Cornerstone’s Fields wins Gloria White service award

Staff Day event also includes casual fun, food and prizes

Harvey Fields, PhD, addresses assembled WUSTL employees during a Staff Day ceremony May 20 in Edison Theatre at which he was honored with the Gloria W. White Distinguished Service Award. Fields is assistant director for academic programs at Cornerstone, the Center for Advanced Learning. (Credit: Mary Butkus)

Harvey Fields, PhD, has worked at Washington University in St. Louis for nearly two decades, focusing on helping students and ensuring they achieve their full academic potential.

For his dedication to supporting students at Cornerstone, the Center for Advanced Learning, Fields received this year’s Gloria W. White Distinguished Service Award.

The service award presentation is part of WUSTL’s annual Staff Day celebration, held May 20 to recognize and thank the nonacademic staff who keep the university humming all year.

Fields is assistant director for academic programs at the center, where his responsibilities include creation and oversight of programs and resources to help undergraduate students achieve and maintain academic success. He also works to build and maintain partnerships with various undergraduate schools and departments.

“He is constantly thinking of ways to develop new and inventive approaches to enrich and support student learning, not just for the current year but for many years to come,” Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton said in announcing Fields as this year’s Gloria White award recipient. “His challenges for the group require everyone to work harder and be more creative; however, he doesn’t expect anyone to work harder or more creatively than he is already working.”

The annual honor was named for the late Gloria White, who retired in 1997 as vice chancellor for human resources after 30 years with the university. The award, which comes with a $1,000 prize, provides recognition to a nonacademic staff member for exceptional effort and contributions that have resulted in the betterment of the university.

Before joining the university, Fields worked for Procter & Gamble in various engineering and management positions. He earned bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and in chemical engineering from Morehouse College and the Georgia Institute of Technology, respectively. He later earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in chemistry, in Arts & Sciences, from WUSTL.

Fields also serves as pastor of Union Baptist Church in Chesterfield.

As a graduate student, Fields served as an academic tutor in the Department of Chemistry, and he has worked to teach and mentor students ever since.

Christine Street, JD, assistant director for disability resources at the Center for Advanced Learning, nominated Fields for the award. In her nomination letter, she talked about his passion, creativity and work to improve WUSTL and the greater St. Louis community.

“Harvey is always asking how we can do things better and how we can do more,” she wrote. “He is creative and flexible in developing academic support solutions that meet the needs of individuals as they come to us.”

Staff Day fun

The ceremony also included honoring employees who have worked at WUSTL for 10 or more years — some as long as 40 years.

To see a full listing of employees honored for years of service, visit here.

Afterward, staff members enjoyed a barbecue lunch, and then an afternoon full of fun activities, from a bike ride or bingo to a walking tour of campus or a softball tournament.

WUSTL staff members, from left, Steven Vance, Christine Rezek and
Pat Gregory take part in a bike ride as part of Staff Day activities.
(Credit: Kevin Lowder)

The day wrapped up with a drawing for assorted prizes — such as lunches or tickets to the movies, Cardinals games and the grand prize of two plane tickets — plus Ted Drewes frozen custard in compostable containers, a nod to the university’s effort to be more environmentally friendly. To see many more photos of employees enjoying Staff Day, visit the WUSTL Flickr site.

Sporting competition winners

  • Volleyball: Resource Management team.
  • Golf: (women’s): Dannette Hutton and Sarah Miller; (men’s) Michael Genthon and Jason Patton; (co-ed) Mark Weinrich and Joanne Zap.
  • Softball: The Spin Docs, a team of members from the Athletics and Public Affairs departments.
  • Washers: Team Booya, otherwise known as Gene Fantasia and Craig Luciano of Information Services & Technology.

Prize drawing winners:

Karolyn Senter won the grand prize: two round-trip tickets on Delta Airlines. Stephanie Atkins and Charlie Johnson each won a night’s stay, with breakfast, at the Parkway Hotel. Trish Armstrong, Carolyn Crowell, Barb Laudel and Heidi Walsh each won two tickets to a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game. Jill Carnaghi, Brittney Hawkins, Andrew Johnstone and Sarah Sanning each won lunch for four in Anheuser-Busch Hall. Connie Anderson won two subscriptions to Edison Ovations or Ovations for Young People.

Paula Ballew, Angela Jeremias and Kate Woerheide won cooler bags with water bottles. Angela Mitchell and Jacob Zweifel each won a $20 gift certificate for AMC Movie Theater. Pat Hallquist won a weekend night package for two, with breakfast, at the Marriott. Mary Koppenhofer won lunch for two at the Whittemore House. Ann Marie Zeman won a weekend night deluxe accommodations stay at the Ritz Carlton. Kelcey Zutavern won a night’s stay for two at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Chris Sherman won a free room at the Comfort Inn. Kathleen Schasch won a night’s stay at the Drury Inn.