Jann

It’s Jann, so let’s start at the start:
She’s short, and she’s cute, and she’s smart

The light of the goal
Is the light in her soul,

Which shines through her mind and her heart

She’s a Kingsley and Cathy recruit
It’s clear that they found us a beaut:

A Governor from Boston
With experience tossed in

And a lightning fast typist to boot

She came to replace our dear Susan*
(“OK everybody, stop cruisin’”)

Tall shoes to fill
But she did it with skill —

Jann rapidly got her own shoes in

Her roost was the top floor of Henn**
Climb up there. . . . Now climb it again.

Aerobic? You bet —
Like the peaks of Tibet

How she did it’s beyond anyone’s ken

You start on the very first floor
And ponder what fate holds in store

An impossible climb
And a shortage of time —

Who could ask for anything more?

The first flight is challenge enough
Even for reps with right stuff

You bivouac there
In that rarefied air

And prepare for the going that’s tough

For the next flight, you’d best be inspired
Oxygen may be required

A Sherpa or two
And you may make it through —

Each step leaves you hopelessly tired

The steps grow too giant to try:
Take one — and the next one’s chest high

So steep is the slope
It could dash your last hope —

You’re certain that Janny can fly

You bivouac there on the landing
You cannot believe where you’re standing

Few humans have tread
The heights where you’ll head

Few rise to a task so demanding

The main challenge now’s your own mind
As you wonder just what you might find

You finally assault
That great peak with a vault

Your requisition is there — but not signed!***

At first you’re distressed and dismayed
Then you see the mistakes you had made!

Why didn’t you spot them?
Thank goodness Jann got them!

She answers your prayers not yet prayed

She’s saved your career from disaster
No imperfections get past her

Praise the time that she spent
As you make your descent —

You realize Jann is the master

Her office is now 402
Ground floor, if not room with a view****

Easy to reach
If not to beseech —

It’s awesome the things she can do

She dispels the world’s fast-fading blues
With each quarterly MIU News

The stories she writes
The whole world delights —

Hers is the ultimate muse

She reviews every printing request
Ensuring that each is the best

Each requisition
Means more ammunition

As heaven on earth comes to rest

She writes with precision and style
With an eye to the highest all the while

Hour by hour
Such organizing power —

And then there’s that Doherty smile.

She smiles — and lights 402
She smiles — and you’re smiling too

It’s warm and it’s bright
With radiant light —

The celestial has come into view

As a writer, she stands with the best
By her skills we are truly impressed

But the bliss that Jann brings us
And brings us and brings us —

That makes us feel we’re blessed.

As we work for Maharishi’s great plan
We’re all doing all that we can

But none can replace
The consummate grace

Of that Lady of Light we call Jann

*Susan Shatkin, who was the MIU Press editor and proofreader at the time. The following line is the first line of my limerick tribute to Susan.

** The top “floor” of historic Henn Mansion is a pair of small rooms that feel like the crow’s nest on a sailing ship. The flight of stairs ascending to that room seem to become increasingly steep as you climb them.

*** If you wanted to get something printed back then, you had to submit it to Jann to review, along with a requisition she’d sign when she approved it. If there were any mistakes, she’d indicate them — and you had to correct them and return the revised document to her again to proof, with the hope that this time she’d sign the requisition.

**** Building 402 is Verrill Hall. Room With a View is the name of a 1985 British romance film, based on E.M. Forster’s 1908 novel of the same name.

Tribute to Jann upon presenting the Maharishi Award at a summer Seasonal Celebration

Among the very most brilliant and creative people that MIU has attracted is Jann Doherty, the recipient of this summer’s Maharishi Award for Information and Inspiration.

The name Jann Doherty may not be as much in the public eye as some of the other names at MIU — but it should be, because she is responsible for so much of what is in the public eye. As head of MIU’s Development Publications department, Jann is responsible for helping create and for overseeing the production of virtually all of MIU’s recruiting and fundraising materials. These materials have won acclaim all over the world for their beauty and dignity, and for the power they have had in attracting attention to this University.

Jann Doherty is also editor of MIU News, MIU’s quarterly newspaper, of which she generally writes the lion’s share, and oversees all aspects of editing and production. MIU News is now sent to 10,000 subscribers worldwide, which means that it has a readership of many times that number. Every three months, tens of thousands of people all over the world are able to see, through Jann’s work, all of MIU’s many achievements and to keep up to date with all the latest knowledge. Among the readers of MIU News is Nobel Laureate Sheldon Glashow, the famous physicist, who, when he saw MIU Professor John Hagelin last month, asked how his Play of the Unified Field had gone and requested a copy of it; when Dr. Hagelin asked Professor Glashow how he had heard of the play, he replied that he had read about it in MIU News.

Two years ago Jann also took on the responsibility of editing the MIU Bulletin. As a result of her efforts on that publication, our Bulletin won an Award of Merit in the Awards Competition of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.

She has also served as Deputy Chairperson of MIU’s new Press Council this past year, bringing a great deal of intelligence and experience to its many endeavors and helping bring about the success it has enjoyed so far.

Finally, it is Jann Doherty who is responsible for reviewing virtually every piece of printed material that is sent off campus, ensuring that everything we put out is of the highest possible quality. This in itself has been a full-time job, and all the achievements I have just mentioned are in addition to this on-going work, which requires such a high level of focus and attention.

The first taste people often have of MIU is through our printed materials. We are fortunate to have had someone of the quality of Jann Doherty supervising the creation and production of MIU’s printed materials these past three years. There is almost no one who works so hard and at such a high level of both quality and productivity behind the scenes so that what is on the scene is the very best is can be.

Before coming to MIU in 1985, Jann served as Director of Public Relations at Emmanual College in Boston. We are very glad that Jann, like so many other brilliant people, was attracted to come to MIU. We know that we are all attracted to the fantastic work she has done for all of us since she has been here. It is for these reasons, and many, many more, that we proudly present the Maharishi Award for Information and Inspiration to Jann Doherty.