On Thursday, April 27, Stanford announced the three staff members who were selected to receive the 2017 Amy J. Blue Award. The award honors staff members who are “exceptionally dedicated, supportive of colleagues and passionate about their work,” according to Stanford News.
The recipients of this year’s award are Elizabeth A. “Becky” Fischbach ’79, exhibits manager and designer for Special Collections at Stanford Libraries; Laura Hubbard, associate director of the Center for African Studies and Reyno “Rey” Peralta, the lead custodian of Student Housing Operations, a division of Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE).
In her work with Stanford Libraries, Fischbach serves, in her own words, as the “liaison between exhibit ‘curators’ (exhibit content selectors – variously students, donors, faculty and fellow library staff) and the conservation team.” She graduated with a B.A. in English from Stanford University, and her current work involves negotiating the balance between protecting library resources and helping curators achieve their vision.
Throughout her research in Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa, anthropologist Hubbard has extensively studied aesthetics and politics, links of longing and belonging in African cities and temporality and youth culture, according to her Center for African Studies biography. In 2013 she was awarded the Dean’s Award of Merit from the School of Humanities and Sciences, and she received her Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. Other research interests include race and representation, humanitarianism, speculative fiction, television and short film, Afro-futurism and cities.
Reyno “Rey” Peralta is currently the lead custodian of Student Housing Operations, the branch of R&DE that manages student housing. He works primarily in Undergraduate Housing Central as well as row housing.
The Amy J. Blue Award was established in 1991 to commemorate the legacy of its namesake, who was an associate vice president for Administrative Services and Facilities at Stanford. She also served as director of Facilities Project Management from 1982 to 1985 and assistant provost from 1973 to 1978.
Blue died of brain cancer in May 1988 in her mid-40s. In addition to the award that bears her name, Stanford created a garden in Blue’s name near Memorial Church, containing a sundial with the motto, “Count only happy hours.”
The award is granted each year to three candidates who are selected by a committee consisting of former award recipients and members of the original Award Committee.
This year, the three winners will receive the award – along with a cash prize of $4,000 each – from President Marc Tessier-Lavigne. The award ceremony will be held on May 24 in Lagunita Courtyard, and full profiles of the recipients will appear in the Stanford Report before the ceremony.
Contact Surbhi Sachdeva at surbhi3 ‘at’ stanford.edu.