Each year, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences presents the Mary Roper Award to a classified staff member based on the recommendations and nominations of co-workers. The award, named after Mary Roper, who was an esteemed member of the college’s staff for many years, recognizes a staff member’s outstanding service in support of the core goals of the college:
- improving the quality of the liberal arts experience for all students,
- increasing the capacity for noteworthy and innovative scholarship, and
- creating and strengthening external relationships.
This year, the Mary Roper Award will be awarded to Sara Duval, BA Music ’05, of the Department of History and Art History.
As office manager in the department, Duval handles all of the processes that support the work of the faculty. According to Brian Platt, chair of the department, “This requires her to master the policies and procedures of almost every major office on campus—the office of sponsored programs, scheduling, human resources, accounts payable, travel, you name it. It’s difficult to overstate how large an undertaking this is.”
Duval has been with the department since 2013, and has been working at Mason since she started as a student worker in 2003. In 2013, she was recognized with the college’s Outstanding Human Resources and Finance Support award.
The award ceremony takes place on December 2, 2015, at 10:00 am in the Center for the Arts, Third Tier. All faculty and staff of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences are cordially invited to attend.