, which is evident in their interactions with her and “thousands of others.”
“They’ve been immediately helpful whenever I have a question, eager to tell me where to get the best maple creemee, and wildly open to building new relationships, letting others and me into this special community,” she said to the employees gathered in the Class of 1953 Commons, where a luncheon was held for those with 10- or 15-year anniversaries, and a dinner for staff members with 20 or more years of service.
“Thank you for welcoming all of us, new and old, for supporting us at every turn, and for being the glue that holds this community together,” Lester said.
President Beilock congratulated the staff and thanked them for their hard work, including on major events such as Inauguration that “maybe are my fault,” drawing a laugh from the lunch crowd.
She emphasized their willingness to go above and beyond in support of Dartmouth’s mission, including their influence as “difficult moments” unfolded across many college campuses this fall in response to events in the Middle East.
“I want to just reiterate how proud I am of the Dartmouth campus and what we’ve been able to accomplish with our kindness, our humility, our ability to listen to difference, and I know you as staff model that every day,” Beilock said. “We have a mission here to build the best and the brightest and help them go off to be leaders in the world, to develop the knowledge that will make this world a better place, and you’re all such an important part of it.”
Upper Valley Americana band Beecharmer set a bright tone during the luncheon and dinner, where guests included an employee who 50 years ago surprised herself by taking a job at Dick’s House.
In 1973, “fresh out of high school,” Debra Fisk was working at an insurance agency and aiming for a career in real estate. But at a neighbor’s suggestion, she applied at Dartmouth. The interview, which included a typing test, took her to health services, where she’s done everything from pulling charts for clinicians to paying the bills.
“You just jump in and do what you’re asked to do,” said Fisk, who is now a payroll and purchasing coordinator.
The challenge of learning new systems has kept her engaged over the years, says Fisk, who recalls when the nurses wore white uniforms and ironed student paperwork so it could be scanned.
And there’s no place on campus she would rather be, she said. “We take care of the students.”
The employees recognized for their service this year:
(Photo by Katie Lenhart)
Fifty-year honoree: Debra Fisk was honored for 50 years of service to Dartmouth. She wanted no plaque or presentation, but did take a quick photo with President Beilock.
Forty-five-year honoree (not pictured): Mary Durand.
(Photo by Katie Lenhart)
Forty-year honorees: Catherine Henault, Kathleen Decato, and Kathy Green.
Forty-year honoree who is not pictured: Gary Hutchins
(Photo by Katie Lenhart)
Thirty-five-year honorees: Lesa Knapp, David Bibeau, Jeannette Crary, Barbara Sterling, Suzette Fegan, Nicole Richer-Maloney, Cindi Mansell, and Kelly Mousley.
Thirty-five-year honorees who are not pictured: Eric Bivona, Randy Brown, Tricia Cornelius, Cynthia Crutchfield, Carol Gage, Robyn Hadlock, Rick Hoisington, Bobby Ignjatovic, Janice McEwan, and Young Shin.
(Photo by Katie Lenhart)
Thirty-year honorees: Front row: Roxanne Zola, Tina Hoisington, Laura LaMontagne, and Yvonne Salazar. Second row: Heidi Bushway, Kevin Evans, and Bernard Haskell. Third row: Sarah LaBombard, Aarron Clough, John Tansey, and Steven Lubrano.
Thirty-year honorees who are not pictured: Mark Bruno, Lisa Celone, Michael Devins, Patricia Donahue, Theresa D’Orsi, Sherry Finnemore, Teoby Gomez, David Knox, Ann Lavanway, Andrew Perkins, Balvinder Rakhra, Lincoln Schwarz, and Monica Wilson.
(Photo by Katie Lenhart)
Twenty-five-year honorees: Front row: Beth Rosenberger, Lorie Corrette, Sandra Brown, and Rebecca Mlynarski. Second row: Amy Layne, Gabriela Kovacikova, Michael Bissaillon, Katrina DeCoff-Webster, Jeffrey DeWitt, and Kevin Baron. Third row: Timothy Duggan, Scot Stammers, David Levesque, Michele Jaeger, Stacie Marshall, and Andrew Johnson.
Twenty-five-year honorees who are not pictured: Diane Bonin, Emily Caldwell, Jennifer Friend, Gwendolen Gensler, Anita Prasad, Shelley Richer, Elizabeth Smith, Alex Thorngren, Marisue Valentine, and Ellen Young.
(Photo by Katie Lenhart)
Twenty-year honorees: Front row: Laura Braunstein, Margaret Chase, Sassan Hodge, and Tracy Dustin-Eichler. Second row: Pamela Bagley, Jodie Davi, Jeanne Briand, Christen Townsend, Meredyth Morley, Jennifer Seiler, and Donna Lawless. Third row: Seth Nelson, Laura Graveline, Maciej Kmiec, William Bacon, Francis Heath, Anita Herrick, Wole Ojurongbe, and Mary-Ella Zietz.
Twenty-year honorees who are not pictured: Joshua Bailey, Tracy Ballou, Robert Beach, Hassina Benchabane, Cristen Brooks, Jennifer Cocklin, Brenda Cole, Brian Corcoran, Jay Davis, Philip Garran, Nancy Garrett, Corinne Arndt Girouard, Mark Hiatt, Barbara Masteller, Richard McNulty, Sarah Morgan, Patricia Oakes, Hannah Silverstein, Bryan Taber, John Vanier, and Weiping Zhou.
(Photo by Katie Lenhart)
Fifteen-year honorees: Front row: Lorin Parker, Kristina Fjeld-Sparks, Laura Barrett, Mora Cantlin, Yvonne Pelletier, Ashlee Robinson, Patrick Crim, and Angela Orlando. Second row: Richard Whitmore, Dia Draper, Jordan Moriarty, Christopher Gould, Brittney White, Billie Jo Buchanan, Terri Eastman, and Juliann Coombs. Third row: Nathan Heath, Jeffrey Seamans, Deepak Karanwal, Ivan Stanhope, Andrew Kilibarda, and Joshua Kim.
Fifteen-year honorees who are not pictured: Charles Bender, Jessica Bernatchy, Christopher Bordeau, Derek Brown, John Burnor, Jennifer Casey, Samuel Cavallaro, Kevin Collier, Anne Dowman, Amanda Dupuis, Sherry Fiore, Rory Gawler, Brian Geoghegan, Gene Giguere, Jessica Gilbert, Jessica Havrda, Heather Huff, Melissa Jewell, Rosalie Kerr, Gordon Koff, Anthony Lanahan, Martha Lane, Catherine Lark, Joshua Lascell, Matthew Lotterhand, Sean McNamara, David Merker, Crystal Heather Murphy, Magdalini Nanopoulos, George Newcomb, Deirdre O’Donnell, Jennifer Phelps, Samantha Potter, Michael Raymond, Jake Reder, Tom Rice, Robert Robertson, Stephen Sampson, Sie Soukone, Vivien Taylor, Sarah Thompson, Stephen Tisdale, Tracy Wallace, and Jeremy Wheeler.
(Photo by Katie Lenhart)
Ten-year honorees: Front row, from left to right: Darius Long, Christiana Chue, Barbra Alan, Suzanne Rubin, and Courtney Webb. Second row: Zachary Bennis, Joanna Bennis, Kathleen Drouin, June McLean, Casey Aldrich, Kara O’Brien, David Pack, Sarah Smith, and Aaron Panitz. Third row: Scott Hening, Danielle Sparks, Andrew Knutsen, Susanna Newsom, Sharon Morse, Annette Achilles, Maureen Hennigan, Kimberly Prestridge, Anna Winter, Gary Thompson, David Clancy, and Patrick Wheeler. Fourth row: Jessica Paterson, William Cowen, Asia Flad, Steve Place, Conrad Reining, Holly Cathcard, and Albert Read. Fifth row: Olivier Gilloux, Ryan Hill, Ryan Hebert, Robert Holley, John Tumosa, and Jonathan Boutwell.
Ten-year honorees who are not pictured: Barbra Alan, Robin Albing, Robert Barry, Daniel Bean, Rachel Bibeault, Arnt Bjorkman III, Donald Brown, Marvin Burns, Rebecca Carey, Andrila Hait Chakrabarti, Kenneth Chandler, Philip Charbonneau, Sarah Cloud, Jamie Coughlin, Darcie Crate, Laura Dentel, Kathy DiAntonio, Tracey Dugdale, Amanda Emerson, Alexander French, Lucas French, Kerri Gandin, Andrei Ghenoiu, Michael Goudzwaard, Patricia Green, Susan Green, Eric Guay, Stephen Gunn, David Gurney, Joyce Hammel, Philip J. Hanlon ’77, Dorothy Heinrichs, Evert Holwerda, Jeffrey Ives, Reina Lansigan, Robert Lasher, Daniel Lemon, Alexis Lensing, Reilly McAllister, Alina Menard, Richard Mills, Steven Moretti, Patrick Norton, Barry Ordway, Thomas Palys, Sergey Petryakov, William Platt, Genevieve Puleo, Edward Rearick, Dominic Rodizza, Michael Sauer, Richard Stanton, Blaise Stephanus, David Sturges, Danielle Taylor, Lisa Thompson, Eric Ticehurst, Kristine Timlake, Stephanie Turner, Rebecca Waters, Topher Watts, Norma Rose Williams, Rachel Williamson, and Stephen Yeaton.
