Larry Smith Wins Staff Excellence Award

Larry Smith, Facilities Director for Architecture and Engineering, has received one of 10 Annual Staff Excellence Awards presented to outstanding staff members by President Cowen. In the enormous effort to restore and rebuild the University, we know of few people who deserve the Excellence Award as much as Larry.  The nomination for Larry's heroic work follows:

Larry Smith directed the Katrina recovery operation on  the uptown campus, including the Belfor disaster recovery contractor; Technical Environmental Services; Carl E. Woodward and other construction contractors; Facilities Services maintenance staff; and Capital Projects staff.  Dr. Cowen commented that the recovery operation “went like clockwork” and that the Facilities staff were his heroes.  That clockwork was the result of Larry’s experience, knowledge of the campus, leadership, and professionalism: grace under pressure.  Larry is a hero among heroes.

Larry’s management was focused, calm, thoughtful, and decisive.  He led the daily 5:00 p.m. briefings where he coordinated the complex and interdependent operations of armies of mechanics, craftsmen, technicians, engineers, insurance adjusters, and business managers.  There was no standard operating procedure for restoring the campus in five months because no group had attempted the task before, much less completed it.  Larry led by example and conveyed his confidence so the entire team knew failure was not an option.

Many people worked tirelessly to restore the campus, but in the months after the storm Larry was here working, weekdays and weekends, no matter how early we arrived or how late we stayed.  Larry said the department accomplished three year’s work in five months; that feat was achieved through Larry’s leadership, tireless effort, and selfless dedication.