Charles E. Jones Achievement Award
Awarded to Jason Shumaker, MIT

The Charles E. Jones Achievement Award is named in memory of Chuck Jones, who dedicated his career to helping students. A member of the financial aid staff at The College of the Holy Cross, Chuck was concerned about the access and delivery of aid to all students. Chuck was a wonderful person who had an extremely promising career that, unfortunately, was cut short by a terminal illness.

This award recognizes the achievements and development of a new financial aid administrator who has held an administrative position in financial aid for 3 years or less. In keeping with the criteria for this award, Jason Shumaker has demonstrated outstanding achievement in the areas of leadership ability, communication skills, professional development, decision making, service to students and service to his institution.

According to those that nominated Jason, he is a strong student advocate, an impassioned learner and teacher, and an empathic and nuanced leader, all the characteristics that will lead him to great success in the financial aid field. Jason began his career in financial aid as a front-desk support person. When a position opened up in the financial aid unit, he, with typical style and panache, approached the manager about applying for the position and immediately won over every member of the interviewing committee.

In addition to leading an internal team focused on writing his institution’s value statement and co-chairing his institution’s Annual Giving initiative, Jason took on the task of managing the upper-class application process and was instrumental in making sure that students applied for aid on time. Jason is now in charge of the freshman awarding process, a high visibility position requiring a great level of planning, commitment and cross-functional communication.

As if becoming proficient in a new job were not enough, Jason jumped head first into MASFAA almost immediately. After attending the Novice Workshop, he signed up to join the Professional Development and Training Committee. After only one year on the committee, Jason received the MASFAA Volunteer of the Year Award and an invitation to step up as Co-Chair. Within the first few months of leading the committee, Jason’s Co-Chair stepped down. Although the President offered to find a replacement, he was comfortable going it alone and led the committee through yet another successful year.

I am very fortunate that Jason has continued on as one of this year’s Co-Chairs of the Professional Development and Training Committee. Jason is always open to new ideas and didn’t even blink an eye when I suggested that the committee take on a new training event this year. Jason is a true leader with an enthusiasm that is positively infectious.

As a recipient of this prestigious award, Jason received a plaque and will also receive free registration and two nights lodging at next year’s annual Fall Conference.

The Presidential Award
Awarded to David Goldman, Bentley College and Jamey Palmieri, EDFUND

The Presidential Award recognizes outstanding service and time dedicated to MASFAA. To qualify for this award, the recipient, or recipients, must have provided an important contribution to MASFAA, either by a single achievement or achievements accomplished over a period of time. In addition, the recipient can be counted on to complete tasks for the Association, often with little fanfare. This year, the award is shared by David Goldman and Jamey Palmieri.
According to the person who nominated these individuals, David and Jamey have consistently gone above and beyond the call of duty as volunteers of this Association. As Co-Chairs of the Conference Committee, David and Jamey exhibited grace under fire as problem after problem was presented to them. After learning, in the 11th hour, that there were major issues with the hotel MASFAA had chosen that year, David and Jamey, knowing that it was too late to find another location, went straight to the hotel’s top management and demanded meetings with various department directors to ensure that our experience would be a good one. When the hotel was sold two months prior to the Conference, they immediately met with the new management team and requested another set of meetings to accomplish the same goal. No matter what issues arose, David and Jamey refused to back down, settling for nothing but the best for MASFAA. They stayed on top of every detail and, as expected, the Conference was a huge success!

Although David rotated off of the committee at the end of last year, I had the pleasure of working with Jamey in the planning of this year’s Conference. Despite being faced with a whole new set of issues, including the need for an overflow hotel and the set up of a supplemental dining area, Jamey remained virtually unflappable, always having a solution immediately at hand. She accommodated each and every request without complaint or question. As President, there are a multitude of responsibilities associated with the Conference, and Jamey made the experience as seamless and stress-free as possible for me.

David and Jamey are among the hardest working people in this Association. The amount of work involved in planning a three-day conference is more than any of us could possibly imagine. The time and energy that they have both given to MASFAA is truly commendable.

As recipients of this prestigious award, both David and Jamey received a plaque and a $250 gift check.

Charles Jack Sheehan Distinguished Service Award
Awarded to Kathy Osmond, Wellesley College

The Charles Jack Sheehan Distinguished Service Award was named in honor of ‘Jack’ Sheehan, one of the most respected and talented financial aid administrators in our nation. Jack was called upon by Federal officials for advice; he was influential in helping shape Federal legislation and regulation. Most of all, Jack was an affectionate advocate for students and it shone clearly through in every detail of his work. One example of his caring for students was that he drove all over New Mexico in his Jaguar to encourage disadvantaged students to enroll at the University of New Mexico and made visits to Hispanic parents to persuade them to let their daughters go away to college.

It was a fortunate day for Massachusetts when Jack came from Texas to be the Director of Financial Aid at Boston University. Jack was strongly committed to helping other aid professionals, especially those less experienced. He was always willing to answer questions, even when he wasn't well, and he never made anyone think that their question wasn't a good one. His style of management was to walk around the office with his cup of coffee and drop into the offices of staff to chat and see how things were going. He transformed the office at BU, which had lots of problems when he arrived. For this, President Silber was forever grateful, and he was forced to reconsider a remark he had made at an EASFAA meeting years before - something to the effect that the job of a financial aid officer was so insignificant that he could teach a monkey to do it.

Jack served as President of this Association in 1983-84, and it was a tribute to Jack that he was also elected President of NASFAA, our National Association. Unfortunately, a terminal illness prevented him from assuming that office.
This award was created in Jack’s memory to recognize distinguished service to the financial aid profession. In keeping with the criteria for this award, Kathy Osmond exhibits the traits of intelligence, integrity, fairness, ingenuity, creativity, humor, involuntary insomnia and endless patience, and is committed to advancing the goals of the financial aid administrator.

Kathy is a long-time financial aid administrator who is quiet, unassuming, and extremely professional in all that she does. According to those who nominated her, Kathy’s entire career has been devoted to what she believes in…financial aid. She is the "real McCoy," a true aid administrator of days gone by who can determine a family’s EFC, without a computer or a calculator, with amazing accuracy. Kathy believes that financial aid is an art, not a science, and this allows her to pull apart extremely difficult cases to obtain the fairest treatment for families. Kathy works tirelessly to level the playing field for high-need students in all aspects of their college experience and has suggested open discussions on class, race, and other socioeconomic issues that impact students and their success. Kathy is always the first person in the office and the last person to leave. She has had a profound impact on financial aid policies within, and outside of, her institution, thereby affecting thousands of lives for the greater good.

Kathy is very well known by everyone in MASFAA, and is always there for the Association and its members. She has volunteered for innumerable activities, including visiting congressmen, setting up panel discussions, organizing "Conversations" with national figures, researching federal and state proposals in the area of Title IV, serving as a member of the Executive Council, and chairing the Government Relations Committee. Throughout this year, I have come to personally rely upon her financial aid knowledge and legislative wisdom to guide MASFAA through the mire of the federal and state political arena. Kathy is a born fighter and is always willing to stand up for her beliefs or to make waves when necessary. Kathy is not only an advocate for students and for her institution, but also for the financial aid profession in general.

As the recipient of this distinguished award, Kathy received a plaque, a $500 gift check and a $1000 contribution to a scholarship fund at an institution of higher education of her choice.