On Wednesday, Nov. 5, Swarthmore Post Office Supervisor Mike Harper received the fourth annual Greg Brown Award in recognition of his contributions to campus life. Harper was nominated along with thirteen other staff members across the college’s Dining Services, Environmental Services, Public Safety, Events Management, and Facilities Management teams. He will be honored with an engraved plaque in the Dining and Community Commons and a prize of $1,000.
Swarthmore’s Board of Managers first announced the Greg Brown Award in December 2021. The award was named for the college’s former vice president for finance and administration, who retired from the position that winter. In the years since, the prize has gone to Luis Alvarez from Events Management, OneCard Coordinator Bob Steveline, and Dining Services’s Anne Dortone. As the first member of the Post Office staff to receive the award, Harper garnered the enthusiastic praise of Associate Vice President for Campus Services Anthony Coschignano.
“Let’s be honest,” Coschignano said in his speech at the award ceremony, “half the time, if you want to know what’s really going on at Swarthmore, you just follow Mike and the mail cart.”
The college community members who nominated Harper also commented on his reliability and organizational skills. Above all, they highlighted the warm, supportive environment he fosters at the Post Office.
“[Harper is] a true gem for this college,” said one nominator, “as gracious and professional as can be.” A member of the Post Office team added that they had “never had a more team-oriented experience than with Mike Harper as my supervisor.”
Harper himself emphasized how much he values his role in the campus community. “I really enjoy working for the college and interacting with the students … I have had the pleasure of hiring many great students that I have formed bonds with. I am still in contact with many former student workers, and I have been used as a reference for countless student workers, of which I am immensely proud.”
Before joining the Post Office staff in 2021, Harper spent seventeen years with Swarthmore’s Campus & Community Store. He learned about the position — at what was then called the College Bookstore — from an advertisement in a local newspaper. As the years have passed, he says, Swarthmore has evolved in more ways than he can count.
“I feel the college community has always been changing, which I think is a good thing. There is always room for improvement and change.”
As for Harper’s personal takeaways from his two decades of service, he says he’s grown to appreciate the necessity of joy in the workplace. Asked what guidance he would share with Swatties planning their future careers, he emphasized the importance of having fun.
“My advice would be whatever you do, make sure it is something you enjoy and make sure you have fun.”
Harper feels that many of the students he’s worked with in recent years have embraced this mindset already, and that it’s paid off in their performance. If he could, he says, he would nominate the entire Post Office team for the award. “They are all amazing hard-working people who keep the Post Office running like a well-oiled machine.”
