Diana McLaughlin (pictured left with Dean Beate Schmittman) was recently awarded with the Professional & Scientific Outstanding New Professional Award at LAS Fall Convocation 2012. She currently works as an Administrative Specialist III, a role which she took on in 2009, but started her career in the Department as a stenographer in 1973.

Says McLaughlin, "When I started working as a stenographer, I was typing for fifteen individual faculty members daily, working on tests, papers, and correspondence. Everything was done with electric typewriters that had no correction functions. The electronic age has greatly change the way we do our work.

"I appreciate the fact that I've had the opportunity to work up in the Department and to achieve new skills and sets of responsibilities. These changes have really given me a sense of accomplishment. I appreciate this acknowledgment," she says.

Read the full list of convocation awardees at the following: http://www.las.iastate.edu/2012lasawards/