Jeff Thole, laboratory supervisor and instructor of geology, has been awarded the 2026 Staff Outstanding Service Award.
Macalester Vice President for Administration and Finance Patricia Langer announced the award and read from this citation:
In celebration of the mark you’ve made on the Macalester community, we are proud to recognize you with the 2026 Staff Outstanding Service Award.
A longtime member of the Geology Department, you serve as laboratory supervisor and instructor of geology. For nearly thirty years, you’ve supported students, staff, and faculty, and, in the process, woven yourself into the fabric of our wider community. Your official duties and responsibilities take place in Olin-Rice, maintaining the Keck Lab and introducing geology concepts to students. But, with an unparalleled knack for relationship-building and a penchant for tackling problems with joy and curiosity, you’ve made friends across the college, and moved us all forward, together.
You’re so interconnected to the broader Mac community, in fact, colleagues point out that it’s “tough to cross campus quickly with Jeff—too many people want to stop and say hi.” Colleagues attribute those slow walks to your dedication to truly getting to know those around you. You are often the first to welcome new faces to campus, and you take the time to support their creative endeavors, their research projects, and, in some cases, even their children’s Eagle Scout projects. One colleague writes, “He may rival Mr. Rogers in his innate ability to make friends with people. It sounds like such a small thing—but it means everything and impacts how I do my job.”
With a unique gift for teaching, you spread a love for all things earth science with students, researchers, and community members. You go above and beyond to help students understand lab materials and assist with student research. You organize department field trips and field work—in the words of one colleague, “making them not just educational, but delightful.” You help visiting post-doctoral scholars with their research projects each summer, setting up labs (and often firing up the grill afterward, too). Reaching beyond campus, you bring mobile geology lessons into Twin Cities classrooms and work to welcome hobby groups like the Minnesota Geological Society into our labs. Through it all, you express endless patience and inspire contagious enthusiasm.
Year after year, your nominators notice the extra time you spend within this community and the impact it brings. A member of the Mac Entertainment Committee for two decades, you’ve become a pro at providing just the right assortment of M&Ms at the annual holiday party. When Olin-Rice halls needed new mineral display cases, you jumped in to create them. Your willingness to provide support and lead projects of all sizes has earned you such descriptors as a rock and a gem—high praise from geologists.
“Jeff is at the heart of the Geology Department,” one nominator writes. “He’s the guy we can count on to help with the hard stuff…and he’s the guy that makes real time for everyone.”
Congratulations, Jeff. We are truly grateful for your outstanding service.