Pillar Award

Deborah Pilipie

Director, Maxwell Becton College of Arts and Sciences Advising Center
College at Florham

Since you began at Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1986, you have been a faithful student advocate continually searching for new ways to improve campus life. Creativity, empathy and sincerity mark all your efforts, whether it’s directing the Becton College Advising Center, advising the Delta Phi Epsilon sorority, coaching cheerleaders, serving on the Campus Standards Judicial Board or teaching Honors Freshman Seminar. Thanks to your fantastic sense of humor and, as one friend put it, “a zany zest for life,” your presence brightens one event after another. You seem to be everywhere on campus, from the sidelines during a football game to the annual senior dinner-dance. Among your biggest fans are the parents of our students, who know that when they leave their children at our doorstep they can count on you to always be there with a helping hand. Another colleague put it best when he said, “When you are in the company of Debbie, any bad day automatically becomes a great day.” For turning the bad days into great ones and for your remarkable commitment, we praise you as a Pillar of this institution.