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Superior Performance Award Archive

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December 2018

Brett Traino nominated Rebecca Perret, facilities specialist, for her leadership and execution of the OPP Holiday Bazaar.

Turtle Patterson and Bill McVicker nominated Phil Weber, stockroom clerk, for his hard work and dedication to OPP Stores.

Keith Brainard nominated Mike Seyler, Marshall Teeters, Heather Waite, Harley Moore, Nicole Teeters, Tina Witherite, Ryan Johnstonbaugh, Robert Dickinson, Derek Thomas, Greg Capparelle, Darlene Bowman, Michael Gibboney, George Irwin, Melvin Fleck, Karen Walker, Donna Ash, Deb Smith, Jamie Streicher, Jeff Fohringer, Robert King, Ray Meyer, Josh Korman, Jeff Sayers, Matt Maclay, Wayne Spencer, and Ray Chambers in recognition of their hard work at Beaver Stadium.

November 2018

Bruce Cifelli, Dave Demko and Amber Schoenauer nominated Vonda Gettig, administrative support assistant, for a Superior Performance Award. She was nominated for her "commitment to customer service, going above and beyond while being down an administrative assistant, and for her extensive knowledge of how the Service Garage functions."

September 2018

Jeanne Higgins, administrative support coordinator, nominated Chris Matish for a Superior Performance Award. "Chris is a true asset to the ITS Department. He truly exemplifies the word 'service' in its title and is always willing to help whenever you ask for assistance. He is always cheerful and very pleasant to converse with whether by phone, email or in person. He is very knowledgeable in his work and continues to follow up with you until your requests/issues have been resolved. No job is too large or a bother for Chris and he has been a wonderful contact person for us, especially during the Office 365 migration. His personality and customer service skills are stellar and it will be a great loss when he leaves ITS."

Vince Ferraro, facilities supervisor, nominated Corey Foster, Douglas Kiffer, John Levonick and John Stephens for a Superior Performance Award. "These technicians are nominated for their ssistance in developing and executing new procedures required for preventative maintenance of chemical fume exhaust systems in Chemistry, Steidle and Millennium Science Buildings."

Darin Bressler, HVAC supervisor, nominated Brad Miller, Dale Merritts, Dustin Zimerman, Ken Long, Mike Pringle, Kevin Potts and Logan Johnson for their work saving irreplaceable research. "These technicians worked normal hours, overtime and a call out to save irreplaceable research that was in a environmental chamber. This equipment needed to be a constant temperature, which required the chamber to be monitored until the the part could be delivered and installed."

August 2018

Heidi Port, administrative coordinator to the director, Palmer Art Museum, nominated Hilary Stewart and Tyler Kibe for their help during a water leak. "A special thanks to Hilary Stewart and Tyler Kibe for stepping up and helping during a water leak in the Director’s office at the Palmer Museum of Art on July 13th. They realized the urgency of the situation and helped provide the necessary equipment for the OPP staff who arrived to locate the issue and stood by throughout the day to help with the clean-up, brought fans to help with the drying process and helped dry books. Thank you for your help. It was much appreciated."

July 2018

Pat Kasper nominated Lee Shreckengast for a job well done on the Summer 2018 Warnock, Runkle and Leete projects. "Area 5 was given a big job to do and we only had 5 days to do the work. We had a punch list to fix units behind a contractor that had performed work on all the fan coil units in each dorm room in Leete and Runkle Halls. The punch list was incomplete and missing details. Lee organized his fellow employees with a game plan, went from room to room testing each unit and completing the work. The housing manager was short on labor and didn't have the resources to complete all the work that was involved, she was thrilled with the work Lee had done and in the time he did it."

Tim Pryor nominated Matt Grieco for providing leadership to his team during a difficult time of transition and loss. "Matt provided leadership through a difficult year. 2017 was a year of new leadership and the loss of a close colleague. During this time Matt served as an anchor for the team and helped them get through this difficult time. Thank you for you support and sacrifice for your fellow team members!"

Andrew Gutbberlet nominated Steve Oskin for outstanding efforts in support of Engineering Services for the past seven and a half years. "Steve is departing OPP to take a new job. I'd like to recognize his 7 and a half years of outstanding support to the Continuous Commissioning Program and other supporting roles. Over the course of his tenure here at the Office of Physical Plant, Steve has successfully implemented more than 40 Continuous Commissioning projects resulting in the cumulative savings to the University in the millions of dollars. In addition, he has been key to the development of the mechanical water treatment program, the implementation of electric vehicles, the support of solar initiatives, and the evaluation of new and innovative building systems. His enthusiasm, technical expertise, focus on results, and innovative problem solving will be greatly missed by the University."

June 2018

Allen Bonsell nominated Erin D. Barto for providing needed assistance in front desk coverage during increased vacancies. "During the past couple of months, there have been several vacancies which caused the need for increased coverage for the front desk, Erin was approached to cover the desk. She covered the desk for a month, and then was asked to provide additional time. Erin, always is willing to do what she can in order to help the organization when needed."

Craig Dubler nominated Chris Halbig for outstanding dedication and performance regarding the Solufy AKWIRE Upgrade. "Without question, Chris dedicated himself to the Akwire (Maximo Scheduling Software) upgrade ahead of it's plannned schedule. During the upgrade Chris worked seamlessly with our external vendor, Solufy. The team from Solufy praised Chris's performance and specified that the reason that the upgrade went so well was due to Chris's dedication and constant communication. The upgrade was performed in much less time than anticipated and the system was back online in record time."

Chad Illig nominated John Rossman, Nate Corrigan, David Rishell, Dan Wilkenson, and supervisor, Andrew Hughes for exceeding expectations for concrete floor polishing. "The Stone Care Crew recently completed polishing of the concrete floors at the new Agricultural Engineering Building. The crew completed this work while construction in the building was occurring which required the team to coordinate with the construction contractors and to be flexible with the provided work areas. Even faced with these challenges the Stone Care Team provided a finished product that exceeded expectations on schedule."

May 2018

Doug Hagman nominated William Feidler for going above and beyond to help out a Faculty member. "I would like to inform you of the effort provided by Willie, an Armsby Custodian, to locate a Conference Room for me. I thought the room I had scheduled was Room 4 rather than Room 104. Willie looked unsuccessfully for a Room 4 and contacted the Office Staff that found I was scheduled for Room 104. Willie then made a trip downstairs and brought my materials up to Room 104 for me. I should note that I am 83 years of age and recovering from a knee replacement. Willie went out of his way to assist me in a most delightful and helpful way. We need more Willie's!"

Doug Hagman also nominated Hilary Stewart and Tammy Lucas to recognize their emergency assistance to a felow employee. "At the Ag Admin building on Monday 5/14/2018, At approximately 11:40am two custodial employees Tammy Lucas and Hilary Stewart were at the back loading ramp of the Ag Administration Building. An employee who works in the building Patricia Ingram walked out of the exit doors (G102) tripped at the edge of the landing and fell down 4 steps to the lower landing. The two custodians didn’t see her fall but did hear her and went to her aid. Tammy made the woman comfortable without moving her and Hilary called 3111 for emergency assistance. The two waited with Patricia until emergency services arrived. It appeared Patricia’s injuries were a possible broken wrist, facial abrasions and possibly other injuries associated with the fall."

Derek Kalp nominated Jason McCoy for bringing an amazing level of focus, detail, and expertise to the complicated, Scranton Mall project under the pressure of a tight deadline. "He made some recommendations to the layout and grading of the site that made tremendous improvements to the original concept. He went the extra mile to research alternative materials and solutions for key elements of the design. He also deftly handled difficult questions from the Chancellor of the campus and other team members during project meetings."

Lora Lee Brinton nominated Mary Grove and Amy Ramage for their assistance with the implementation of Workday and the processing of payroll during holidays. "With the implementation of Workday on 12/10/17, the first tech-service payroll would pay on 1/5/18. This schedule necessitated processing payroll during the December holidays. Mary and Amy willingly accepted the challenge of getting the payroll processed in a new system, while reconciling Abacus so both systems had matching data. All tech-service employees were paid their 80 hours of regular pay. This endeavor was not without challenges, including contacting supervisors for time card submission and approval after they had left for the holidays, as well as working on 12/22/17, 12/24/17 and 12/26/18, which limited their time with family during the holiday season."

Erik Cagle nominated Ashley Hall for handling sharps receptables installation. "Sharps receptacles were installed in select buildings around campus (Willard, Sparks, HUB, Westgate, Pattee Library, and Forum) to provide safe disposal locations for students, faculty, and staff. Ashley completed the installation of all sharps receptacles in a timely and professional manner, contributing to a safer and healthier campus."

April 2018

Erik Cagle nominated Adam Zimmerman for handling sharps receptacles installation. "Sharps receptacles were installed in select buildings around campus (Willard, Sparks, HUB, Westgate, Pattee Library, and Forum) to provide safe disposal locations for students, faculty, and staff. Adam completed the installation of all sharps receptacles in a timely and professional manner, contributing to a safer and healthier campus."

March 2018

Sam Bertolino nominated Forrest Rishel for performing computer support duties above and beyond his normal duties. "Forrest has been providing support for Design Services computer hardware assets above and beyond the duties of his normal role of a Facilities Designer. He has collected and maintained tracking records of all Design Services computers, assisted in determining the configuration needs of new computers and staff and coordinated extensively with OPP ITS support staff in the ordering and deployment of new computers; all while meeting the needs of his various day to day design projects. None of the computer duties that he performs are normal duties for a Facilities Designer."

Erik Cagle nominated David Brown for his successful coordination and completion of sharps receptacle initiative. "Sharps receptacles were installed in select buildings around campus (Willard, Sparks, HUB, Westgate, Pattee Library, and Forum) to provide safe disposal locations for students, faculty, and staff. Dave oversaw the installation of these receptacles by two of his maintenance technicians. Dave's technicians completed the job in a timely and professional manner, contributing to a safer and healthier campus."

Kelly Clemons was nominated by Erik Cagle and Justin Wisor for her outstanding oversight and implementation of the 2018 Matting Replacement Order. "Kelly volunteered to oversee the 2018 Matting Replacement order due there being a vacancy in the Custodial Programs Supervisor position."

February 2018

Rebecca Perret was nominated for exceeding expectations as interim Work Control Utility Shut Down Coordinator. "During the time of a Work Control Utility Shut Down Coordinator position being temporarily vacated, Rebecca volunteered to assume the responsibility of Utility Shut Down Coordinator and managed maintenance work orders requiring any disruption of service until the temporary situation was final. She willingly left her Administrative Assistant duties in an effort of fulfilling the much-needed role of Utility Shut Down Coordinator. During the 3 months of transition, Rebecca performed her duties with a great focus on maintaining organizational priorities and applying consistent workflow operation while enhancing interdepartmental collaboration."

January 2018

Tim Pryor nominated Clayton Powers, Bill Gillmen, Tom Walker, and Bob Krasinski for their hard work. "Their support during the freeze issues this winter's cold snap was very much appreciated."

December 2017

Nate Patrick and Chad Illig nominated Jared Bayer and Corey Runkle for going above and beyond typical job responsibilities. They said, "Upon completion of a mechanical improvements project on the Chilled Water System at Old Main, numerous cooling issues throughout the building were reported by the occupants. After discussions among the project team, several possible issues were identified. The project team asked Jared and Corey to troubleshoot the entire chilled water system to help resolve the known issues and identify any other potential issues. Jared and Corey spent countless days tracing the chilled water lines, rebalancing the system, and identifying missing components without inconveniencing the occupants at Old Main. According to Mary Lou Carothers at Old Main, she did not hear any complaints from the occupants nor did she even notice Jared and Corey while they went about their business. They were both very low key, unobtrusive, and accommodating.  Their professionalism and willingness to work in less than ideal circumstances and around less than happy occupants turned a 'hot' situation into a success. Their attitude reflects very positively on the Office of Physical Plant."

Keith Brainard nominated Heather Fishburn for group leading District 12 for four months.

Keith Brainard nominated Gary Thomas, Michael Seyler, Josh Wirtz, Cherie Kinley, Nina Enin, Samantha Buchan, Marshall Teeters, Albert Darpino, Frank Hipple, Victoria Foltz, Jessica Ortegon, and Wayne Spencer for being a member of the Beaver Stadium team that accomplished so much during the 2017 football season.

Keith Brainard nominated Greg Capparelle, Chris Monsell, Tom Moore, George Irwin, Melvin Fleck, Rhonda Brungart, Donna Ash, Karen Walker, Jaime Streicher, Tina Witherite, Brenda Holt, Lisa Johnson, Jeff Fohringer, Ray Chambers, Anthony Bower, Ray Meyer, Josh Korman, Darlene Bowman, John Rearick, Robert King, and Mike Gibboney for choosing to work a majority of the Penn State home football games during on of the largest attended seasons of all time.

November 2017

Ryan McCaughey nominated Laurie Henry, Abby Lodge, and Rebekah Detwiler for creating a landscape satellite storeroom. Ryan said, "I would like to thank them for all their hard work in setting up the landscape and OMPEC satellite storerooms. We are including a lot of new processes in these store rooms that will be the pilot for others moving forward and took a lot of effort on their part to get them in place."

Ricky Witherite nominated Keith Stevens and John Rossman for an excellent job preparing the Bellisario Building for the dedication. "The Carnegie (now Bellisario) custodial crew worked tirelessly preparing the building for the dedication ceremony that was held on October 20th. I believe these custodians went above and beyond preparing the building for this event. The building looked pristine for the dedication."

October 2017

Mark Crowley nominated Jonathan Bierly, Rebekah Detwiler, Teresa Lucas, and Lisa Smeltzer for providing outstanding performance, customer support, and training while being short staffed. Mark said, "They have demonstrated outstanding performance and customer support while being short staffed due to three retirements and one job vacancy. They have been taking on all the duties of these four vacant positions while keeping up with their own day to day duties, while also being involved in the hiring of the replacements. When successful candidates were hired, they then became their trainers."

September 2017

Dan Rivera nominated Mark Rose, Ken Arnold, Mark Reynolds, and Timothy Coudriet for volunteering to stay during an emergency event. Dan said, "They volunteered to stay during an emergency event at the Huck Life Sciences Building on August 21 to install a standby generator. The Huck Life Sciences emergency safety/equipment generator was damaged by a lightning storm and the technicians generously worked through the day and into the late hours to disconnect and reinstall a temporary generator."

August 2017

Steve Maruszewski nominated Adam Sumner for his extra effort. Steve said, "He went above and beyond to contribute to the overall student experience." 

Steve Maruszewski nominated Tom Flynn, Matt Wolf, and Brian Phiel for their hard work and commitment. Steve shared, "They supported and participated in a significant student initiative."

Corey Lucas and Mike Snider nominated Matt Rothrock and Mike Neff for their outstanding performance in the remediation of glycol loss at the Sackett-Hammond chilled water system. "Thank you for your dedication, perserverance, and commitment."

Bill Sitzabee nominated Tim Boone for his exceptional customer service. "I was walking to Old Main one day and Tim Boone was mowing the grass near the HDev building when a group of visitors/potential students walked by with a Lion Ambassador. The Lion Ambassador was talking, so Tim shut off the power to the motor so that the families could hear the information on the tour. As soon as they were a safe distance away, he turned it back up and continued mowing. This is a terrific example of how each one of us in OPP can have a positive impact on our students, visitors and guests' experiences. Thank you for your dedicated service."

July 2017

Phumara Cox and Ryan McCaughey nominated Janel Fitzgerald for organizing a successful and memorable 2017 ULAGM (University Landscape Architects and Grounds Managers) Conference. "We would like to commend Janel for her efforts in delivering a successful and memorable conference. Her attention to detail and determination to provide a quality event was noticed and appreciated. Shine on!"

Phumara Cox and Erik Cagle nominated Sandie Ghaner for her contribution to the Team Cleaning implementation. "Sandie's work speaks volumes of the kind of person she is -- efficient, organized, and caring. With these attributes, Sandie juggled two positions and was able to help ensure all ballots went out in a timely manner, communicated with various custodial employees, and helped successfully roll out the team cleaning process. Sandie's contribution to the Team Cleaning implementation proves what we already know--she is a team player and a connoisseur of excellence. Thank you for going above and beyond."

Amy Frantz nominated Glenn Hackett for a job well done at the hospital. "When new water meters were installed at Mount Nittany Medical Center, and we were not getting the readings we expected, Glenn went above and beyond helping to resolve the issues. He took it upon himself each morning to get reads to see if the water use each day was getting to an acceptable measure.  He also figured out the problem and addressed it -- now the water meters are working as expected."

Kristin Sykes nominated Jolene Kost, Bing Zhu, Elli McKenna, Mary Wellar, Shelby Foster, Penny Sue Aikey, Amy Ramage, and Tracy Gunsallus for he dedication, hard work and excellent display of team work that resulted in an extremely successful fiscal year end close. "This team of folks worked tirelessly to ensure a successful closure of fiscal year 2016-2017, often times sacrificing their own personal time to ensure deadlines were met. They performed their own duties, as well as those of the two vacant positions within the office, and were very successful in doing so."

Sam Bertolino nominated Jonathan Walker for his for his professionalism and dedication in performing late night lighting level readings at Beaver Stadium. "On multiple occasions Jonathan performed light level readings late into the night at Beaver Stadium in support of preparations for the first ever concert at Beaver Stadium. These readings were done competently and professionally and included walking throughout Beaver Stadium nearly to midnight. The results were compiled into a well prepared report that was successfully used for additional planning for the concert. This "off-hours" work was done willingly and cheerfully by Jonathan despite him having a young family at home at the same time. His dedication and professionalism is to be commended."

Turtle Patterson and Chuck Dills nominated Phil Weber for going above and beyond on a daily basis. "Phil is constantly on the move working on our shelves or in our out buildings keeping track of orders that have been on receiving too long and just clearing our shelves of old/out of date shipments that have never been picked up. We have been able to restructure our receiving area due to Phil in a large part. On June 19 we had horrible downpours of rain. Phil unloaded a truck in the rain getting soaked and did not complain one bit. It would have been easy for anyone to wait and see if the rain would let up but Phil bulled right into it. That is what he does and it is a great example to his peers."

June 2017

Connie Brumgard nominated George Emel, Isaac Lauck, and Chad Alterio for their exemplary performance of initiative, design, and installation resulting in cost savings. "They removed an obsolete, decrepit R-12, wall water fountain, and all old plumbing features. They then reconfigured the wall cavity to accept a new standard water fountain instead of a costly, specialized, water fountain. Eliminated the need to cut into an interior cement block wall, saving double the cost and time of the entire job."

Connie Brumgard nominated Darren Dixon, Isaac Lauck, Todd Jordan, Justin Simanski, and Jeff McCloskey for their superior work performance eliminating major plumbing issues in HUB. "These individuals worked tirelessly to resolve a severe plumbing clog that would have flooded the main kitchen within the HUB foods area during peek serving times. This flooding would have shut the food court down, resulting in thousands of revenue dollars."

Turtle Patterson and Jason Robertson nominated Rebekah Detwiler for her extraordinary work at OPP stores. "She not only thoroughly knows her job, she has the drive to learn others jobs and processes. She is willing to help everyone out with any problem they have. Bekah exceeds in the helpful department. We ask a great deal from her and she is always ready to take on the challenge."

May 2017

Ryan McCaughey nominated Brian Phiel, Buddy Houck, Jason Hockenberry, Cliff Reed, Matt Graham, John Ronk, Drew Beben, Corby Fetterolf, Jeremy Vonada, John Snook, George McConnell, and Al Capparelle for their after hours storm response. "We are very thankful for their response to the severe thunderstorms that swept through the region on May 1."

Bruce Smith nominated Phumara Cox and Susan Bedsworth for their leadership associated with developing and implementing the 2017 OPP "Take Our Daughters and Sons To Work Day." "Phumara and Susan recognized the need for OPP to organize a program for 'Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day.' In less than a month they developed the program and communicated the details. Over 85 students and staff participated in Stadium and Shop tours, planted flowers, and they also had the opportunity to explore the career of their choice. The event was a tremendous success."

Pam Garbini nominated Tom Kase and Mike Weaver for exemplary stewardship in the care of general purpose classrooms to benefit students. "Tom and Mike are responsible for the care and condition of General Purpose Classrooms, which are heavily used during finals. They make it a point to try and make sure *all* of the rooms are functioning as intended, so as not to add to stress for the students. Two specific examples from this semester: Tom discovered that some light switches were malfunctioning in one of the large lecture rooms Osmond Lab (turning off and not turning back on), and made sure the switches were signed so that they would not be inadvertently turned off in the middle of an exam, and arranged for the malfunctioning switch to be replaced that night. In the Life Science Building, Mike discovered that some students had moved furniture out of a classroom and into the bridge to create some group study space, except that there was a final scheduled in the classroom now without furniture. Mike got the furniture moved back so the final would not be disrupted."

Jeff McDonald nominated Ken Arnold, Bob Rice, Chad Entz, Chris Henninger Jr., Jason Supenia, Dave Cole, Brandon Clark, Greg Yoder, Fred Heiss, Shane Michaels, Steve Francisko, Andy Estright, Chad Haagen, and Corey Bradley for their storm work in the month of May. "After the severe thunderstorm on 5/1/17, the campus electrical distribution system was compromised.  We had several problems the evening of May 1st, well into the morning (3:00am) of the 2nd.  Once the issues from Monday night were resolved, we had a utility pole break, in the middle of a horse pasture, at 5:00am. The crew was called out for all the problems just mentioned and work safely and professionally, as one team, to restore normal power to campus, as quickly as possible. I scheduled a utility outage to complete the work necessary, to return our Farm Line circuit to normal on 5/5/17. On that morning, the area was receiving close to an inch of rain. The crew decided that they would work through the storm to get the work completed, before days end. Graduation ceremonies were being held that evening throughout campus, and the crew wanted the system to be reliable. Great job by everyone mentioned above. The crew went above and beyond to restore normal power to the University. They completed a tremendous amount of dangerous work safely and took pride in their work as they completed it."

Don Wallace nominated Tony D. Villella, Tony L. Villella, Sean Harris, and Ben Thomas for their outstanding work during a critical outage. "OPP lost all chilled water servers and internet service -- the technicians had to operate two plants of the central chilled water system, which supplies chilled water to over eighty buildings without the aid of the building automation system. All the chillers and associated equipment was operated in "HAND" or local control based on gauges at the plants and Palmer Museum. The technicians had to add multiple groups of equipment to maintain the proper DP campus-wide. When our servers were back up in operation, they transitioned the system back to the automated system without any system outages.

April 2017

Connie Brumgard nominated Bill Davis and Richard Bryan for their exemplary workmanship insulating Grange mechanical room 006 piping. Connie said, "This mechanical room is very confined due to the addition of piping and equipment.  They did a great job of housekeeping -- never looked so good."

March 2017

Lora Lee Brinton nominated Chris Halbig for sharing his weekend time. Lora Lee said, "I took a chance and texted Chris on Friday evening, March 17, 2017, around 5:50 p.m. to see if the OPP VPN was out of service. He graciously answered my text and assisted me in upgrading the VPN client on my Surface. Having the forethought to troubleshoot the cellular hotspot I was using while traveling and asking the right questions showed the magnitude of commitment he has to his customers. Chris went above and beyond the call of duty on a Friday evening when work should have been the last thing on his mind. Taking an hour out of his evening to help me was very much appreciated and allowed me to complete some critical testing for the WorkLion project. I am very thankful to work in an organization that has such dedicated and knowledgeable employees who are willing to go the extra mile.  It is very much appreciated!"

Andrew Hughes nominated Nathan Corrigan, John Rossman, Daniel Wilkinson, and David Rishel for working above and beyond this month. According to Andrew, "They worked above and beyond to complete the creamery sales floor stone polish project during Spring Break."

Sam Bertolino nominated Pete Caporuscio for a Superior Performance Award for coordinating of the installation of new AutoCad Licenses. Sam said, "Pete expertly and efficiently coordinated the installation of the new AutoCAD Licenses for all of Design Services staff in January 2017. As a result, the issues that were encountered were few, minor and resolved quickly. This effort was above and beyond his normal duties and eased what would have been a severe disruption to Design Services operations had it not been successfully implemented."

February 2017

Brendan Bagley nominated six members of OPP ITS for Superior Performance Awards for their efforts during the Maximo 7.6 Upgrade Project. The group includes Jonathan Rideout, Chris Halbig, Matt Donovan, Liping Yi, Janet Beekman and Tom Martin.

Brendan said, "This team was part of the Maximo 7.6 Upgrade Project, which affected all OPP, as well as a number of University employees in some fashion. Maximo is the Work Order and Purchase Order application used for a majority of the work conducted at OPP. The superb efforts of these individuals allowed for a seamless upgrade of the Maximo application with no issues that adversely affect daily work performance.

"Their efforts and this recognition provide proof that they contributed to the success of the project in a fashion that is to be lauded and it brings great credit upon themselves, OPP ITS, OPP and Penn State."

Craig Dubler nominated three members of his FAM team for Superior Performance Awards for their efforts during the Maximo 7.6 Upgrade Project. These individuals included Joe Lonjin, Shauna Nevel and Jason Wolfgang.

Craig said, "The Maximo 7.6 Upgrade Project has been for the most part a complete success from both an implementation standpoint, as well as a combined team effort. Specifically, Shauna and Joe have each gone above and beyond to make this upgrade a success including, top-notch communication, a selfless work ethic and fulfillment of late night/last minute requests from customers and other teammates. They have truly exemplified superior performance on this effort.

"We would also like to recognize Jason who has done everything in his power to support the 7.6 Upgrade from a technical standpoint, as well as provide unlimited resources from the ever-dependable Work Reception Center. Jason has remained a solid partner in this effort and was never-wavering to lend a hand and/or provide assistance."

January 2017

Nate Patrick, project manager, and Matt Leah, energy engineer, selected Steve Garbini, facility mechanical engineer, and Chad Illig, construction service representative, for Superior Performance Awards.

Matt said, "The Agricultural Sciences & Industries and Computer Buildings have both recently seen renovations that largely focused on energy reduction strategies. These renovation projects were completed in an occupied state and are both considered critical facilities on the University Park campus. Chad Illig and Steve Garbini were critical in the success of these two projects, going above and beyond what is typically required for their daily job responsibilities and providing subject matter expertise. Utility shutdowns in both facilities were highly scrutinized and required an immense amount of planning and functional testing of existing equipment prior to construction. Without this planning and testing, critical equipment was sure to fail and the safety of building occupants could have been at risk. It is safe to say without the subject expertise of Chad and Steve, we would not have had the project success we are currently tracking."

Chad Illig selected Jon Kay, DDC specialist, and Paul Carothers, environmental systems tech, for Superior Performance Awards.

Chad said, "A recent project at Old Main involved connecting existing PTAC Units to the existing BAS Controls system on the second floor of the building. After failed attempts by the outside contractors to complete these interconnections, Jon and Paul took it upon themselves to design and implement the interlocks. Even though this task was not part of their typical job responsibilities, they took the time to design, coordinate, install and troubleshoot issues to ensure all of the units worked correctly. They also took the time to provide a brief training session to the occupants, which prevented confusion. Their expertise and professional attitude allowed for a very successful installation."