CAMPUS PROFILE
Nihlei Tial: Why I Have Found Such Favor
UNC housekeeper Nihlei Tial gave Jake Reardon ’ 10, then a resident adviser in Joyner Residence Hall,
two precious items when she first met him
three years ago. The first was a can of Powder Dam, the mysterious, magical cleaner
that can absorb 70 times its own weight —
an RA’s first line of defense if one of his
charges should happen to overindulge and
can’t, let’s say, keep it all down. The second
was her cell phone number.
“If it happens on a weekend,” Tial told
Reardon, “sprinkle this on and call me, and
I’ll come and clean it up.”
Needless to say, Reardon never took her
up on her offer; nor did he ever forget it.
Moved by her devotion to her job and to
the students around her, Reardon was one
of more than 80 RAs and residents of
Joyner and Conner who backed Tial’s
nomination for a C. Knox Massey Distin-
guished Service Award — for “unusual,
meritorious or superior contribution made
by an employee, past or present,” to the
University.
Winning the award — one of the
most prestigious honors a Carolina
employee can receive — this spring was
another remarkable step in the journey
for the 47-year-old Tial: from chemistry
teacher in Burma, to algebra teacher in
India, to housekeeper in Chapel Hill, without ever losing her faith or her ability to
connect to students.
DAN SEARS ’ 74
“I put all my heart to work for the stu-
dents,” says Tial, who is now assigned to
Teague dorm. “The students’ bathroom is
like my own. They are like my real chil-
dren. I love them.”
Tial’s story begins some 8,000 miles
away in Burma, where she taught high
school chemistry and her husband taught
math. When her husband’s political activity
came to the attention of Burma’s repressive
military regime in 1998, the family was
kicked out of the country. First they landed
in India, where she found work as an alge-
bra teacher. Slightly more than four years
ago, they moved to Chapel Hill. Her hus-
band worked at a sushi restaurant, then
enrolled at N.C. State to study electrical
‘Sometimes
Sometimes
I forget I am
a housekeeper.’
Nihlei Tial
UNC housekeeper
and a C. Knox Massey
Distinguished Service
Award winner
engineering. Nihlei was hired at UNC,
cleaning dorm bathrooms, kitchens and
lounges. Soon, she stood out.
Jake Reardon ’ 10
and UNC housekeeper Nihlei Tial at
Teague, where she is
now assigned. Tial
earned a Massey
Award for dedication
to her work, in which
she includes helping
students understand
chemistry and math.
12
September/October 2010
