Nancy Doyle honored with Continuous Excellence Award

It is an annual tradition for the College of Engineering to come together to celebrate the dedication and hard work of staff at the Staff Recognition Awards. Those who have gone above and beyond in their work receive special acknowledgment. Four Information Networking Institute (INI) staff members were recognized at the awards celebration on January 18.

Staff were recognized for their length of service at the award ceremony. Asia Donegan, associate director of academic and student services, was recognized with a Years of Service award for her 10 years with the College of Engineering.

Three INI staff members were nominated for special awards. Nancy Doyle, manager of the director’s office and administration, was nominated for the Continuous Excellence Award. Renny Hartono, administrative assistant, was nominated for the Rookie Award, and Sari Smith, senior director of strategic operations, for the Inspirational Leadership Award.

The room was packed as INI staff joined an eager crowd to support the nominees. As always, the celebration was a joyous gathering honoring the achievements of the College of Engineering staff. INI Director Dr. Dena Haritos Tsamitis was present to cheer on the nominees and her pride shone bright when Doyle’s name was called for the Continuous Excellence Award. During the ceremony, Doyle was presented the engraved award by William Sanders, the Dr. William D. and Nancy W. Strecker Dean and professor. 

Haritos Tsamitis was instrumental in the nomination.  “As INI Director over the last 20 years, I’ve had the privilege and opportunity to build an amazing team of talented staff and faculty and Nancy is among my top hires,” said Haritos Tsamitis. “It will be difficult to replace her presence on staff when she retires because Nancy has a unique combination of a love for her job, an incredible talent for organizing tasks and a deep knowledge of CMU.”

Doyle has been an invaluable member of the INI team for 18 years. “Nancy is basically in charge of making sure that all ‘trains run on time.’ She is one of the rare people with whom everybody in INI works with at one point or another,” said School of Computer Science Professor Nicolas Christin. “I started at the INI before Nancy joined and could see first-hand how much value she brought to the organization; it is simply staggering.”

The Continuous Excellence Award recognizes those staff members who “take it to the next level.” And it is no surprise that Doyle has done that time and time again. As the INI has strived to grow and develop our faculty, Doyle took charge by designing and managing a new process to recruit and hire new faculty. She has been integral in onboarding countless new team members and regularly trains the administrative team. And all of this is on top of her numerous daily tasks. Her positivity and interpersonal skills have made a lasting impact on the INI and cannot be understated.

Renny Hartono, Nancy Doyle and Asia Donegan