Staff Shout-Out: Bernetta Hartman

It's been a busy spring for Bernetta Hartman, Assistant to the Chair of the Department of Medicine.

Recently, she led the assembly of the Annual Meeting presentation, a 134-slide endeavor chronicling the department’s successes and challenges over the past year. Immediately prior to that project, she provided significant support for the department’s promotion and tenure process.

“I collected letters for the department’s 2022-2023 promotion and tenure candidates–19 candidates, 850 emails, 132 external letters, 127 internal letters,” she recounted.

Her involvement in that process is one of the things she enjoys most about her job as Assistant to the Chair, a role she has held for 16 years and four different chairs, she said. (She has been with the School of Medicine for more than 18 years total.)

Ms. Hartman takes deep pride in her work–and this is largely because she loves the environment she gets to do it in.

“I am so inspired by faculty, staff, and learners who deeply care and are passionate about what they do,” she said. “I truly believe that when you love what you do, it shows.”

Her other duties include managing the chair’s schedule; assisting with departmental communication; and mentoring other administrative staff in the department.

“Bernetta manages to squeeze in all the meetings I need in my role as chair, including, for example, 90 separate meetings with fourth-year medical students interested in pursuing residency training in internal medicine,” said David Aronoff, MD.  “Managing to schedule all of those is very much above and beyond.”

But according to her colleagues, “above and beyond” is just how Ms. Hartman operates.

“I am forever grateful to have a colleague who is the full package: technically competent, interpersonally adept, and committed to the mission of our department. Bernetta is an exemplary human!” said Bridget Working, the department’s Director of Human Resources and Academic Administration.

Similarly, administrative colleague Lindsay Rutan commended Ms. Hartman for her “first-class professionalism, thoughtfulness, and collegiality.”

Ms. Rutan is the Senior Executive Secretary to Subha Raman, MD, MSEE, the Director of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine. She first began working with Ms. Hartman in April 2017, and over the years, Ms. Hartman has been “instrumental” in assisting her with “the scheduling of countless meetings involving scores of stakeholders, as well as assisting with the facilitation of many faculty recruitment candidate visits,” she said.

One ongoing project they have worked on together is facilitating the Administrative Support Staff Conference Call series, which they launched in March 2020 with their colleague Thora Berndt. This weekly call eventually grew beyond the Department of Medicine to include staff across the IUPUI campus.

“Staff and faculty alike depend on Bernetta to help support their success, and she always rises to the challenge,” Ms. Rutan said. “I acknowledge the hard work that she puts in daily, and greatly value her as my colleague.”

In the office, Ms. Hartman brings “an infectious positive energy” balanced by her professionalism, said Dr. Aronoff. He further described her as empathetic, conscientious, and outstanding overall.

“She is always willing to go the extra mile to do her job at the highest level. It is always great to work with Bernetta; she elevates all of us to be at the top of our game. I am proud to be part of her team,” he said.

Outside of work, Ms. Hartman loves to spend time with her family, which just welcomed a third grandchild. She also enjoys crafting. Some of her recent projects include mesmerizing acrylic pour paintings, quilt tops for charity, small zipper bags, dog leashes, and machine embroidery place mats.

Additionally, she loves traveling with her husband.

“Upcoming travel plans include a cruise later this fall, and one early next spring to my favorite destination – the Caribbean!”