Boudreaux honored at board meeting

FROM RICE NEWS STAFF REPORTS

CELESTE BOUDREAUX

Celeste Boudreaux, assistant vice provost for academic affairs and assistant dean of graduate and postdoctoral studies, was honored at the Dec. 15 Rice Board of Trustees meeting for her administrative accomplishments. She received special recognition and a monetary award.

“Celeste is that rare combination of a brilliant process-oriented mind and
a wide-ranging imagination,” wrote Paula Sanders, vice provost for academic affairs and dean of graduate and postdoctoral studies, in her nomination letter. “She is an outstanding administrator who regularly goes above and beyond the call of duty and who has made truly important contributions to the university as a whole.”

Sanders noted that Boudreaux built the graduate and postdoctoral studies group from the ground up and has re-thought all of the office’s administrative processes. Boudreaux conceived, wrote and implemented the online Graduate Payroll Authorization Form project, which resulted in a fully online system that prevents errors, allows for efficient processing and saves significant staff time at the department level as well as in payroll.

Boudreaux also created the GPS Graduate Recruiting on the Web GROW project, which provided resources to more than 24 departments to redesign their graduate websites, make them brand-compliant, enhance navigability and optimize them for Google searches. She also worked closely with the Office of the Registrar to create a fully electronic General Announcements.

“Celeste is largely responsible for the team spirit that makes us so effective,” Sanders said.