Think. Teach. Do. Awards Celebrate Staff Achievements.
Think. Teach. Do. Awards Celebrate Staff Achievements
Eleven School of Public Health staff members received Think. Teach. Do. Staff Awards in the first two quarters of 2024 in recognition of their efforts in helping foster a supportive and productive campus culture.
Modeled after SPH’s core purpose, “Think. Teach. Do. For the health of all,” the awards program acknowledges staff achievements, behaviors, and strong work ethics that embody SPH’s core mission and values. It was developed by the Staff Recognition & Awards Subcommittee, an extension of the Staff Senate, in collaboration with Ira Lazic, associate dean for administration and finance.
The program aims to enhance team morale and staff resilience while rewarding staff excellence at the School and is designed to stimulate innovation and novel approaches to work-related tasks and projects that benefit individual departments, SPH, or Boston University, as a whole. Awards are given to individuals for each of the three categories on a quarterly basis, and both part-time and full-time staff members are eligible.
Think.
The Think. Award is presented to an individual who has demonstrated exceptional innovation in research activities, program development, or the creation or implementation of tools and systems that improve processes at SPH.
Elvin Marino, assistant director in the Office of Admissions, received a Think Award for streamlining a system to input prospective student information while admission staffers are recruiting in remote locations. Marino created a request-for-information tool that time-stamped and geolocated student information to each remote admissions event and fed information directly into the existing student CRM database used by Admissions. His new tool helped increase the number of additional inquiries by 400% over the previous fall admissions cycle. Marino was also the key staffer coordinating international student documents, described as a labor-intensive and customer-focused role that requires knowledge of and adherence to multiple deadlines.
Ryan Wisniewski, assistant director of the practicum program, received a Think Award for managing the development of a new Practicum Portal System in conjunction with BEDAC. Wisniewski is responsible for all academic components of the student practicum required for the MPH degree. His nominating letter cited the many improvements to this student experience he has made, with one of the most recent being the complete system redesign of the practicum portal. Wisniewski solicited feedback from current and former users of the portal, both faculty and students, proposed changes based on the results, then worked with BEDAC to implement a new portal that has updated functionality, design, and performance.
Emily Doke, learning facilitator for the Online MPH, received a Think Award for playing a pivotal role in shaping the development and success of the Online MPH program. Her nominators cited her dedication to enhancing student learning experiences and her collaborative spirit as having made a significant impact within the Online MPH community. A highlight of Doke’s achievements in her role was the development of the Learning Facilitator (LF) guide, which serves as a comprehensive resource for training, mentoring and onboarding staff. This guide has not only streamlined the onboarding process, her nominators note, but has also ensured consistency in the standards of operations for new staff and played a pivotal role in training three new LFs who now rely on her as a trusted resource and mentor.
Heatherly Mitch, senior research administrator for the Department of Global Health, received a Think Award for her work in helping secure grants that enabled faculty to advance their scholarship. Her nominator cited her tireless work supporting the management of exiting grants and the submission of new grants, all while offering invaluable advice and guidance. For one such submission, unexpected circumstances required a last-minute, round-the-clock effort—including during Mitch’s own leisure time—to ensure that the job was completed successfully before the deadline.
Teach.
The Teach Award is presented to an individual who has taken ownership of key concerns and needs, acted on opportunities, solved problems, or brought people and resources together to make processes at SPH more efficient and accessible for others.
Eva Asllani, senior financial coordinator in the Department of Global Health, received a Teach. Award for “unwavering commitment to elevating the skills and knowledge of those working with her in GH.” Her nominators praised Asllani’s work in training and coordinating the functions of the student administrative support for the GH department, which allowed other core department staff to handle larger or more challenging department items. She was also recognized for ensuring that every faculty member was instructed on how to use their travel card and reconcile and report all transactions within the Concur system. Nominators noted that travel expense reconciliation is often a daunting task given the frequent travel for research and conferences, and significant number of expenses to report, often in multiple currencies.
Tom Dauria, assistant dean for finance, budget, & planning, received a Teach Award for his commitment and expertise in enhancing the administrative capabilities within SPH administration. Nominators praised Dauria’s work to create and lead a comprehensive training series targeting Directors of Administration and various unit leads across the school. The resulting program outlined the process of extracting and reconciling reports within SAP, providing participants with invaluable insights into effective budget monitoring and expenditure management. Dauria’s leadership in conducting the training sessions was praised for empowering the school’s administrative team to act as prudent stewards of BUSPH funds, and helped ensure the school’s resources are managed efficiently and responsibly.
Brandon Ruggiero, assistant director of research administration, received a Teach Award for his work creating different tools to improve the management and administration of grants. Nominators hailed Ruggiero’s work in overseeing several GH faculty grant portfolios and also collaborating other departments to create new processes to help streamline the grant administration pipeline. He was recognized for taking the lead in hiring three research administrators and created an onboarding packet to help smooth the process to get incoming RAs up to speed quickly. Nominators also cited Ruggiero’s work as “bringing people and resources together to make processes more coherent and accessible” with the aim of making SPH a more efficient school in terms of grant administration.
Do.
The Do Award is presented to an individual who has created extensive opportunities for others toward community building and making connections through programs, policies, and/or spaces, honoring the experiences of various populations and reflecting the SPH core purpose of sparking social change, fostering a sense of belonging, and building relationships across differences.
Melanie Gilreath-Chaisson, director of people services, received a Do. Award for her dedication and excellence in her role, which nominators cited as significant contributions to the smooth operation and success of the school, especially in supporting doctoral students and updating critical operational policies. Her commitment to ensuring that all doctoral students engaged in teaching assistantships were paid promptly and accurately was described as particularly commendable, as the attention to detail and proactive approach in managing the payroll process helped alleviated financial concerns for our students, allowing them to focus on their academic and teaching responsibilities. Nominators said her work both demonstrated her competence in administrative tasks and her deep care for student well-being.
Denise Sanchez, senior financial administrator in community health sciences, received a Do Award for her dedication in managing all ISSO applications, ensuring the seamless processing of international scholars’ paperwork. Nominators praised Sanchez for her “meticulous approach and adept advisement” that greatly benefited our international faculty and staff, making her an “indispensable asset in facilitating these crucial applications.” Sanchez was also lauded for her work organizing significant departmental events such as the CHS retreat, which nominators said showed her organizational prowess and commitment to fostering unity. The successful event helped play a major role in bringing faculty and staff together under the leadership of the new department chair, enhancing departmental cohesion and morale.
Erica Augustine, associate director of the Dean’s Office, received a Do Award for her outstanding work in helping bring the SPH community together in the spring semester in light of the conflict in Gaza. Nominators noted Augustine’s help in managing the increases in both messaging and programming organized by the Dean’s Office, work that expanded across several educational and administrative sectors, including DEIJ and Practice. Augustine was commended for going beyond her daily role by putting in extra time and attending all community sessions on the conflict and navigating extremely sensitive conversations with grace and compassion. Nominators wrote that the entire SPH community has benefited from her careful coordination of community events, creating a strong campus culture through a challenging time.
Selene Vences, research and data manager in the Department of Environmental Health, received a Do Award for her dedication and passion for blending community service, diversity and inclusion, and public health action—all while demonstrating what nominators hailed as “incredible organization, extreme care, and brilliant curiosity.” As the point person handling planning for a conference in Guatemala, Vences took on the logistical challenge of ensuring faculty and doctoral students could focus on their academic tasks, all while bringing together multiple members of the international team who had never met before. Several nominators cited Vences’ interpersonal skills and her “remarkable ability to bridge the divides between faculty, staff, postdocs, doctoral students, and master’s students.” One nominator noted that Vences often brings homemade gifts of pastries and hand-sewn bags for EH faculty, staff and students along with inquiries about new inclusive research methods and context questions that help raise the quality of EH research