Leasa Maley earned the President’s Award for Staff Excellence

Leasa Maley, assistant director of auxiliary services at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, will receive the 2024 President’s Award for Staff Excellence. Maley, who has worked at Pitt-Bradford for 37 years, will receive the award during the university’s Honors Convocation ceremony on Friday, April 12.

“I have worked closely with Leasa for decades and have admired and appreciated her dedication to our campus,” said Rick Esch, Pitt-Bradford’s president, who was Maley’s supervisor for many years when he was vice president for business affairs. “I always said, ‘If you want something to get done and done well, you ask Leasa to do it.’ Her brand is going above and beyond. That’s just who she is.”

The President’s Award for Staff Excellence was established to recognize staff members who have demonstrated exemplary performance and made outstanding individual contributions to campus. The award includes a framed certificate and $1,500 to be used to enhance professional development.

Maley was nominated for the award by Alan Hancock, who works in the Computing, Telecommunications and Media Services office but at one time had worked with Maley in the Panther Shop when she was the manager.

“It didn’t take long to see her leadership, competency, compassion and selflessness that she used to build a successful team,” Hancock wrote in his nomination. “Leasa has been an integral part of Pitt-Bradford’s continued success.”

And Hancock noted that Maley does so much more. For decades, she advised the Pitt-Bradford ski group and helped to coordinate and accompany students to Killington, Vermont, for the annual spring break ski trip. She was an adjunct instructor for the campus’ ski and snowboarding classes, organizing and taking students to Holiday Valley. Maley also served as the advisor for Pitt-Bradford’s women’s bowling club before it became a varsity sport.

She has hemmed formal dresses for students, hosted international and out-of-state students in her home until they transitioned into careers and visited with alumni in distant cities and countries.

“With all the remarkable things she does,” Hancock said, “one cannot help but notice how Leasa has retained students and staff … because she cares.”

Maley has dedicated most of her career to Pitt-Bradford. In 1987, she was hired as the assistant manager of what was then the Book Center. Two years later, she was promoted to manager of what became the Panther Shop, a position she held for 30 years, and manager of the Mail Center, a position she still holds. Maley also earned a bachelor’s degree in human relations in 2003.

In 2019, she was named interim assistant director of auxiliary services. A few months later, she was named assistant director. In addition to her work at Pitt-Bradford, Maley volunteers at the Limestone Volunteer Fire Department in New York.