’21 Honoree Elizabeth Schwartz

“I’ve been in benefits at UD almost 26 years. Before that I was at Dayton Power and Light for four years, so I’ve dealt with people who have lost jobs, people who have transitioned to retirement, people who have quit over the years. But this was so different. It was fast, and sudden, and it was in the middle of a pandemic. For some of our people who were laid off, even though they could retire, for example they might have been only 55, they were thinking, ‘I’m not ready,’ whether that’s because they weren’t ready personally, or because they couldn’t afford to do it yet. Then we had the people who were furloughed, and who also faced uncertainty because they didn’t know if they would be coming back and if not, what happens? It was very emotional and difficult for me knowing, while I didn’t deliver the messages about the furlough or layoff, what was coming for each of them. The thing for me that was most important at that time was figuring out and preparing how to help them with their transitions.”

“For those who didn’t qualify to retire, I worried, ‘How did we take them with as much grace as possible through the separation process?’ That was a long process because even though the people who were laid off had two month’s notice, they had to decide what they wanted to do, so I had to communicate with them early on. It’s all such a blur now, but a short time before it happened, I had the names. I worked all that week and over the weekend to package all the retirees’ information, and actually had them ready to go out in the mail so we could say, ‘Here’s what's happening. It’s on its way in writing to you.’ My first priority with this was the people who were laid off. I told people who were calling me and asking questions, ‘I’m keeping a list. I promise I will get to you, but my priority right now needs to be those people who’ve lost their jobs.’ I think I put a lot of pressure on myself to make sure I got things done as quickly as possible for anybody that was in either one of those categories, so that we could answer questions and have things ready for them, to alleviate or at least ease that anxiety. I know you can’t get rid of it completely, but I wanted to ease it as much as I could.”

“It almost sounds strange, but even though what happened was not pleasant to anyone who was in those situations, I saw so much grace from people who were facing likely one of the most difficult times in their lives. I was so humbled by the fact that even though I was telling people, ‘Your healthcare is going to end,’ or ‘We don’t have another job for you to go to,’ or ‘You can't retire,’ people were incredibly gracious and incredibly thankful. It’s not that there weren’t lots of tears, because there were, but I felt very thankful that people felt like they could do that with me, that they could be open. The grace and the care and the way people handled it with me is reflective of the Marianist spirit.”

“And for me, I would say I caught the Marianist spirit at UD from Father Gene Contadino, who was the Rector when I came to work here. I was only maybe in my second year when Father Gene came over and he plopped down in the chair in my office and he said, ‘I have something to talk to you about.’ I thought I was in trouble because I was raised Catholic and you think, ‘Oh my gosh, there's a priest walking my office!’ But he asked me to serve on the Rector’s Council, so talk about pulling me in at the beginning! I was part of his first group on the Rector’s Council, and he really expanded it to include people from all over campus and, especially, students. That’s when I caught the bug, I guess you could say. At about the time the Rector’s Council was ending, Brother Ray Fitz started the Marianist Educational Associates. I immediately applied for that. I was selected for the second or the third cohort, but I don’t remember which – it’s been so long now. But it was so important to me to continue that Marianist spirit as there are fewer and fewer vowed Marianists on our campus. The whole idea that Brother Ray had was that we’ll start this group of Marianist Educational Associates – lay people – who want to make sure that the charisms continue and who embody that through their work and what they do. And so that was really important to me.”

“Once, I went to a presentation given by Brother Tom Giardino – I can’t even remember what it was about because it was so long ago – and he used a statue in his presentation that an artist from a Marianist mission in Africa had made. I was just looking at it, and thinking, ‘There's so many things to this,’ because it was hands, all supporting each other and then supporting the world. After the presentation, I said, ‘Brother Tom, that statue is amazing!’ He said, ‘Do you want one? Because I can have the artist make you one.’ I said, ‘Well, I don't need one quite that big, but if he could make me one that’s smaller, that would be amazing.’ And so he did. Father Marty Solma was in Africa at the time and carried it back on a plane for me! It sits in my office, across from my desk, so I look at it all day. It was the best purchase I ever made! To me, this statue not only exemplifies all Marianists because it came from them, but the whole feeling of ‘supporting one another’ really resonates with me, particularly right now.”