On Thursday, March 16, the MIT community gathered at Kresge Auditorium to honor recipients of the 2017 MIT Excellence Awards and Collier Medal. The MIT Excellence Awards are among the highest honors awarded to MIT staff, and acknowledge the extraordinary efforts made in the spirit of fulfilling the goals, values, and mission of the Institute. The Collier Medal honors the memory of Officer Sean Collier, whose spirit lives on as a lasting part of the MIT community.
The 2017 ceremony opened with a lively performance by Syncopasian — MIT’s East Asian a cappella group comprised of MIT undergraduate and graduate students — and the awards were presented by MIT President L. Rafael Reif and senior leaders across the Institute.
The 2017 MIT Excellence Award recipients are:
- Virginia Johnson, Monica Marie Orta, and Lianne P. Shields in the category of Advancing Inclusion and Global Perspectives;
- Brent Oberlin, Raoul Ouedraogo, and Alexia Schulz in the category of Bringing Out the Best;
- William B. McCarthy in the category of Innovative Solutions;
- Edison Arana, Katherine Barlett, Kimberly Benard, Jonathan Byford, Tina Gilman, Jane Hamilton, Forrest Larson, Stuart Levine, Benjamin Nahill, Aida Riley, Vienna Rothberg, Jeffrey Stewart, Kerin Willis, and Susan Young in the category of Outstanding Contributor;
- Robin M. Deadrick, Brian Jones, Rosa G. Liberman, Sarah Rankin, Laura Ryan, Darren J. Scartissi, and Greg Walton in the category of Serving the Client; and
- Ruth T. Davis and Stephanie Trembley in the category of Sustaining MIT.
The 2017 Collier Medal of Service recipient is Lorraine K. Wong, an MIT senior in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and the Program in Women’s and Gender Studies.
