TRC staffer earns President’s Meritorious Service Award

Many educators at the Texas A&M College of Architecture rely on digital images furnished by the [Technical Reference Center] (http://www.arch.tamu.edu/inside/services/technical-reference-center/) to teach students about design. The excellent support they receive from Ian Muise, the TRC's visual resources coordinator, has netted the helpful librarian a [President’s Meritorious Service Award] (http://www.arch.tamu.edu/inside/services/technical-reference-center/) .

Muise was one of 17 university staffers to receive the award this year at ceremonies held Feb. 27 in the Rudder Theatre. Each recipient received $700, a commemorative plaque and a lapel pin.

"Ian has been instrumental in the development and maintenance of a top-notch digital image collection for the College of Architecture,” said Kevin Glowacki, assistant professor of architecture. “His efforts range from scanning slides and taking new digital photos to maintaining an image database, troubleshooting software glitches and finding innovative ways to keep these resources integral parts of the process of teaching and learning art and architectural history."

Muise has an extensive knowledge of digital sources, noted Sarah Deyong, assistant professor of architecture. “He has assisted me in locating all kinds of visual resources for my seminars and lecture classes, as well as digital images and copyright information for my articles,” she said.

Additionally, Muise has succeeded in securing funds and resources to expand the TRC collection and enhance its services, said Nancy Klien, assistant professor of architecture. He pen a proposal that added a new camera and workstation to the library's tool kit, she said, and he successfully applied for a university grant that added permanent site licenses for 6000 high-quality digital images.

Since 1986, the President's Meritorious Service Awards have been presented annually to recognize 15 outstanding staff employees and one outstanding team. Nominations are accepted in the fall and an anonymous committee appointed by the university president selects the recipients.

The awards program is sponsored by the [Office of the President] (http://president.tamu.edu) and [The Association of Former Students] (http://www.aggienetwork.com) and coordinated by Texas A&M [Human Resources] (http://employees.tamu.edu) .