Dartmouth celebrated long-term employees’ milestone anniversaries last week with a “just after work” event featuring appetizers, drinks, a curated soundtrack, and talks by hosts President Sian Leah Beilock and Chief Human Resources Officer Sara Lester.
Mother Nature had bestowed several inches of snow upon the region just hours earlier, and temperatures lingered around freezing, but inside the West Gym in the Lewinstein Athletic Center, tables decked out with miniature lights and bouquets of fresh flowers provided warm focal points.
Lester greeted the crowd of honorees, their guests, and other senior leaders.
“It’s both an honor and a pleasure to welcome all of you to this event, as we gather to recognize and celebrate the contributions of our longstanding employees,” she said. Their collective efforts create “a thriving, dynamic” learning environment for students, and “are genuinely appreciated by every member of our community.”
President Beilock thanked the staff members for their long-term commitment and highlighted the importance of their work and presence.
Dartmouth’s special sense of community, which draws people and keeps them here, “exists because of all of you in this room tonight,” she said to the employees from a dozen divisions. “Every interaction with students, with faculty, with community members, whether it’s dealing with a global pandemic or snow days or anything in-between, you have made such a difference in everything we do here.”
Beilock noted staff members’ work with faculty members and their roles in events such as Homecoming and reunions and major new initiatives, including Dartmouth Dialogues, Commitment to Care, which aims to boost health and wellness across campus, and broad-reaching efforts around climate sustainability and housing.
“There’s a direct line between all the work that you do … and our ability to be Dartmouth, to be a different kind of Ivy in this moment that’s so important for our country and the world,” Beilock said.
Throughout the evening, attendees chatted in small groups over a spread of dumplings, seafood, crudités, and local cheeses. Those being honored gathered with their cohorts for the traditional group photos. And the background music gave a nod to the milestone years, with hits from the Bee Gees, Cyndi Lauper, OutKast, Billy Ray Cyrus, Rihanna, Tony Bennett, and others.
In addition to gifts they selected, such as picture frames, tote bags, and gift cards, the honorees also received commemorative lapel pins bearing likenesses of iconic Dartmouth buildings.
The employees recognized for their service this year:
Forty-five-year honoree: Jane Collins
Forty-year honorees: Scott Durkee, David Gelhar, and Gary Ward.
Thirty-five-year honorees with President Beilock: Ann Betters, Heidi Trask, R. Michael Murray, Mary Kay Brown
Thirty-five-year honorees who are not pictured: Lisa Laflam, Rebecca Rice-Mesec, Karen Thompson, and Gregory Wadlinger.
Thirty-year honorees with President Beilock: Cheryl Guerin, Marybeth Maloney, and Ingrid Schwarz. Second row: Delia Mauceli, Christopher Halford, and Keith Borgstrom.
Thirty-year honorees who are not pictured: Toni Bacon, Renee Brown, Timothy Depree, Autumn Evans, Myric Fifield, Jodi Harrington, Dana Kennedy, Linda Langley, Sunnie McPhetres, and Ronald Moore.
Twenty-five-year honorees with President Beilock: Front row: Carol Millay, Sharon Reed, and Shuling Peng. Second row: Conrad Farnham, Dee Roberts, Susan Remacle, Kelly Clark, and Kimberly Hanchett. Third row: Jamie Dalton, Annette Lepine, Robin Pych, Kathryn Bennett, and Gary McLean. Fourth row: Robert Burnham, EJ Kiefer, Dan Nassau, Greg Timmins, Lisa Stoelting, Christian Vollman, William Hamblen, and John Gilman.
Twenty-five-year honorees who are not pictured: Jason Angell, Natasha Brown, Mark Carey, Chris Clark, Brian Dellinger, Danada Dinsmore, Abby Fellows, Mathew Gray, Christopher Hamilton, Susan Hanifin, James Ibey, Lance Ilsley, Randy Melendy, Catherine Melocik, David Miller Jr., Daniel Nassau, Jessie Palmer, Ellen Parish, Sean Plottner, Joshua Shaw, Eugene Thorburn, Christian Vollmann, and Amy Witzel.
Twenty-year honorees with President Beilock: Front row: Pamela Holbrook, Jason Naugler, Heather Darnall, and Janet Gilson. Second row: Scott Gerlach, Heather Drinan, Andrew Ager, and Kari Jo Grant. Third row: Matt Trombly, Patricia Harrison, Elizabeth Koelsch, and Joshua Clark.
Twenty-year honorees who are not pictured: James Alberghini, Michael Backman, Sheri Ball, Daniel Billin, Ross Blain, Jesse Blodgett, Sarunas Burdulis, Michael Burns, Peter Carini, Laura DeCapua, Shelagh Eastridge, Dylan Griffin, Shane Harper, Lori Harris, Lori Heath, Deborah Howe, Amy Hunt, Dianne Ingalls, Sherry Kuchma, Craig Langner, Wilfred Levakis, James McCormick, Susan Morgan, Mariko Podjuban, Tracy Purcell, Eric Ramsey, Johanna Regan, Joska Reid, Alison Ricker, Joan Robie-Dieter, David Sandberg, Jason Sanville, Jay Satterfield, Jennifer Swanson, Susan Tarczewski, Brooke Therriault, Donald Vesper, and Nyla Waddell.
Fifteen-year honorees with President Beilock: Front row: Eleanor Bryan, Marge White Second row: Terry Sackett, Hope Rennie, Tammara Wood, Kristi Clemens, Lamar Moss, and Steven Pyle.
Fifteen-year honorees who are not pictured: Steven Abbott, Scott Achs, Randy Baker, Kate Barlow, Todd Belmont, Debra Brown, Jennifer Brown, Keith Clark, Joshua Danforth, Faith Goodness, Christopher Grant, Andrea Greenwood, Ellen Henderson, Leslie Kelton, Catherine Lark, Joseph McHugh, Matthew Menard, Michelle Poisson, Maureen Ripple, Christine Ross, Irma Shamatava, Moya Stevens, and Sarah Swanson.
Ten-year honorees with President Beilock:
Front row: Tina Levengood, Karen Lenz, Erin Supinka, Wilson Schreiber, Kristen Campbell Esty
Second row: Aaron Welch, Amy Keeler, Charlotte Brackett, Jennifer Mullins, Elli Goudzwaard, Molly Castaldo.
Third row: Miguel Ramirez, Paul Wilkins, Joseph Castelot, Brett Wright, and Sivakumar Kandasamy.
Ten-year honorees who are not pictured: Mark Adamo, Monica Adams-Foster, Wyatt Allen, Sarah Baptie, Glenna Barr, Laura Beidler, Mark Beliveau, John Bell, Tyler Bergmeier, Karen Bieluch, Cameron Blossom, Benjamin Bradley, Duane Brooks, James Broutzos, Spencer Brown, Paul Brunetto, Melody Burkins,Joseph Celli, Charles Clifford V, Maxwell Collins, Doug Daniels, Constance Davis, Chris Drake, Christina Elwood, Mariah Farbotko, Mary Fletcher, Henrike Frowein, Sarah Heidebrecht, Sarah Heimann, Raymond Helm, Ethan Hudson, Saiko Ikeda, Christopher Jacobs, Crystal Kerin Herrick, Lora Leligdon, Aileen Lem, Paige Leonard, Laurie Lester, Janet Lines, Billy Lyons, Sally Mansur, David McDevitt, Nicole Mody, Patrick O’Hern, Kathy Ouellette, Mickey Patel, Robert Ream, Denise Riccio, Matthew Ruzicka, James Santamore, Susan Shock, Catherine Stanton, Leslie Timothy, LeeAnne Triplett, Christopher Warren, Todd Weightman, Joshua Weiner, Sarah Westney, and Susan Woolsey.