Campus News - October 15, 2001

Administrative whiz pieces together master plan

By Carolyn Gonzales

Lisa StewartLisa Stewart serves as administrative assistant to Roger Schluntz, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning. “Doesn’t he remind you of Jimmy Stewart?” she asks as he leaves to attend a meeting. He does have a kind of “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” look about him.

Stewart – Lisa, not Jimmy – has worked in Architecture and Planning for three years and is currently working on the fall John Gaw Meem Lecture Series with Architecture faculty Mark Childs. “I contact the guest speakers – this year one came from Wales – and I arrange for their travel, accommodations, honoraria and travel reimbursement,” she says, adding that the series also takes place in the spring.

A major component of Stewart’s job is keeping lines open. “I work with the three program directors – architecture, landscape architecture and planning – to make sure that all communication is open between them and the dean,” she says. “They are a passionate and dedicated group with an incredible capacity for teamwork.”

Realizing that communication between administrative assistants working for the deans in all the UNM schools and colleges was important led Stewart to organize regular meetings.

“We plan to meet twice a semester. We’ve found it to be an opportunity for us to network. Each individual has a totally different job, depending upon the dean,” she says.

Stewart worked for an architect while earning an undergraduate degree at UNM in French and Spanish. “I was a non-traditional student,” she adds.

But still, working at Architecture and Planning was not her first on campus job. She worked at Foreign Languages and Literatures while working on a master’s in French, which she completed in 1996. The language skill came in handy.

“We had a professor from France who taught in Architecture and Planning, Michel Pillet. He’s now an emeritus. He’d stop by once or twice a week to speak French. We both enjoyed it. I still get e-mail from him,” she says.

She’s also taken three semesters of German and is currently taking German 304, a theater class presenting, “Komtesse Mizzi.”

Stewart herself portrays Countess Mitzi. “It’s a fun class,” she says. “The educational opportunities provided to UNM employees are the best benefit.”

“I learned a lot from Foreign Languages and Literatures – the importance of language and culture, the importance of understanding and respecting others as well as being able to communicate with people from other parts of the world is significant,” says Stewart, who adds that developing business level language skills is particularly challenging.

From Architecture and Planning she’s learned about UNM’s role in the community and the state. “What I’ve learned I’ll be able to take with me wherever I go,” she says, adding that as long as she’s in the Albuquerque area, she’ll work at UNM.

Away from UNM, she’s mother to Albuquerque Academy High School senior Jenna. Husband Bryan shares her lust for knowledge; he’s currently a UNM student earning a master’s in manufacturing engineering.

Stewart reaches out, also, to those hurt by recent events in New York. She belongs to Designing Women, a quilting group putting together red, white and blue blocks to be sewn into quilts and donated to victim’s families in that city.

Whether with UNM, the larger international community or the folks back home in Omaha, Neb., Stewart brings together a patchwork of people and ideas.

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