Staff Highlights
OUE staff news, highlights, and accolades from the previous year.
Award Winners
Dr. Jennifer Hirsch Wins ANAK Society Award
Each year, the ANAK Society presents the ANAK Award to honor a faculty member who has demonstrated “outstanding service to the Institute and to the student body.” This year’s co-recipient was SLS Director Dr. Jennifer Hirsch.
Jamie White-Jones Wins Spirit of GT Award
This award recognizes staff who inspire others with their presence and professionalism, creating an environment where others flourish and thrive. Nominees embody what it means to be a Georgia Tech employee and make the workplace better for others.
Dr. Monica Halka Co-winner of Innovation in Co-curricular Education Award
The award recognizes faculty members who increase student learning outside the traditional curriculum and help Georgia Tech achieve its strategic goal of graduating global citizens who can contribute to all sectors of society.
Stephanie Reikes Wins 2021 Undergraduate Educator Award
The award recognizes outstanding contributions to undergraduate education among non-tenure track faculty with 75 – 100 percent appointments who teach undergraduate courses and have completed at least two semesters.
Promotions/Role Changes
James Barricelli
Promoted to Executive Director, Career Center
Linda Green
Hired as Director, Tutoring & Academic Support
Monica Halka
Retiring after 16 years at the Honors Program
Lacy Hodges
Promoted to Senior Academic Professional
Karen Houston
Appointed as the Interim for the Co-op and Intern Program & Operations Manager, Career Center
Recha Reid
Promoted to Assistant Director of Student Innovation and Undergraduate Research (AEP)
Kari White
Served as the Interim Associate Director for Housing and Residence Life Administration
Notable Achievements
Academic Engagement Programs
Allyson Tant
- Assigned additional duties to assist with the Tutoring and Academic Support office along with assisting OUE with the reorganization of units
- Provided support to Summer Session Initiatives
Alison Southern
- Hired as a Tech Temp (Business Operations Manager) to support living learning operations and recruitment
Chris Reaves
- Served as Services and Central Administration Representative on the Faculty Senate
Recha Reid
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Present at the virtual VentureWell Open 2021 with Brandy Stanfield-Nagel, EI2.
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Presented with representatives from UGA, Emory, and GSU at the virtual 2021 Deshpande Symposium
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Presented with representatives from UGA, Emory, and GSU at the in-person 2021 GCEC (Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers)
Honors Program
Nicole Leonard
- Selected as an Inclusive Leaders Academy participant in January 2020 and, as of May 2020, became an Inclusive Leader’s Culture Champion
Lauren Evans
- Encouraged, supported, partnered in HP communication infrastructure redesign
- Organized, led, and delivered card-writing service activity
- Organized, led, and delivered Trees Atlanta service activity
- Organized, led, and delivered Explore Atlanta enrichment activity
Tutoring & Academic Support
Justin Boone
- Elected as Georgia Representative for Southeastern College Learning Center Association
Stephanie Tran
- Supported two PLUS leaders who designed and lead a workshop at the Southeastern Supplemental Instruction Regional Conference, September 2020
Pre-Graduate & Pre-Professional Advising
Susan Belmonte
- Completed the 2021 GT Inclusive Leaders Academy
- Presented at 2021 American Educational Research Association conference
Francisco Castelan
- Served as a panelist for Harvard Medical School’s “Applying to Medical School During COVID-19″ session for prospective applicants and the pre-health community
- Co-presented information about “Medical School Admissions: Lessons Learned from the COVID Pandemic” as a panelist for AAMC’s 2020 Conference
Shannon Dobranski
- Co-Presented at GTAAN Best Practices Conference
- Oversaw PGPP transition to AdvisorLink
Monique Morris
- Completed Appreciative Advising Course
- Established LOE advising drop in hours
Karen Mura
- Completed Appreciative Advising Course
- Participated in NAFA book group for keynote speaker Anthony Jack
Career Center
Richard South
- Appointed to the Advisory Board of the Executive Roundtable
Scott Green
- GACE Technology Committee Co-Chair
- Co-presented at the Symplicity 2021 Symposium “Engagement of Students during Covid”
Clarence Anthony Jr.
- Served as a committee member for Future of Skill Development and Hiring
- Participated in the NACE Management Leadership Institute
- Served as a Black History Month keynote for Georgia Tech’s Supporting work around anti-racism, mindfulness and Solidarity (SWARMS)
Laura Garcia
- Co-led the Career Alliance 3-Week Immersion Program in partnership with OMED
Olga Kotlyar
- Participated in four search committees for searches and hires of the Career Center
Andrea Comsa
- Joined the North America Co-op Directors’ Group
- Co-presented at the Symplicity 2021 Symposium “Engagement of Students during Covid”
- Panelist for the “CSM Symposium Series: Best Practices for a Virtual World”
- Obtained recertification for Professional Human Resources (PHR)
Chiragi Patel
- Obtained the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace Certificate from USF Muma College of Business
Summer & Special Session Initiatives
Christina Wan
- Presented at the NASPA 2021 Annual Conference in spring 2021
- Presented at the Connecting: Student Engagement During COVID-19 conference in Spring 2021
De Morris Walker
- Led a New Administrator Workshop training session for the North American Association of Summer Sessions
- Presented at the UF Conference Assessment in Higher Education: Enhancing Institutional Excellence
Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education
Kenji Terawaki
- Part of S.W.A.R.M.S. and OUE Equity Collective group
- Help to raise the awareness of diversity, solidarity, equity, and mindfulness among staff members and students
- Served as a liaison between Enterprise Data Management and OUE
Criss Miller
- Returned to Tech on a Temporary Basis, applied and received new position Assistant to the Associate Vice Provost and Program Manager.
- Helped successfully navigate the transition of the Vice Provost position
- Produced events for First Year Fall Abroad, including a kick-off luncheon with members from the French Consulate
Serve-Learn-Sustain
Kris Chatfield
- Joined Steering Committee for RCE Americas
Ruthie Yow
- Awarded, with PI Philip Ojo (Professor of French, Agnes Scott) an AGREC (Atlanta Global Research and Education Collaborative) to launch a pilot program: the Global Communities Internship, engaging students and faculty partners from five institutions
- Helped to start the OUE Equity Collective
Rebecca Watts Hull
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Joined the national AASHE STARS Steering Committee. Initiated and co-led two global AASHE workshops on advancing equity within Education for Sustainable Development and empowering students to become agents of change
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Significantly re-designed and led our iGniTe Sustainable Communities program of roughly 80 students to effectively serve both on- and off-campus students
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Co-led the Drawdown Georgia Equity Project
Retention Initiatives
Brent Griffin
- Participated in FlameNet, an organization dedicated to studying factors that influence learning, attitudes, and mindset in STEM education
Charmaine Troy
- A member of the NASPA Black First-Gen Collective. She and her colleagues in the collected published an April 2021 article in Diverse: Issues in Higher Education
Undergraduate Advising & Transition
Stephanie Aluko
- Presented at NACADA 2021 Virtual National Conference
- Presented at GTAAN 2021 Virtual Best Practices Conference
- Collaborated with the Exploratory Center at UGA to provide best practices for working with exploring/undecided students
Savitra Dow
- Presented a conference session on Leadership Development in Team Leaders at the 40th Annual Conference on the First-Year Seminar (held virtually)
- Organized and implemented our first fully virtual GT 1000/2000 Instructor-TL Celebration
Crystal Fowler
- Participated in the Skill Path Leadership & Management Skills for Women Professional Development course
- Helped create the “Ask Me Anything” series, a spin-off of the “Ask Me About” series, which allowed students to stay connected to our faculty & staff during the COVID pandemic
Beth Spencer
- Taught HTS 2080 (History of Disease & Medicine) successfully in a hybrid format in Fall 2020
- Re-elected for a second term on Student Regulations Committee
- Participated in the 2021 NACADA Administrators’ Institute
Russell Wallis
- Started a new position as Salesforce Advisor Link Administrator Summer 2020
- Completed Administrative Essentials for New Admins in Lightning Experience training for Salesforce and completed 16 Salesforce trailheads (badges)
- Contributed to campus launch of the Advising Technology help portal in Service Now