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Department Administrator Meredyth Morley Receives Lone Pine Excellence Award

Posted on May 17, 2023 by Arts and Sciences

Morley was honored as an "unsung hero" at Dartmouth's annual staff recognition ceremony.

  • Meredyth Morley stands with Sam Levey, associate dean for the arts and humanities, who presented her with the Unsung Hero award. (Photo by Kata Sasvari)

    Meredyth Morley stands with Sam Levey, associate dean for the arts and humanities, who presented her with the Unsung Hero award. (Photo by Kata Sasvari)

Meredyth Morley, administrator in the departments of Philosophy and Religion, received a Lone Pine Excellence Award at a ceremony in the Hanover Inn ballroom last week that honored employees for their outstanding contributions to Dartmouth.

Established by the Office of Human Resources in 2018, the Lone Pine Excellence Awards honor individuals or teams in six categories: collaboration, innovation, diversity and inclusion, leadership, passion and commitment, and unsung hero.

Morley, who has worked at Dartmouth for over 20 years, was honored in the unsung hero category. 

"Meredyth achieves a formidably high standard of expertise and professionalism more or less across the board, in every category of job performance," religion department chair Reiko Ohnuma says. "I often joke—and frankly, it's not really a joke—that she is the true chair of the Religion Department! My colleagues and I are well aware that without her constant guidance, institutional knowledge, expertise, and willingness to tackle any task, our department would literally fall apart. Plus, we would miss her adorable dog Nellie!"

"Meredyth puts the 'hero' in 'unsung hero,'" philosophy department chair Peter Lewis says. "She heroically kept two departments running (single-handedly because her assistant retired) through a pandemic and a major building renovation. As a first-time chair, I would have been totally lost without her quiet efficiency and deep knowledge of Dartmouth's procedures and quirks."

The 2022 awards garnered 115 nominations, with winners including staff from Advancement, the Dartmouth Cancer Center, Geisel School of Medicine, Hood Museum of Art, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Magnuson Center for Entrepreneurship, and Office of Environmental Health and Safety.

That the awardees rose to the top from among so many impressive nominations speaks volumes about their ability to both support and lead, attributes that together "make them truly exceptional colleagues," President Philip J. Hanlon '77  told the audience of award winners, colleagues, friends, and family members.