Lawrence receives Virginia Tech's 2005 President's Award for Excellence
Deborah A. Lawrence, of Christiansburg, special events coordinator for University Development, received the Virginia Tech 2005 President’s Award for Excellence.
The award recognizes selected staff and administrative faculty for their outstanding contributions to Virginia Tech. Nominations are received from all areas of the university and recognize extraordinary contributions and sustained excellence in the performance of job duties and responsibilities. A committee of classified staff and administrative faculty appointed by the president selects recipients.
Lawrence has been an employee of Virginia Tech for 30 years, 18 of those in the Office of Special Events. As special-events coordinator, she puts together university events such as commencement receptions, the William Preston Society annual meeting, dedications, groundbreaking ceremonies, and special donor and campaign events. She has developed a network of people on campus who provide the necessary services to ensure that each special event is carried out as professionally as possible. Her job includes making each event unique to the group and situation and seeing that each guest and honoree feels special and leaves with a positive impression of Virginia Tech. She relates knowledge and resources to other event planners on campus so that the consistency of all university events is high.
Lawrence planned and coordinated the installation of a Virginia Tech president and has served as interim director of the Office of Special Events three times. With never a negative word about any event, situation, or person, Lawrence takes the university's motto, That I May Serve, as her own.
Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech has grown to become among the largest universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Today, Virginia Tech's eight colleges are dedicated to putting knowledge to work through teaching, research, and outreach activities and to fulfilling its vision to be among the top research universities in the nation. At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg and other campus centers in Northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls more than 28,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 180 academic degree programs.
