‘Service is the essence’ of Gail Moriarty

Soon after employees returned to campus during the pandemic, several in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy noticed a terrible smell in their building. One of the refrigerators had shut down while they were away and needed to be cleaned out.

Gail Moriarty came into work the next day wearing old clothes, gloves and a mask and cleaned the refrigerator top to bottom. “It was just something that needed to be done, so I took care of it.” she said. “It wasn’t anything big.”

That’s the common theme woven throughout the C. Knox Massey Award nominations her colleagues wrote about Moriarty: It’s the little things that Moriarty, business services coordinator in the pharmacotherapy division, does that make all the difference for those around her.

“Service is the essence of who Gail Moriarty is,” wrote one nominator. “She bolsters the team by taking care of little details that may go unnoticed by most, but we absolutely appreciate everything she does for us every single day.”

“Her quiet dedication and commitment to providing her best work makes her invaluable to our division,” wrote another.

Moriarty has been with the pharmacy school since 1969 and is one of Carolina’s longest-tenured employees. While she’s held multiple roles over the years, she describes her current role as planning special events, onboarding new student lab and research assistants, and supporting eight faculty members with their scheduling and supplies. Her colleagues would say that doesn’t scratch the surface.

Moriarty prepares laboratory spaces and waters the office plants. She makes sure every new hire has a nameplate, a mailbox and knows where to find the coffee. She’s always willing to help students, faculty and staff and “does so with warmth, compassion and a smile,” wrote another nominator.

People often ask her, “How do you stand it when that 10th student comes to you and says, ‘How do I do this?’”

Moriarty’s response? “That may be the 10th time I’ve been asked that today, but that’s that student’s first time asking.”

Carolina Blue, through and through 

Moriarty was born and raised in the small town of Hamlet, North Carolina. She and her husband were high school sweethearts. When he came to UNC-Chapel Hill, she took classes at the local community college and eventually joined him for his senior year.

“I was thinking we’d only be here for a year,” she said. “We never left.”

Moriarty started in the pharmacy school’s dean’s office in 1969 mailing brochures to people interested in pursuing a pharmacy degree. She then held the role of student services manager for 30 years before becoming a part-time executive assistant. She took on her current role four years ago. Her husband, John, still works two days a week with periodontology residents in the UNC Adams School of Dentistry.

“It’s been nice that I could stay in a place that I love and with people I enjoy working with,” she said. “Some of the faculty I support now were students when I was in student services, so I still call them my children.”

Season ticket holders for both football and basketball, the Moriartys bleed Carolina Blue, love their community and have no plans to leave any time soon.

“I feel very humbled,” she said. “I’ve just been very fortunate and blessed through the years to have the wonderful support of my family and all the faculty, students and my colleagues here.”