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Excellence Award

The Excellence for VIMS Award recognizes a staff member who continually goes above and beyond their assigned job duties to better the institution. This individual’s contributions will likely not fit into another award category as their contributions transcend specific mission mandates.

Paula Dye

The winner of this year's award is Paula Dye.

Paula worked for VIMS before starting a family, and returned 5 years ago to support the VIMS Visitors Center. Since the Center and its aquarium are the most visited sites on our campus, she routinely goes above and beyond her duties to keep these areas clean and organized. She takes great pride in her work, ensuring VIMS is ready to open its doors to dignitaries, educators, and the public.

Paula displays a true passion for the fish under her care. Her love is reflected in their health and vitality, one reason our Visitors Center is so popular. She cleans the tanks, tracks water quality, and makes high-quality fish food from scratch. Her keen attention to animal husbandry is why most of the critters are thriving, and why some are even breeding in captivity. A recent PBS filming of our oyster toadfish and their brood is just one example of how Paula’s dedication benefits the VIMS community. In 2020, visitation was down due to the pandemic, but Paula made a VIMS Aquarium Facebook page using her own amazing photos to continue outreach to the public.

Countless nominators mentioned Paula’s infectious smile and positive attitude. One wrote, “Paula is the essence of enthusiasm and good humor. I believe you really can tell she is smiling behind her mask even if you hadn’t seen her smile pre-COVID."

Whether entering data, maintaining records, cleaning tanks, or decorating them for the holidays, Paula brings 110% to her job every day. She is the best of VIMS and captures the spirit of our institution—tirelessly working to give VIMS an inspirational space, driven jointly by passion for marine life and dedication to our community.

For these and many other reasons, Paula richly deserves this award!