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RUTH SCHWAB
ME STAFF AWARD RECIPIENT, FALL 1999:
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Ruth Schwab, Graduate Coordinator for the Department since 1997, was the
final Mechanical Engineering Department Staff Excellence Award recipient
for the 20th century. She was honored by the ME Students, Faculty, Staff,
and other supporters at a special ceremony December 7 in the ETC lounge.
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Ruth received overwhelming support from faculty, staff, and students
throughout the Department for her work in the M.E.
Graduate Office. Among the many people who spoke in support of
Ruth at the ceremony were her supervisor, ME Graduate Advisor
Dr. David Bogard, and the ME Department Chair,
Dr. Parker Lamb. Dr. Bogard noted that when he asked for support from
our graduate students for Ruth's nomination, he received nearly fifty e-mail
responses within 2 days praising her contributions to their academic life
here at UT.
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Dr. Lamb presents her award.
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Letters from students spoke about Ruth's friendliness, her willingness to go
out of her way to help students with problems, and her knowledge of graduate
student issues. Some excerpts from the students: " ... I find her emails
reminding us about deadlines and clarifying various issues particularly
helpful ... Without her assistance and great working relationship with the
rest of Mechanical Engineering Department and with other key areas in the
University, my stay here would not be nearly as care-free ... She's done a
great job of coming in as the new person and learning the details of her
job while under the pressure of impatient grad students ... She really goes
out of her way to help the students ... She is quite refreshing and a credit
to the University ... She has also been very pro-active and is constantly
sending out helpful email reminders of deadlines and answers to issues that
arise due to policy changes ... "
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Ruth thanks her supporters.
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Dr. Bogard summed up the great role Ruth plays in our Department in his
nominating letter: "In her position as the Graduate Coordinator Ruth Schwab
is arguably responsible for the well being of all graduate students in the
department. She has served the department very well in this critical role.
Probably the best evidence of how much Ruth has done to improve the morale
of our graduate students is the response I received when I sent an e-mail
to our graduate students asking for statements of support for Ruth's nomination
for this award.
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Within a day or two I received 48 responses from our graduate
students ... There is a consistent theme in these letters that Ruth was the
key in resolving problems, serious or minor, that the student has encountered.
I know that in Ruth's mind the students' welfare comes first, which is as it
should be, and is well recognized by the students. What is truly amazing is
that Ruth is able to handle all the individual student issues and still be
extremely productive in completing her wide array of responsibilities ..."
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