Jim Sahli								May 2, 1995
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. 
(Phone:  301/286-0697)

RELEASE:  95-89


RUFF RECEIVES EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE MEDAL FOR NASA WORK

	Janet Kwieciak Ruff of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in 
Greenbelt, Md. has been awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal for her 
outstanding management in providing public affairs support, and educating 
and communicating with the public the NASA mission.

	In addition, Ruff manages Center activities involving visiting dignitaries, 
including U.S. presidents, congressional leaders and national leaders from 
foreign countries.  She brings great organization, thought and dedication 
to making these events proceed flawlessly, said Dr. Klineberg.

	Ruff received the award today from Dr. John M. Klineberg, Director 
of the Goddard Center, where she serves as Chief of Public Affairs Office.  Goddard Space 
Flight Center is responsible for development and operation of most of the 
Agency’s unmanned, near-Earth satellites.

	As Chief of Public Affairs, she oversees public communications 
activities at the space center, including media relations, educational 
relations and community relations.

	The native of Buffalo, N.Y. has lead a team of dedicated personnel, 
both at Goddard-Greenbelt and at Goddard-Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.  
Under her leadership, her staff has brought to the attention of the scientific 
community, educators, members of congress, and the general public in the 
United States and others throughout the world a variety of major NASA 
missions accomplishments during the last ten years.

	Ruff was born in Buffalo, Feb. 5, 1949.  She obtained a B.S. in 
education in 1970 from D’Youville College, and a M.S. in education in 1973 
from Canisius College, both in Buffalo.  

	In New York state, Ruff has worked as an instructor, supervising 
teacher and administrator in the Cheektowaga-Sloan School System, as a 
instructor at D’Youville College, and as a curriculum writer for the Erie 
County (NY) Board of Cooperative Education Services.

	Ruff moved to Washington, D.C. in 1975 and taught at Immaculata Dunblane 
School prior to joining the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum’s 
Educational Division in 1979 as Unit Chief for Outreach Programs.  In 1980, she was 
named Chief of the Education Division at the Museum, a position she occupied until her 
present appointment.

	Ruff is the author of numerous materials on aerospace education, 
including a book on Jupiter and its Moons, and a curriculum book accompanying 
National Air and Space Museum’s past planetarium shows.  She is a member of 
the National Science Teachers Association, American Association of Museums 
and the U. S. Air Force’s Civil Air Patrol.

	Ruff is a resident of Vienna, Va., where she resides with her husband, 
Steve.  She is the daughter of the late Stanley and Janet Kwieciak of Buffalo.  
	
	The award recipient has two brothers.  Richard Kwieciak who is an 
attorney in Cheektowaga, NY.  Her other brother General Stanley Kwieciak 
is retired from the U.S. Army and resides in the state of Washington.

	Among her many other awards is the NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal 
which she received in 1988.

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