Susan Woods, Office Manager of the Department of History and Art History, has won the 2018 Mary Roper Award. The award is given each year to honor a classified staff member who has shown outstanding service in support of the core goals of the college. The award is named for Mary Roper, who worked in the Department of Biology and in the dean's office of the College of Arts and Sciences for a total of 14 years. Ms. Woods was presented with the award by Dr. Anne Ardis, Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, at a reception on December 5.
Ms. Woods started at Mason in 2014 as an Administrative Support Manager in the Schar School of Policy and Government. She then joined the Department of History and Art History in 2016 in her current role as Office Manager. After joining the department she quickly mastered an enormous and varied portfolio of tasks. That portfolio includes creating a class schedule of 120+ different courses each semester, handling all HR-related tasks for a department with over fifty full-time faculty and staff, and taking charge of purchasing and financial planning for a department with an annual budget of nearly $5 million. As noted by Dean Ardis at the ceremony, Ms. Woods performs all these tasks (and many more) with unparalleled efficiency and poise, all while maintaining an attitude of professionalism and warmth that sets a positive tone for the entire department.
Ms. Woods graduated from Clarkson University in New York with a BS in Biology, and more recently completed an M.S. in Project Management from George Washington University. In between, she served for six years as an officer in the Air Force and, along with her husband Jim, raised two wonderful daughters, who are currently studying at an equally distinguished public university to our south, in Charlottesville.
January 16, 2019