Congratulations to Jennifer Gunn, Director of the IAS, on receiving the President’s Award for Outstanding Service!

The President’s Award for Outstanding Service is presented each year in the spring and recognizes exceptional service to the University, its schools, colleges, departments, and service units by any active or retired faculty or staff member.

Since Jennifer began her tenure as the IAS’s Director in August 2014, she has continued to expand the Institute’s capacities, scope, and impact through deep collaboration, imagination, and dedication. Beyond that, she has continued to refine and set the tone for exactly how the IAS goes about the work of serving its communities.

Karen Hanson, Former Executive Vice President and Provost for the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, describes Jennifer’s approach to service best in her nomination letter:

“She seeks tirelessly to enable others to do their best work. She is intellectually and spiritually generous, interested in developing opportunities for others and helping them to seize those opportunities. She is alert and curious, seeking new and better ideas, pushing that search, but utterly uninterested in taking credit when the search is successful and better ideas are found. The fact is that her intellectual and physical energy is organized by a set of moral ideals, not an interest in personal aggrandizement. The service she has rendered in connection with her leadership of the IAS has been guided by a commitment to the common good—the good of the university and its many communities, the good of the individuals who comprise these communities.”

Congratulations to Jennifer and all recipients of this distinguished award.

Read the full list of recipients here.