Each year, Arts & Sciences recognizes some of the amazing staff members who do so much for our community every day. This year, Todd Hardt, Angela Mahon, and Gabriela Szteinberg were celebrated for their exemplary service, and Joe Sklansky received the Dean's Award, which goes to a WashU employee outside of Arts & Sciences who has had a significant impact on our community. Congratulations to the 2016-17 Outstanding Staff Award Winners! Read excerpts from their nomination letters below.
Todd Hardt, Physics
Hardt, the machine-shop supervisor in the Department of Physics, was nominated by multiple members of the department.
Todd is, first of all, an excellent, accomplished machinist. He has proven capable of making delicate parts to extremely precise requirements and parts that are difficult to machine, such as the holders for the photomultipliers (PMTs) on the scintillators that are a key component of the SuperTIGER balloon-borne cosmic-ray instrument. Those PMTs must be held in place in a tightly cramped space while adapting to thermal expansion and contraction of the pieces... As shop supervisor, Todd does a superb job of organizing his work and that of the other machinists. This can be a difficult job when different research groups have time-sensitive tasks for the shop all at the same time. He deals well with a range of demands on the shop, from making small one-of-a-kind devices to organizing mass production of dozens of specialized pieces... In sum, Todd is an essential member of our department. Many of our faculty and many of our graduate students depend on him for achievement of their research goals.
Angela Mahon, Graduate School
Mahon, the assistant registrar and engineering student coordinator in the Graduate School, was nominated by Dean William Tate.
Angie embodies the team player willing to take on any role to achieve our goal of excellent support and service to graduate students. She has been a dedicated professional at Washington University for nearly 20 years and radiates a level of energy and compassion that influences the ecology of our office and beyond. As Assistant Registrar, Angie’s scope of responsibility concerns all matters of the graduate student life cycle including registration, enrollment, and graduation. She works directly with faculty, administrative staff, and students to ensure that all documents, grades, milestones, theses and dissertations are submitted correctly and on time (the latter being no easy feat!). Angie’s responsibility also includes ensuring the accuracy of all tuition remission that graduate students receive. The Graduate School considers her work ethic second to none and her work product always of the highest quality.
Gabriela Szteinberg, Chemistry
Szteinberg, the project coordinator for the general chemistry supplemental programs, was nominated by multiple members and students of the department.
Gaby has served as our department’s first Project Coordinator for the General Chemistry Supplemental Programs since the fall of 2014. Since then, Gaby has proven to be a dedicated, innovative, and integral part of the Chem 111/112 instructor team. She organizes and oversees the Chemistry Peer-led Team Learning (PLTL) program and the Chemistry Peer Mentoring Program (part of the General Chemistry Transition Program) and co-directs the Chemistry Residential Peer Mentoring (RPM) Program. She also leads the discussion-based class, Seminars in Academic Mentoring, every fall semester, which is a required course for all new Chemistry peer leaders and peer mentors. This means, on average, she works directly with over 85 Chemistry peer leaders and peer mentors and is personally responsible for the day-to-day logistics of these academic programs that cater to over 800 students every year.
The Dean’s Award
The Dean’s Award is presented to a Washington University employee outside of Arts & Sciences who has had a significant impact on Arts & Sciences. The winner is selected by Barbara Schaal, dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences.
Joseph J. Sklansky, General Counsel
Sklansky is the Assistant Vice Chancellor and Associate General Counsel for Washington University in St. Louis.
Sklansky is a 1993 grad of University of Virginia, where he majored in English and American Studies and was on the Dean’s list all semesters. He then attended Georgetown University Law Center and served as the editor of the Georgetown Law Review. After law school, he clerked for the Honorable William C. Conner at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He then was an associate at Ropes & Gray in Boston, where he specialized in employment law, including as defense counsel for universities and secondary schools. WashU was lucky to snag him to serve as our employment lawyer, in which capacity he has managed many, many lawsuits, helped resolve even more thorny situations that did not become lawsuits, and, increasingly, has by necessity become an expert on union issues as well.
