From the Dean: Staff appreciation

Dear Mary Frances Early College of Education staff,

As Staff Appreciation Week comes to a close, I want to extend my personal thanks to you on behalf of our students and faculty for the essential work you do to enable our College to meet its missions with excellence. You are outstanding problem solvers and collaborators. You are resilient, creative, kind, and selfless. You clean up messes of all kinds and prevent a lot of other messes. You can quickly size up a situation, assess what needs to be done, and marshal the people to do it—without getting ruffled and with a smile on your face. In many cases, you are the face of our College—to students, to visitors, to other units on campus—and there’s no one I’d rather have representing our College than you. “Thank you” seems inadequate to express appreciation, gratitude, and amazement at the many tasks you do, often invisible to others, with skill and efficiency. Know that you are appreciated, and the work you do does not go unnoticed.

I hope many of you were able to enjoy the food truck on Tuesday. I apologize to anyone who was not able to partake due to a misunderstanding about the number of meals to be served. We will make it up to you with another food truck in the near future.

Faculty, please take a few minutes in the coming weeks (and ideally throughout the year!) to express your appreciation to the staff with whom you regularly work. You know how much it means to get a note of thanks from a student, so please share that joy with our staff. And don’t forget those staff members who are outside your unit in offices such as technology, communications, development, academic programs (including advising, experiential learning, and student engagement), building maintenance, business office, research office, human resources, and outreach and engagement.

With appreciation for all you do,

Denise Spangler
Dean