This month’s Hero Award recipients are Caleb Evans, a database administrator in Information Technology Services; Diane Goodwin, executive assistant to the dean in the College of Education; and Jeanne Zarucchi, a professor with a dual appointment in the Department of Art and Design and the Department of Language and Cultural Studies. (Evans and Goodwin photos by Derik Holtmann; Zarucchi photo submitted)
University of Missouri–St. Louis Chancellor Kristin Sobolik and her cabinet continue to recognize the exemplary efforts of staff and faculty members from across campus by bestowing the UMSL Hero Award on up to three individuals each month.
This month’s honorees are Caleb Evans, a database administrator in Information Technology Services; Diane Goodwin, executive assistant to the dean in the College of Education; and Jeanne Zarucchi, a professor of art history and French with a dual appointment in the Department of Art and Design and the Department of Language and Cultural Studies.
Caleb Evans
Evans has seen incredible advancements in technology during his more than a quarter century working in ITS. He started working in ITS as a student assistant in the Computer Center Building data center right out of high school while pursuing a degree in management information systems – now information systems and technology – from the Ed G. Smith College of Business.
“My work included loading software onto floppy disks to allow UMSL users to connect to the university’s dial-up internet service,” Evans said. “I also helped scan exams taken on paper Scantron sheets, as well as community ‘Kids Voting’ ballots from surrounding K–12 schools. We printed many financial aid and registration reports on ‘green bar’ paper using an impact printer.”
He joined the UMSL staff full-time as a system administrator after graduation and was responsible for tasks such as reconciling user accounts and applying security patches to Windows servers. He later shifted to supporting the university’s growing initiatives involving online learning. The work helped introduce him to the UNIX operating system and Oracle database.
After about five years, he stepped into a position as a database administrator, and he’s continued in that role since – though the work is constantly evolving.
He was involved in the university’s recent switch from the Pharos Systems print management software to PaperCut, a more modern and feature-rich system. He likewise assisted with transporting data into the new food service platform as the university transitioned away from Sodexo to Elior, ensuring students would continue to get their meals. And he’s currently working to support the refinement and accuracy of housing records being fed into Slate and connected systems.
“I’m not really involved in the decisions about if a department will or won’t switch software platforms,” Evans said. “But hopefully when they switch to something new, then it benefits the campus in a meaningful way.”
Evans also works to ensure the transitions go smoothly.
Throughout his time at UMSL, he’s been pretty content working without much fanfare, so he wasn’t seeking the recognition that comes with being a Hero Award recipient.
“I was kind of humbled and embarrassed really about having my name out in the open,” he said. “I would rather just be the invisible person behind the scenes.”
But Chris Willard, senior manager in Development Design and Data Services, thought Evans warranted the recognition and nominated him.
“Caleb consistently demonstrates a deep knowledge of UMSL’s database systems, showing a mastery that ensures our systems remain secure, efficient and highly available,” Willard said.
He praised Evans’ attention to detail in identifying performance issues and executing complex migrations and backups.
“What truly sets Caleb apart is his approachable, solution-oriented attitude,” Willard said. “No matter how complex the issue or how tight the deadline, Caleb remains calm, focused and ready to assist. He takes the time to explain technical concepts clearly, enabling smoother cross-functional collaboration and empowering team members with the knowledge they need to succeed.”
Diane Goodwin
No fewer than nine people from the College of Education nominated Goodwin for the Hero Award. The group included business support specialists, student support staffers, the director of advising, a member of faculty and even new Dean Marius Boboc, which speaks to the broad impact she’s had and the impression she’s made on all her colleagues.
“It’s really overwhelming,” Goodwin said after learning of all the nominations. “I am so appreciative of the group I work with. I work with a great staff, a great group of people – faculty, staff, the students, the maintenance staff. I just love them all. I love working with them.”
Goodwin has been at UMSL for 35 years. She started as a senior receptionist and later secretary, and she joined the College of Education 31 years ago when she assumed the role of academic evaluator. In 2011, she moved into the dean’s office as executive assistant to then-Dean Carol Basile. She’s remained there ever since, working with Ann Taylor throughout her tenure as dean and now with Boboc during his time leading the college.
“Most see Diane Goodwin in her public-facing job as the College of Education dean’s executive assistant,” said Associate Dean Nancy Singer, who served as interim dean before Boboc’s appointment in July. “In that role, she is organized, trustworthy and diligent. But to make all of that run smoothly and seamlessly takes a great deal of work behind the scenes, and Diane is always the one who will roll up her sleeves and make sure it is perfect.
“Need flowers for the event to spruce up the Collabitat? Diane has the vases and the floral contact. She’ll even transport the flowers to save on the delivery charge! Need signage to make sure folks find your event? Diane will help you out, and she may just stand in the lobby to greet the students or guests!”
Student support specialist Erika Rose echoed that sentiment in her own nomination of Goodwin.
“She is always willing to help out whenever you need it,” Rose said. “She takes on all different kinds of tasks and does everything to the best of her ability. We would be lost without her!”
Goodwin, who came to UMSL with an associate degree and earned her bachelor’s degree in liberal studies from UMSL by taking one class per semester over 11 years, finishing in 2017, finds it enriching to watch other students succeed.
“I feel like I played a part of getting them to their goals,” she said. “It feels good when I see a dissertation acknowledgement with my name in it. It means a lot to me. I never really want to be that leader, but I want to assist a person to get to where they need to be. That’s my purpose, not to be in the front but to be in the back to push somebody.”
Jeanne Zarucchi
Zarucchi didn’t know exactly what type of institution she was joining in 1985 when she accepted her first faculty appointment at UMSL, serving as an assistant professor of French literature in what was then known as the Department of Modern Foreign Languages.
“I moved to St. Louis with my husband because we were both fortunate enough to find academic jobs together,” said Zarucchi, whose late husband James Zarucchi served as the Anne L. Lehmann Curator of North American Botany at the Missouri Botanical Garden. “Neither one of us was from St. Louis, and it was a wonderful surprise for me to discover that UMSL was a very active research institution.”
It was also a young university, barely two decades old at the time, which Zarucchi said made it a less rigid environment than many other institutions. She found a great deal of freedom to pursue her research interests wherever they led. After being hired to teach 17th century French literature, she found herself increasingly fascinated by the art created during that time period, and UMSL’s administrators were supportive of her work in that area. By 1995, she received a dual appointment in the Department of Art and Design along with her work in what today is called the Department of Language and Cultural Studies.
“I have had the benefit of being able to choose the field in which I really wanted to teach and to do most of my research, and that has been art history,” she said. “I’m not sure how many other universities exist where I would have been able to do that. So, I have been very, very grateful to UMSL.”
Her role at the university has also positioned her to make a difference in the lives of thousands of students, a number of whom have gone on to hold positions of responsibility at cultural institutions around the St. Louis region.
“You don’t always get the immediate feedback,” Zarucchi said. “People will not come and tell you right away, ‘Thank you, because you changed my life.’ But I have had a surprising number of former students who have, in fact, come back and expressed that to me.”
That type of impact alone over 40 years could warrant recognition for the UMSL Hero Award, but Sobolik and Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Steven J. Berberich specifically pointed to Zarucchi’s more than 25 years of service as president of the UMSL Chapter of The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi in nominating her for the honor.
Phi Kappa Phi is the nation’s oldest and most selective multidisciplinary collegiate honor society, and Zarucchi has been leading UMSL’s chapter since 1998. The top 10% of seniors and graduate students, as well as the top 7.5% of juniors, receive invitations each year with typically between 50 and 75 students accepting.
“My primary function is to oversee the initiations that take place either once a year or twice a year so that students who meet certain eligibility requirements will receive an invitation to join,” Zarucchi said. “It’s a way of paying forward the special opportunities I have been given throughout my academic life. It means a great deal to be able to encourage students at the beginning of their careers and offer them the opportunity to get this academic recognition.”
