The Office of University Mission Announces Third Annual Roberts Circle Award Winners
Dear UIndy faculty and staff:
The Office of University Mission today presented the third annual Roberts Circle Award to the Faculty Academy and IT Academic Computing Staff.
The award celebrates the work of a group of UIndy employees who have made a sustained contribution to carrying out the University’s mission. The 2022 award recognizes this team’s work over the past four years, 2018 to 2022.
You can read the text of the award citation on pages 6 through 8 of the commemorative booklet. In it, Interim Vice President and Provost Mary Beth Bagg attests to the significance of the contributions of these colleagues:
At the beginning of the pandemic, when we were presented with a situation none of us could have ever envisioned, the Faculty Academy and IT Academic Computing team stepped up to create a strategy for moving the campus online.
At the end of that first semester, when it was clear we would be facing the challenge for some time to come, these teams continued to lead the way by developing readily available online resources, coordinating hardware and software purchases to meet faculty and student needs, and implementing a communication strategy that included the Faculty Academy Extenders and regular meetings with the Provost’s Council. They also successfully delivered an array of virtual education sessions to support faculty through several stressful semesters.
All of this was going on at the same time the Faculty Academy and the IT Academic Computing Team were transitioning the campus from ACE to Brightspace! They were still able to facilitate a smooth, on-schedule LMS transition, reacting quickly to faculty suggestions and challenges.
For this work and much more, we owe all in the Faculty Academy and IT Academic Computing Team our gratitude for their support, grace, and service to the UIndy community.
The Roberts Circle symbolizes the work that faculty and staff employees do in every generation. As we look back at the work of Alva Button Roberts and her husband Pres. John T. Roberts, Prof. John A. Cummins and trustee Samuel Wertz, we see perseverance amid hard-won achievements. And even in the earliest years, students Irby J. Good ‘08 and Flossie Marchand ’11 contributed in significant ways.
Indeed, even in the first decade, we can see the reception of missional responsibility, the exercise of remarkable stewardship, and intentionality in handling of the tasks by members of the Roberts Circle.
Please congratulate our colleagues in the Faculty Academy and IT Academic Computing Staff — Gail Cooper, Carla Downing, Michelle Duman, Carla Harper, Beth Kiggins, Amanda Miller and Serdar Oguz — for their contributions to the University’s mission over the past four years.
In the award citation booklet, you will find a more detailed explanation of the work these colleagues have been doing for the greater good.
We know that these are not the only employees who are doing good work at UIndy. We also know that the work these colleagues have done since 2018 helps bring into focus what stewardship of institutional mission looks like for the rest of us.
We anticipate recognizing the next set of Robert Circle recipients in January 2023. If you know of other groups of employees who are making an important contribution to the University’s mission, please mention your observations to me. If you have questions, please feel free to contact me.
Cordially,
Michael G. Cartwright
Vice President for University Mission
To read the Roberts Circle award citation, click here.