Three staffers win 2020 Amy J. Blue Awards

Three members of the Stanford staff have been selected to receive 2020 Amy J. Blue Awards, which honor staff members who are exceptionally dedicated, supportive of colleagues and passionate about their work.

Amy J. Blue, associate vice president for administrative services and facilities, died of brain cancer in May 1988. An award in her memory was established to honor staff members who are exceptionally dedicated, supportive of colleagues and passionate about their work. (Image credit: Stanford News Service)

The 2020 Amy J. Blue Award winners are Arthel D. Coleman, Jr., manager of Student Residential Services at the Graduate School of Business; Joel Gonzalez, media technician in Event Services, which is part of Land, Buildings and Real Estate; and Cindy Ng, director of the Asian American Activities Center, which is part of Student Affairs.

The selection of the 2020 winners, which is usually announced in the spring, was delayed due to the pandemic and the stay-at-home order that closed most campus offices.

The winners will be honored in an online celebration that will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 11. Elizabeth Zacharias, vice president for human resources, will be the featured speaker.

This year’s winners will also be invited to attend an in-person ceremony – likely to be held in the fall – that will also honor the 2021 cohort.

Profiles of the winners will appear in Stanford Report before the February ceremony.

The Amy J. Blue Award includes a $4,000 prize.

The award was established in 1991 to honor the life and work of Amy J. Blue, associate vice president for administrative services and facilities, who died of brain cancer in May 1988, about a month before her 45th birthday.

Stanford created a garden in her name, a small oasis of flowering trees and shrubs located near Memorial Church. It has four wooden benches, including one that rocks, and a sundial with an engraved motto: “Count only sunny hours.”

Blue was known for bringing excitement, intensity and novelty into every undertaking. She also was known as an extraordinary leader who had incisive intelligence, abundant energy and unrelenting honesty.