Dear OVC Colleagues,
We write with the bittersweet news that Sharon Bridburg, OVC’s Director of Human Resources, has accepted the position of Director of Strategic Talent Management in MIT Central Human Resources.
While it’s a huge loss for OVC, this new opportunity will draw on Sharon’s many strengths and interests—DEIB, cultural change, staff quality of life, and professional development—and allow all MIT staff to benefit from her experience and wisdom.
Sharon has served OVC (and its prior form, the Division of Undergraduate Education) for more than twenty-five years. There may be no other individual who has shaped the culture and climate of our office, and by extension, all of us who work in OVC, more than she has.
Both of us have been grateful for her deep expertise across all aspects of human resources, from systems to policies to best practices. Sharon’s patience and sensitivity in the application of those policies are noteworthy as well; she handles the most difficult situations with fairness, equanimity, and compassion.
Thanks to Sharon and her HR team’s efforts, our office has thrived, becoming one of the most diverse at MIT and benefitting from a fantastically talented group of staff members. Sharon has been instrumental in designing, developing, and delivering programming and enhanced processes for OVC staff, including the former OVC Committee for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and new OVC Staff Council; a 360 developmental pilot for the leadership team; and the introduction of a new promotion process for OVC Lecturers/Instructional Staff. She has contributed to countless committees, initiatives, and working groups. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find an OVC staff member that Sharon has not impacted in some way, whether through their recruitment, hiring, onboarding, promotion, or development.
More recently, Sharon has spearheaded new wellness and emotional wellbeing programming, becoming a certified Search Inside Yourself instructor and bringing that training first to OVC and then to the wider MIT community. Furthermore, she was invaluable during the pandemic, deftly helping to manage the rapid transition to remote work and the evolution to our current hybrid/flexwork approach, with OVC becoming a model and a hallmark of staff satisfaction (as revealed in the latest MIT Quality of Life survey).
All in all, Sharon is just a marvel: data-driven, yet always with a human touch; kind and caring, but also by the book; generous with her time, but efficient and direct. She cares deeply about the people who make up the MIT community and has worked hard to help people succeed, thrive, and grow here. Her contributions have made OVC and MIT a more diverse, supportive, and connected place to work.
In 2012, Sharon was awarded an MIT Excellence Award, “Bringing Out the Best,” an award that could in all honesty be named in her honor given how much it describes her impact. The citation notes that “she tirelessly supports the talents and skills of others, not only by providing support and guidance but by knowing the professional profiles of staff so well that she can see opportunities others might miss. While much of her best work must remain confidential, her nominators say that those who work with her ‘can see her invisible fingerprints on the motivated and happy staff.’”
Sharon’s last day in OVC will be February 16, but her fingerprints on OVC will linger far beyond that. We’re excited to see how she leaves her mark on MIT in her new role. Kristin McCoy has agreed to serve as the Interim Director of Human Resources while we conduct a search.
Please join us in thanking Sharon for her many invaluable contributions to OVC and in congratulating her on this exciting next chapter.
Best of luck getting ready for the new semester, and don’t hesitate to reach out to either of us if you have any questions or thoughts about how we can make OVC an even better place to be and work.
Sincerely,
Ian & Kate
Ian A. Waitz
Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate and Graduate Education and Jerome C. Hunsaker Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Kate Trimble
Chief of Staff, OVC, and Senior Associate Dean/Director, Office of Experiential Learning
