MIAD Values Recognition Award: Mary Eggert

Mary Eggert

Mary Eggert, Executive Assistant, received the November 2023 MIAD Values Recognition Award at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD). Mary’s nominations highlighted her embodiment of MIAD’s Core Values, especially Integrity, Kindness and Community.

The MIAD Values Recognition Award (VRA) celebrates faculty and staff who consistently model MIAD’s values of courage, integrity, kindness, community, innovation and inclusion. After employees nominate a colleague for the award, a committee made up of faculty, staff and previous VRA winners convenes to vote on the month’s recipient. Awardees receive a $250 prize.

Eggert started working at MIAD in 2012 in the college’s business office and later in facilities. After a brief stint away from MIAD as a landscape architect, Eggert was delighted to rejoin the college. When she was offered the executive assistant position, Eggert said “it was a no-brainer, like coming home … It’s nice to feel wanted and needed and trusted.”

One of Eggert’s nominators said, “Mary has returned to campus with renewed investment in the MIAD community. She has always been someone that can be trusted to get the job done without sacrificing quality. I have found that, especially this year, she has directed her energy and talent into (re)building up the MIAD community – all done with kindness and integrity.”

Along with celebrating MIAD’s community, Eggert appreciates the environment of working at an art and design college. “Seeing all the exhibits from our students, alumni, staff and faculty—they bring in artists from all over the world. We get to talk to them and see their art and be exposed to all that. All we have to do is show up to work!”

“Mary Eggert is the embodiment of kindness,” another nominator said. “Mary approaches every project, task, and moment with kindness and patience. She often checks in to see how things are going and to follow up to make sure issues are resolved. Since returning to MIAD, she has been the driving force behind our rejuvenated culture of community, organizing events and celebrations to bring faculty and staff together. We are so fortunate to have Mary at MIAD!”

“You walk in the door and you immediately can feel the electricity in the air and see it on the walls, all the work that we do and that the students do,” Eggert finishes. “I’m just proud to be here.”

Learn more about MIAD’s Values Recognition Award or nominate a colleague at miad.edu/vra.