In January 2003, Aynsley Hamel, MDE, was working for the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy as an academic specialist when she was honored as the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s (UMB) Employee of the Month. Fast forward almost 20 years, during which time she had left the University for the private sector and returned to work as an academic services specialist in the Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science (PTRS) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), and Hamel was surprised yet again with the award.

Hamel was greeted with the news that she had received the honor for a second time by UMB President Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS, and about a half-dozen of her colleagues on a videoconference Oct. 7. Her colleagues praised her as patient, a joy to work with, and the glue that holds the department together. 

Hamel, who has worked at UMSOM for 11 years, is responsible for setting and cleaning up lab spaces for over 140 students in the three-year Doctor of Physical Therapy Program, supervising 10 work-study students, proctoring exams to ensure that no academic integrity issues occur, and distributing midterm and final course evaluations.  

“Aynsley is among the most dedicated employees of any organization I have ever met,” Jason Falvey, DPT, PhD, assistant professor, PTRS, said in nominating Hamel for the award. “In our department, Aynsley is routinely the first person in and the last person to leave. She does this massively important job with professionalism, humor, and humility.

“She puts our students at ease, knows them all by name, and helps us additionally identify those students who may need additional support. She is the epitome of dedication to our department, a microcosm of the dedication we all strive to achieve, and rarely misses an opportunity to help us be better role models for our students.”

Hamel says she appreciates working with the physical therapy students. “Students will come to me with a wide variety of questions, and I always tell them, ‘You can ask me a question, and if I don’t know, I will find the person who can help you,’ ” she said, adding that she has guided students who are struggling with personal issues to the Student Counseling Center or the program’s director of student affairs for help.

Melissa Roane, MA, Allied Health administrator, PTRS, called Hamel “customer-centric.”

“Whether it’s the students, our visitors, or our faculty, you always put the customer first, and I cannot thank you enough for that. Because to me, that’s the whole reason we’re all here,” said Roane, Hamel’s supervisor who joined the department in May.

Douglas Savin, MPT, PhD, director of student affairs, Doctor of Physical Therapy Program, and assistant professor, PTRS, agreed.

“You make the overall learning experience that the students have so much better,” he said.

Hamel said the students, faculty, and staff in her department are just one reason she loves her job.

“They make it an absolute joy to come here every day,” she said. “And I appreciate the challenges that are put in front of me. I also enjoy the fact that I get to help people on their academic journey to being the health professionals that will take care of folks like me and the folks that I care about.”

Hamel’s other responsibilities include working with the Doctor of Physical Therapy’s Curriculum Coordinating Committee.

“I take minutes for those meetings and provide reports on the block evaluations that are used during those meetings,” she said. “I also coordinate the meetings of our block leaders, or our course leaders, where we discuss a wide variety of topics that include textbooks, the academic calendar, and data from block evaluations.”

In 2020, when Hamel returned to campus a few months after the COVID-19 pandemic began, she had to place personal protective equipment out for students in more lab spaces so they could maintain physical distancing.

“Every night I would have to put out the gowns and the linens in 10 different spaces for 70 students,” she said, adding that one good thing came from having students spread out in more lab spaces at the start of the pandemic.

“Because there weren’t as many groups in each room, the students had more interaction with a lab assistant assigned to that room, and it has been a wonderful experience for them. They’ve gotten to know those faculty members a bit better and been able to ask them questions, have demonstrations done, and so on,” she said. “It was wonderful to see that in such a horrible situation, we could learn good things from it and provide better opportunities for our students overall.”

Hamel, who will receive a plaque, a letter of commendation, and an extra $250 in her next paycheck for being named Employee of the Month, is thankful to win the award a second time.

“No one ever does something like this or is awarded like this in a vacuum,” she said, thanking her husband for his support as well as the students, staff, and faculty in her program including Roane; Falvey; Linda Horn, PT, DScPT, MHS, director of academic affairs, Doctor of Physical Therapy Program; and Victoria Marchese, PT, PhD, chair, PTRS. “We all work together to make these things possible.”

Hamel added another reason she is thankful: “I have the opportunity to be creative, to be hardworking, to just enjoy being here. I can walk in every day and just be thankful that I’m here.”

— Jen Badie