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Unsung hero award given


Beverly Williams has received the fifth Robert R. Cornwell Unsung Hero Award.

An administrative assistant in Student Health Services for 38 years, Cook has been involved in numerous projects, ranging from facility planning, renovations and building maintenance to planning for and installation of new computer and phone systems to the preparation of annual reports, policies and procedures, and tri-annual accreditation reviews.

"Her behind-the-scenes engagement has been absent the fanfare and notoriety reserved for those with higher rank," write nominator J. Robert Wirag, director of Student Health Services. "But it was much of Beverly's work that made the limelight possible for others to showcase the many accomplishments the program has enjoyed over the years and from which students benefited immensely.

"That's the way she preferred it."

Along with serving as an administrative assistant, Williams is supervisor to the clinical clerical support staff, interim director of the Medical Records Department and mentor to undergraduate and graduate students involved in special projects.

"She did it all without pomp and circumstance," Wirag wrote. "But, she did it with class, grace, integrity and dignity. She earned the respect of all how know her."

In supporting Wirag's nomination of Williams, Elizabeth Ann Heatherley of the Sports Medicine Clinic in Student Health Services wrote that her colleague's loyalty was particularly impressive.

"I've known Bev Williams since I started here in 1976," Heatherley wrote. "In this day of employees hopping from department to department, it is unusual to see someone stay in virtually the same role for so many years.

"I think it is from loyalty and dedication that she has always worked from behind the scenes here at SHS, starting at a time when SHS was a small, close-knit unit to the present as our role and mission have expanded enormously."

Williams' institutional knowledge has been invaluable in Student Health Services, Heatherley wrote.

"It has always been, `go ask Bev' whenever we didn't know what to do. She has always been a great encourager and listener for the support staff -- and we have taken her for granted."

Robert R. Cornwell, for whom the award is named, was associate University registrar and a research associate in the Office of Institutional Research for 20 years before dying suddenly in 1994. The Office of Institutional Research sponsors the award in honor of Cornwell's outstanding service to the University and his often invisible role in many projects.


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