Impact

Information technology staff members recognized with IT Impact Awards

Kevin Morooney presents 26 IT staff members with awards for collaboration, innovation and resource responsibility.

The Smeal College of Business’s Research, Instruction and Information Technology multimedia team was recognized for developing a new portrait service for students in the business college. Credit: Nathan Bevans All Rights Reserved.

Staff members from across Penn State IT were presented with IT Impact Awards at the May 5 IT Matters Breakfast Speaker Series event in recognition for their great work throughout the past year. Kevin Morooney, vice provost for information technology at Penn State, presented 26 staff members with awards for categories covering collaboration, innovation and resource responsibility. 

IT Collaboration

The IT Collaboration award goes to a group at Penn State that is leading a cross-administrative area initiative that benefits the University as a whole. 

This year, the award was presented to the 2014 Benefits Open Enrollment team, which includes Hazel Weaver, Heather Duty, Vicka Pevzner, Galen Lentz, Greg Larrimore and Stanley Oputa from the Office of Human Resources and Vicki Smith, Steve Savard and Carl Seybold from Administrative Information Services.

The team was recognized for the extensive modifications it made to Penn State’s benefits, payroll and accounting systems to help contain health care costs. According to the nominator, the team used hard work, discipline and open communication to complete the project with professionalism and urgency.

Out of the Box Innovation

The Out of the Box Innovation award goes to an individual or group that solved an IT issue in an innovative way. This year, there were two awards given.

The first was awarded to the One Button Studio (OBS) team, which includes Ben Brautigam, Justin Miller and Sherwyn Saul. The team was recognized for developing the innovative OBS, which has nine locations across Penn State, five more underway and a free app on the Apple App Store that has been used by more than 100 institutions globally.

The second went to the Application Development and Reporting Services team, consisting of Cyndi Carey, Wade Claar, Jennifer McCauley, André N’guettia, Gaurav Puri, Eric Rook and Christy Taylor. They were recognized for planning and implementing a new developing process in a single development environment, a life cycle process and quality programming.

Resource Responsibility

The Resource Responsibility award is given to an individual or group across Penn State IT that significantly helped reduce or consolidate resources needed to deliver an IT service. This year, two awards were granted.

The first went to the Smeal College of Business’s Research, Instruction and Information Technology group multimedia team, which consists of Ian Nalepa, Jonathan Beightol, Wallington Del Castillo, Chad Fuller and Matthew Ross. They were recognized for developing a new portrait service for Smeal students, who can have professional portraits taken to use in their LinkedIn profiles at little cost to the University. The process allows students to register for a photo session, visit a kiosk and then receive their head shots by email after they’re taken.

The second went to Emily Martell and Jody Harpster from the College of Education. They were recognized for streamlining the process of delivering, procuring and delivering systems in the college. By using an existing ticketing system, no new costs were incurred. 

To learn more about the IT Impact Awards and more ways to thank colleagues across Penn State for their IT-related work, visit https://it.psu.edu/connects/it-recognizes. For more stories about IT at Penn State, visit Current at http://current.it.psu.edu.

 

Last Updated January 9, 2015

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