Eliott Baker receives President's Award for Outstanding Service

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Keeping track of the academic credits, individual courses undertaken, grades earned, credits added, home addresses, campus addresses, phone numbers – both cell and landline – of 8,648 current Slippery Rock University students, and the same information for more than 61,000 alumni is the responsibility of this year’s recipient of the President’s Award for Outstanding Service – Eliott Baker.

           Baker is SRU’s executive director of Academic Records, Summer School and Graduate Studies.

           The award will be presented as part of the University’s annual Academic Honors Convocation at 2 p.m. April 11 in Morrow Field House.

           Baker, who joined the University in 1980, was nominated for his “consistent outstanding service as well as his ability to keep the Academic Records and Summer School Office functioning effectively while it undergoes training and transition to a new software program.”

           “I am pleased and proud to inform you of your selection for this award,” said SRU President Robert Smith. “Your recommendation was chosen from a call for nominations campuswide for individuals who have achieved outstanding accomplishment during this academic year. You have my congratulations.”

           Baker was recognized for his “diligent and detailed work ethic. His knowledge and history of polices and procedures. He is frequently called on to address unique student/class/policy questions.” He was also cited for responding to inquiries “in a timely manner even late at night, over a weekend, from home or from a conference.”

           Baker was called the “Arbiter of Attendance, Guru of Grades, the Master of Minutia and the Sultan of Schedules,” by one nominator who said he is “one of the most dedicated employees at SRU and a strong supporter and attendee of numerous student and University programs. He is always willing to help out whenever he is needed.” 

           The award, created in 1981 through the generosity of the late Robert and Donna McMullen, long-standing patrons of Slippery Rock University, continues through the generosity of their son, Doug, and his wife, Linda. The late Robert McMullen was a member of SRU’s class of 1951 and served as chair of the Slippery Rock University Foundation Inc. board of directors.