Announcing the 2025 UMSI staff award recipients
Thursday, 09/11/2025
The University of Michigan School of Information has announced the 2025 UMSI Staff Awards. The awards celebrate exceptional contributions of staff members who advance UMSI’s mission and strengthen the school community.
UMSI presented five awards in four categories: the Outstanding Staff Recognition Award, Emerging Impact Award, the MUMSI: Collaboration and Service Award, and Innovation Excellence Award. The staff awards committee received nearly 50 nominations across these categories from UMSI staff and faculty.
Honorees were recognized at the UMSI Faculty and Staff Community Meeting on Sept.10. Individual honorees will receive a $2,000 award, and team honorees will receive a $1,000 award per member, capped at $5,000 per team.
Outstanding Staff Award
This award is given annually to a UMSI staff member who has contributed outstandingly to advancing the UMSI mission. This may be accomplished in various ways, such as exhibiting exemplary work qualities, solving challenging problems, demonstrating a willingness to go the extra mile or fostering the collaboration of others.
Recipient: Lauren Murphy, manager of learning solutions and instructional technology
Lauren’s dedication to enhancing student learning experiences and building collaborative support across faculty and staff has shaped and improved the Master of Applied Data Science program. From course development and operations to online community spaces and admissions systems, her influence is broad and meaningful. Lauren enhances experience not just by maintaining quality, but by improving it while centering people in everything she does.
Emerging Impact Award
The Emerging Impact Award recognizes individuals who, within their first three years at UMSI, have made a remarkable impact. Nominees for this award are rising stars within the UMSI community who have made substantial contributions that align with UMSI's mission and goals, demonstrating a keen ability to adapt, innovate and contribute meaningfully.
Recipient: Abigail McFee, marketing & communications writer
Abigail’s impact on the work and culture of UMSI cannot be overstated. Her warm, empathetic approach to strategic collaboration cultivates a positive culture across teams, while her laser focus on key outcomes and improved processes enhance the school’s excellence, relevance and reputation. Recent work driving the creation of UMSI’s “Look to Michigan” development campaign and leading the process of overhauling website and recruitment messaging showcase her commitment to ensuring the school’s future success.
MUMSI: Collaboration and Service Award
Taking its name from UMSI’s mascot squirrel, the MUMSI: Collaboration and Service Award recognizes an individual who has positively impacted the UMSI community, while building partnerships across U-M and beyond to advance UMSI’s priorities. This person forges new relationships and fosters connectedness, enhancing the experience of students, faculty and/or fellow staff.
Recipient: Allison Sweet, senior assistant director of student life
Allison has built partnerships at the School of Information and across the university to orchestrate important student events, including orientation and commencement, and new initiatives such as the Inclusive Leadership Institute. Allison’s work demonstrates a deep empathy, a focus on student support and a love for collaboration.
Innovation Excellence Award
This award honors individuals and teams whose pioneering solutions have addressed significant challenges at UMSI, showcasing exceptional innovation and problem-solving methodologies, along with a willingness to take informed risks to enhance the school's operational landscape.
Individual recipient: Laura Marsh, employer and alumni relations manager
Laura led the development of a strategic, school-wide model for student mentorship. By launching the UMSI Mentorship Mosaic digital hub, Laura helped reframe mentorship as a layered, culturally responsive and inclusive experience, broadening access beyond traditional one-on-one models. Internally, the program has improved collaboration across departments, streamlined how mentorship is tracked and communicated, and enhanced UMSI’s reputation among alumni and employer partners. Student participants have reported growth in access to a professional network, gaining actionable industry insights; and building stronger professional skills for reaching career goals. Perhaps most importantly, this work has elevated student mentorship from a fragmented set of efforts to a coordinated, strategic priority—resulting in a cultural shift toward mentorship as a core component of the UMSI student experience.
Team recipients: Online Programs Team
Meryl Baker, Kelly Barger, Hasan Tahir, Jake Hart, Ali Kirwen, Lauren Murphy, Krista Tigay, Shannon Van Gundy, Christen Lesko-Brown, Sarah Regan
This past academic year, the Online Programs Team navigated several simultaneous, high-impact transitions critical to one of UMSI’s largest academic programs. They led the complex migration of more than 30 MADS courses from Coursera to Canvas and Vocareum, requiring extensive redesign, technical integration, and coordination. Concurrently, they managed UMSI’s enterprise-wide Slack migration and launched a transformative skills-based admissions model with authentic assessments and interviews. Additionally, the team designed and implemented the “MADS On-Ramp,” a dual-purpose initiative expanding access via a MOOC specialization and a new graduate credit course. Despite a reorganization during these efforts, the team delivered all initiatives on time, with excellence and strong alignment to UMSI’s goals, solving operational and strategic challenges with unwavering focus and collaboration.
Congratulations to all the award recipients and nominees!