Part of our ongoing effort to recognize employees, their work, and how they support Harvard’s mission.
When Adrienne Naylor isn’t busy working for Environmental Health and Safety (EHS), you might still find her on campus taking classes in musical theater or Albanian or carrying piles of books out of the Widener Library. A full-time training specialist in EHS, and a member of the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW), Adrienne has used her creativity and communication skills to work her way up the ladder of success and become an indispensable part of the Campus Services community.
Adrienne has been working at the University since 2016 when she was hired in EHS through a temp agency to help with a major data cleanup effort. She quickly made an impression with her speed and accuracy. This led to a two-year term position within EHS funded by Harvard’s IT Capital Funding program which provides money for administrative and academic IT projects. That led to a permanent role at EHS. While the road was long, Adrienne enjoys her work. “I work with so many great people under enlightened leadership,” she says. “We’re afforded a reasonable amount of flexibility to get our work done, so there’s a lot of trust that I appreciate.”
A self-described “nerd at heart,” Adrienne has degrees in history, linguistics, and archives. She takes full advantage of benefits available to employees such as access to the libraries and classes. Here at Harvard, Adrienne draws on lessons from her degree in history when creating a new safety training. “As a historian, you can know all this stuff, but unless you can write about it and present it in an appealing way, no one cares. Every safety rule or guideline exists for a reason, and my goal is to communicate relevant safety information in a way that resonates. I want everyone to understand the risks, to use available resources, to do the right thing on the job, and to keep themselves, their coworkers, and the larger community safe and healthy.”