Cummings, McQueeney Honored with Cardinal Achievement Awards

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Linda Cummings, administrative assistant in the Sociology Department and for the Public Affairs Center, was recently presented with a Cardinal Achievement Award for her efforts in taking on the responsibility of cleaning the PAC basement storage rooms. These large rooms were so full of old furniture, papers, books and assorted other items that it was almost impossible to enter them. Cummings worked with Physical Plant to arrange for multiple rounds of removal of usable furniture, assisted current and emerti faculty with review of their stored materials, arranged with the university archivist to remove historical files of interest to the university, and arranged with the shredding contractor to make special pickups of sensitive material. This process took four months to complete.

“We now have clean usable storage space for short-term and medium-term faculty projects. This was a challenging and complicated special project, and Linda took initiative at numerous points to make sure the process moved forward. In addition, she was always cheerful and helpful during the process,” said Joyce Jacobsen, the Andrews Professor of Economics and dean of the Social Sciences and director of global initiatives.

Kris McQueeney, administrative assistant in the Government Department, was recently presented with a Cardinal Achievement Award for assisting three professors with a complicated office move. McQueeney took it upon herself to reconfigure the office space to accommodate three workstations in one office which included space for storing the books and papers for each of the professors. She worked out how to reconfigure the phones and computer lines and drew up a careful floor plan so as to be able to fit all three into one space.

“Thanks to Kris’s careful management of the process, the move was completed in a timely manner,” Jacobsen said.

McQueeney also monitored the storage space situation in the PAC basement areas that the Government Department had traditionally controlled, and took good advantage of the larger basement cleaning project this fall so as to clear out excess furniture in these rooms as well.

“Kris is always hardworking and efficient and I appreciate her willingness to pitch in and take responsibility to make sure challenging projects that require much coordination are completed on schedule,” Jacobsen said.

This special honor comes with a $250 award and reflects the university’s gratitude for those extra efforts. Award recipients are nominated by department chairs and supervisors.

Nominations can be made anytime throughout the year. For more information or to nominate a staff member for the award, visit the Cardinal Achievement Award website. Recipients will continue to be recognized in News @ Wesleyan. See past Cardinal Achievement Award recipients here.