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| Shawn receives the award and congratulations of President Weisbuch |
ITS is very proud to announce that our own Shawn Spaventa,
Coordinator, AV Support in the Media Resource Center, was selected by
President Weisbuch as Drew's Employee of the Year for 2008. He received
the award at the US/A meeting on Tuesday, October 28th.
An example of the impact Shawn has had on the Drew community, as written by Professor Jonathan Golden in his nomination:
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Speaking to the US/A meeting attendees
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I was urged to nominate Shawn for Employee of the Year by several of my
colleagues that work very closely with Shawn, including Dean Ginny Samuel Cetuk
and Gamin Bartle. Gamin, a co-author of this nomination, told me that she could
think of no one at Drew more deserving of this award than Shawn Spaventa. Ginny
Samuels is the other co-author of this nomination, and as she has worked with
Shawn in the field in New Orleans for several years, I wish to quote her at
length. “I have been with [Shawn] on this project for the past three years and
am very impressed with the way he relates to students. He asks them good
questions without being domineering in any way. He gently tries to guide them to
see things more broadly when they need to. He is extremely good in stressful
situations and always manages to keep his cool and sense of humor. He is a
wonderful model of so many important attributes -- dedication, concern for
others, responsibility, attention to detail, administrative oversight,
generosity, to name a few - that I am absolutely delighted that he is getting
more known on campus. I especially want students to get to know him, and the
[Drew Disaster Relief Project] is a wonderful venue for that.”
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| With the recommenders -- Jonathan Golden and Ginny Samuel nominated Shawn for this award. |
Had Shawn not become involved in the last year to the extent that he has,
the New Orleans program would likely have fizzled. Instead, the program is
currently thriving with excellent fundraising efforts, a great response in
student registration – tonight we had a meeting for the January 09 trip that
attracted the largest number of students yet from Drew - and effectiveness in
increasing the visibility of this cause on campus, all while bringing
outstanding musical and theatrical events to Drew. Drew has recently been
moving in some bold new directions, one of the most exciting new areas being
Civic Engagement. Our new class is one of the most energized we have seen in a
while and we now have more exciting volunteer opportunities for our students
that ever before. As we continue in this direction, Shawn Spaventa has been,
and continues to be a vital member of the team. If being a team player and
contributing more than one’s share to the overall success of the organization
are qualifications for Employee of the Year, then, indeed, there is no one more
deserving of this honor than Shawn Spaventa.
