MIT SHASS
Infinite Mile Award Recipients | 2020
Melissa Nobles, Kenan Sahin Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS), has announced the six winners of the 2020 MIT SHASS Infinite Mile Awards. The awards salute members of the SHASS staff who have made exceptional contributions to their academic units, the School, and the Institute.
Warmest congratulations to the 2020 recipients!
Watch the video celebration of the 2020 and 2021 awards.
GREAT IDEAS AWARD
Brittany Bradley | J-PAL
“Brittany has a great ability to both see big picture, systemic issues and to lead in the development and implementation of solutions. Brittany is tireless in her work to improve systems and while she has had many ideas to help J-PAL and our work worldwide, her work with FoundationConnect has stood out due to the importance of the system across and beyond J-PAL at MIT, its technical complexity, the human relations skills required to get the program implemented, and her leadership all along the way. Brittany is truly deserving of this important recognition.”
GREAT IDEAS AWARD
Alicia Goldstein Raun | MISTI
“Alicia Goldstein Raun has been an extremely valuable member of the MISTI team for more than a decade and in these years has given an invaluable contribution to its morale and cohesion, as well as to its growth. As the manager of the Spain program, Alicia has steered her program through the many recent ups and downs of the Spanish economy. Her success in creating new internship opportunities for her students — whether through the Global Teaching Labs program or the expansion of the Global Seed Fund opportunities — has made the MIT-Spain program one of MISTI’s most high-performing ones in terms of placements and fundraising year after year. ”
UNSUNG HERO AWARD
Fatih Basaga | Center for International Studies
“Fatih is one of the most helpful and warm human beings I have ever met. He is not only extremely competent, and does his work exceedingly well. He goes above and beyond every single time. Whenever he sees someone in distress, he will be there helping. He doesn't see distress? No problem, he will be proactively helpful. He is always thinking of ways to improve our environment, and he does. Fatih makes MIT better.”
UNSUNG HERO AWARD
Miguel Flores | Music and Theater Arts
“The role of a production coordinator in the performing arts defies categorization by virtue of its sheer breadth of responsibility. Over the past two years, with the establishment of the new facility at W97 the program in theater arts has become a destination for cutting edge performance[...]. Miguel has been the unflappable backbone of our efforts to program our new facility. He has brilliantly weathered the many growing pains associated with the pace of positive developments and has been a force of radical inclusion in his efforts to ensure that everyone on our team has a voice, is heard, and has been instrumental in proving that difference is an advantage and an enrichment. ”
UNSUNG HERO AWARD
Zina Queen | Political Science
"I can’t count how many times Zina has said 'I gotcha' to me and others in the department. She always 'gets it.' She understands what you’re asking, and more importantly, she understands what you need — sometimes more than you yourself do. You know Zina has your back. She is a go-to person for so many things, and she gets those things done without fuss or commotion."
UNSUNG HERO AWARD
Belinda Yung | Literature
"Belinda Yung has been the cornerstone of Digital Shakespeare at MIT, and, due to the international scope of our work, is widely appreciated among our collaborators and also in the digital humanities at MIT and the Literature Section. She is the most variously skilled and effective employee I have seen at MIT — or anywhere else in the digital humanities universe, and also the most generous and unself-promoting. Her work and her generosity goes beyond her job description to help, inform, and inspire others, at all levels."
