Caldwell has been lead staff secretary for Economics since last fall; she served as Secretary III for Educational Administration and Foundation and Secretary IV and Staff Secretary for the College of Arts and Sciences Research Services previously. Characterizing Caldwell as a “life-long learner,” Jim Payne, Chair and Professor of Economics, commended Caldwell for enhancing her skills by enrolling in the University’s professional development workshops and for earning her second B.A. in Philosophy, for which she was designated “Outstanding Student of the Year.” Payne also commended Caldwell for her “passion as an artist” and involvement in community service through donating artwork to the Miller Park Zoological Society and serving as past president and secretary, and current newsletter editor, for the Bloomington-Normal Artists Guild.
Ruby has been lead secretary for History since 1987, and was described as “the Department’s institutional memory and the source of continuity” by Chair and Professor John Freed. “She was the experienced sergeant who had to teach the second lieutenants their jobs,” Freed said, explaining the value of Ruby’s knowledge and commitment during the transition for the five chairs of History she has served. Freed described Ruby as a “driving force” behind the organization of the clerical employee’s union (despite the fact she could not be a member) and the creation of the Women’s Mentoring Network.
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University Distinguished Service Awardee Tara Reeser
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Reeser directs the Publications Unit for the Department of English. She is responsible for overseeing editorial, technical, marketing, and desktop publishing support for several national and international periodical publications, as well as monographs. Distinguished Professor Lucia Getsi, Editor of The Spoon River Poetry Review, wrote that, “Tara Reeser works magic. Pulling a rabbit out a hat is a lot easier than what she does. She pulls books, careers, and personal, professional and public relations out of little gray tech boxes (computers and printers that should have been retired a few years back).” In addition to her publishing responsibilities, Reeser was commended for her mentoring activities by Lisa Savage, Managing Editor of the American Book Review, who noted Reeser “mentors several students each semester as a part of Dr. Gerald Savage’s Technical Editing course, works with the Illinois Arts Alliance, and piles all the interns and graduate assistants in a vehicle and drives them to Springfield to learn how to talk to legislators and lobby for the arts in Illinois.”
Many other College staff were honored for their lifetime service: for 10 years of service, Stacy L. Albright from Foreign Languages, Gilbert F. Black from WGLT, and Cheryl D. Budde from Communication; for 15 years, James Urquhart Dunham from Physics, Kathryn S. Carter from WGLT, and Diane Leonard from Speech Pathology & Audiology; for 20 years, Dennis Jay Crowell from the School of Social Work, Deborah Lynn Lesser from Communication, Dana Kevin Luttrell and Donald J. Schmidt from Biological Sciences, Jacquelyn Sue Mitchell from Foreign Languages, and Christine Carol Wissmiller from the School of Social Work; for 25 years, Douglas K. Jennings from Communication and Sharon R. Griffin from Foreign Languages; and for 30 years, Karen Jean McCarey from Speech Pathology & Audiology.