The A-Team: A Nobel Party

Mary Greenway was skimming emails on her iPhone as she walked to the kitchen for her first cup of coffee. Suddenly, she stopped.

"Wow, I need to go in to work right away," she told her husband, Rich, on that October morning last year. "Dr. Lefkowitz won the Nobel Prize, and the dean wants a reception for him tonight."

Greenway, executive assistant to the dean of the School of Medicine, was at her desk by 7:30 a.m. to plan a reception 10 hours later. She called the Washington Duke Inn to reserve a room. She ordered flowers and coordinated the delivery of artisan cheeses, grilled vegetables and chicken salad for a celebration with more than 200 faculty members.

"It was team effort, but by the end of the evening we thought, 'dang, that was awesome!' " Greenway said.

Not every day is quite as historic for Greenway, who has worked at Duke since 1991. Her typical duties involve organizing materials for Dean Nancy Andrews' monthly faculty meetings, scheduling travel and assisting with research grant applications. She also keeps the calendar and manages correspondence for Andrews, who oversees faculty, research and teaching in the 20 departments at the School of Medicine.

Greenway's first job as a YWCA secretary introduced her to the world of administrative professionals. When she moved to Durham 22 years ago, Greenway started at Duke as an administrative secretary in Anesthesiology. Over the years, she expanded her leadership role, working in three other clinical and basic science departments before becoming the dean's executive assistant in 2011.

"She not only brought more than 20 years of experience supporting diverse parts of Duke Medicine, but also tremendous enthusiasm, intelligence, skill and grace," Andrews said.

Greenway enjoys assessing a situation and knowing what needs to be done, whether collating a notebook of materials for a faculty search or preparing an itinerary for a visiting scholar.

"Each thing you do is a small task, but it isn't a narrow task," Greenway said. "It is always in the context of something bigger."