I hereby nominate Gayle Aruta of the Communication Department for the Outstanding Graduate Support Staff Award. Since I began my Ph.D. in Fall 2000, I have felt that when I finish my degree, it will be because of Gayle. Returning to school after ten years of working was not easy for me, and it helped immeasurably to have someone to talk to about the transition. Moreover, I have gone through several life changes during my time in this program, including a divorce, the birth of a child, and the death of a parent. Gayle’s extraordinary efforts to help me stay in school through these changes have been just as valuable as my advisor’s support, if not more so. This is not a unique relationship between Gayle and me; she extends herself to each graduate student in the department with the same warmth, compassion, humor, encouragement, and genuine desire to help.

It is this combination of qualities that makes Gayle one of the most extraordinary people I have met at UCSD. I and many of my fellow graduate students feel that she holds the graduate program together, not only in helping individual students navigate the bureaucracy, but also in creating a sense of community within the department to the extent that we cannot imagine the program without her. Regardless of how much work she has, Gayle finds the time to help us individually and make sure that we stay on track. She also responds readily to our suggestions for resources that will facilitate our work, even if they make more work for her. For example, when I began applying for grants to conduct international fieldwork, there was no departmental file of successful grant applications. There is now; Gayle put the call out as soon as I asked and maintains a binder in her office. Numerous other resources for graduate students have also appeared under her watch. She even writes the proposal to fund our graduate enrichment series when we aren’t organized enough to do it ourselves. As Graduate Program Coordinator, she does much more than the administrative work. She acts as our tireless advocate regarding departmental and TA issues, and funding opportunities. She asks us for our opinions about policy and procedural changes, and presents our feedback to faculty at times when they haven’t consulted us themselves. In this way, she acts as a highly effective liaison between the graduate students and the faculty, as well as the Office of Graduate Studies and the university. Further, Gayle contributes significantly to the life of the department as a whole. Whatever displays of camaraderie occur have Gayle’s involvement if not instigation – be they birthday parties, baby showers, memorial services, or grad students’ open-mike nights. She has solved our problems, helped us move, given us rides, taken care of our cats while we were away – in short, provided us with the kind of care and support normally associated with family.