Outstanding Faculty Service Award for Thomas Gariepy, C.S.C.

The Outstanding Faculty Service Award is given to a full-time faculty member whose service has significantly advanced the mission of Stonehill College. The Faculty Academic Vision statement affirms that “a Stonehill education prepares students for meaningful lives by encouraging service to the common good, the practice of responsible citizenship, and the pursuit of professional and personal fulfillment.” As we expect this for our students, we expect the same from our faculty. Therefore, public service and service to the academic community are highly valued by the faculty at Stonehill College. This award recognizes a cumulative record of noteworthy accomplishment in service on the part of a faculty member. The recipient stands as a symbol of the entire faculty’s commitment to sustaining our community. In 2014 Stonehill College is proud to bestow the Outstanding Faculty Service Award on Professor Thomas P. Gariepy, C.S.C.

You returned to your alma mater as a full-time faculty member in 1985 and was immediately appointed Director of the program in the History and Philosophy of Science. From the beginning, you won the respect and admiration of colleagues by your willingness to take on tough assignments and to go the extra mile for students. You have mentored countless students into internships, graduate schools, and careers. In 1998, you were awarded the Student Government Association Faculty Appreciation Award.

If there is a word to describe your many years of service to Stonehill it is leadership. Not only have served on many committees, you chaired most of them: numerous faculty searches, the Faculty Commission on Governance, the Presidential Committee on Campus Culture, and the Board of Incorporators, just to name a few. In 2008, you agreed to Chair the Healthcare Administration department and you have skillfully untaken the complex task of maintaining our full certification by the Association of University Programs in Health Administration. When there is a challenging task to do, you simply roll up your sleeves and lead the way.

Through the years, many have thought that NEASC stood for “Never Endless Assessment So Call”…Tom Gariepy. You chaired the Steering Committee in preparation for the 1999 reaccreditation, you prepared the visit by the NEASC team, you played a large role in the 2009 reaccreditation, and you have worked on countless interim reports. Presently, you are the lead writer of our five-year NEASC report that is due this August. You have a knack of being concise and clear, you are a master report organizer, and you intuitively know when to be aspirational and when to use hard evidence. And all of this you do quietly behind the scenes without need for attention or praise.

In 2005, when we needed to create an Institutional Review Board required for grant applications involving human subjects, we turned to you for assistance. Still today, you work closely with the Academic Development Office and continue to chair the IRB Committee. In 2012, during the year of transition in the Provost’s Office, we turned to you to Chair the Rank and Tenure Committee in recognition of your many years of service as a member of this committee so central to the work of faculty governance and peer-review. Though you know more secrets about faculty than most, you are a paradigm of integrity, professionalism, and collegiality.

For that ironic yet self-depreciating wit, for a wise and generous spirit, and for years of selfless work on behalf of students and colleagues, we honor you today.

And so with deep pride we confer the 2014 Outstanding Faculty Service Award to you, Professor Thomas P. Gariepy, C.S.C., for your tireless service, consistent example, and exemplary contributions to Stonehill College.

Given this first day of May,

Two thousand and fourteen