2014 Carol and Blair Brown Award Recipients

Larry Berger and Emily Rimmer received the 2014 Carol and Blair Brown Staff Excellence Awards, presented May 1. Berger is technical director for music and dance, and Rimmer is director for queer/women services.

The awards recognize staff who, individually or as members of a team, have made an exceptional contribution to Hampshire College. Nominations can be made by any member of the campus community.

Berger's hard work and dedication to his job are what helped him win the award. In particular, President Jonathan Lash praised Berger's tenacity in securing and assembling a new portable tap floor for the college at a total cost of $225—as opposed to a potential cost of $10,000.

Lash pointed to Rimmer's engagement with students and support of student programming and groups, including sexual health peer educators and the thriving Queer Community Alliance. Rimmer's work also helped create and foster connections locally, and nationally, Lash said, pointing to her appearance at the 2014 Creating Change Conference in Houston and her nationally recognized workshop, Best Practices and Model Policies for Trans* Inclusion in Higher Education.

Former chair and longtime member of the Hampshire College Board of Trustees Blair Brown, and his wife Carol, established the staff excellence awards to recognize and provide encouragement for staff as they play their essential part in the Hampshire community: "No school or college can function, let alone flourish, without the dedication of staff. We recognize their dedication that has contributed to the growth of Hampshire College."