Vania Quiroz, manager of campus operations in Mexico City, is the 2013 winner of the Ramona Kunard Award. The award was presented by President Geoffrey Cox at Alliant's commencement ceremony in Mexico City on May 17, 2013.

The Ramona Kunard Award is given each year to a staff member nominated by the Alliant community. The recipient exemplifies the highest standards of leadership, dedication, service and integrity.

At the ceremony, President Cox cited Quiroz's extraordinary service of more than six years as an administrator in Mexico City. She has helped the campus grow rapidly in recent years,  serving in numerous roles supporting faculty and students during times of great change and growth on this campus.

As stated in her nomination for the award, Quiroz is truly an integral part of the Mexico City campus, "General operations manager is a fairly accurate title if that means making everything on the campus function including being the registrar, tutor, translator, home stay coordinator, preparing schedules, budgets, early morning and late night airport pickup provider, currency converter, intestinal adjustment consultant, cultural liaison, resource manager, taxi driver, reservationist, culinary artist, baby sitter, crisis negotiator, IT, artist, security detail, marketer, community outreach, spiritual guide, seamstress, telecommunications and social worker."

Congratulations Vania!