At this weekend's Fall Convocation ceremony, University President John T. Casteen III awarded the Thomas Jefferson Award, the University's highest employee honor, to Spanish Prof. David T. Gies, a former chairman of both the Faculty Senate and Spanish Department.
"I'm stunned, and overwhelmed, and deeply grateful," Gies said. "I really know a lot of people who I think deserve it more than I do."
Gies added that he was "very grateful on behalf of the Spanish Department and faculty."
The Jefferson Award is given once a year to the faculty, administration or staff member who in character, work and influence has exemplified the principles of Thomas Jefferson.
Award winners are nominated by their peers and then chosen by a committee that reviews the candidates' records and collects recommendations.
Gies is one of the world's most respected scholars of Spanish literature. He has taught the subject at the University since 1979, and served as Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese Department chairman from 1984 to 1989 and again from 1992 to 1995. A Faculty Senate member since 1997, he was Senate chair last year.
While presenting the award, Casteen said, "The University is a livelier and more interesting place in no small part because of [Gies'] efforts."
Faculty Senate chairwoman Patricia Werhane, who has worked with Gies on the Senate for four years, identified two key reasons for his selection - his role as Faculty Senate chairman and his work to retain the University's reputation throughout its financial crisis in the early '90s, when the Commonwealth cut much of its funding.
Portuguese Prof. David Haberly credited Gies for the department's top five national ranking by the National Research Council. Despite being a member of seemingly "half the committees in the University," Gies still makes time to advise undergraduate students, Haberly said. "It says a lot about the way he regards education."
Gies said he was shocked to hear his name announced as the Jefferson Award winner and still more surprised to find his wife, sister-in-law and mother waiting for him on stage. Informed weeks beforehand, Gies' wife, Jenna, secretly had arranged for his 84-year-old mother to travel from Pennsylvania to witness the ceremony.
It was a "magical moment," Gies said.
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