Patty Kim Celmer

“Patty was instrumental in the success of the Mainframe Data Migration project. Even with no previous mainframe knowledge and no readily available SMEs or experts, she took on the task of learning the mainframe, discovering data, and timely and correctly capturing business requirements. Patty persevered and prevailed through the complexities of understanding, mapping, and validating the mainframe data. Against all odds, she delivered converted data that met business requirements and data retention policies.”

"She very quickly learned the complex data structures and file systems and, within a few weeks, became an expert. She worked in a very methodical way with business partners all the way from business requirements through User Acceptance Testing. She collaborated with the vendor to drive the project to completion despite very tight deadlines."

Christina Fox

“For her outstanding support and partnership. She has been instrumental in helping my team grow stronger and more effective. Christina consistently holds me accountable in the best possible way—pushing me to improve while fully supporting new initiatives I introduce. Her respect, trust, and transparency have been evident from day one. Christina is a colleague who leads with integrity and empowers those around her. I’m grateful to work alongside someone who fosters both personal and professional growth.”

Vanessa Martin

“Vanessa consistently demonstrates impressive autonomy in her work. This is particularly evident in her handling of the Lab School’s frequent and complex software requests, as well as her contributions to strengthening the security posture of Globus, a key institutional partner.

In her work with the Lab School, Vanessa shows strong judgment in balancing independent action with appropriate escalation. She effectively advances initiatives— such as drafting risk acceptance letters — while thoughtfully engaging her manager when strategic input or alignment is needed. Her work with Globus reflects the same proactive mindset.”

Ashley Pitts

“I am nominating Ashley Pitts for her constant dedication to her 'regular' job while taking on at least two additional responsibilities resulting from staff retirement departures. Ashley was a high performing workhorse in our billing and customer service operation prior to this fiscal year and this year she has somehow found a way to go above and beyond that.”

Julie Sosa

“Julie has been a fantastic advocate for digital accessibility in the projects she works on and in her daily work. She ensures the accessibility of her own materials, and she raises awareness about the importance of digital accessibility during projects and procurement. Julie spends time learning more about accessibility and sharing her knowledge with others. Rather than just checking items off of a list, Julie focuses on the impact these efforts will have upon others. She is a trusted and valuable colleague."

"Julie has been an essential member of the Phoenix team over the past year, initially supporting the gift administration team during the FST project and later transitioning to work closely with our functional and technical users to document and design integration requirements. Her greatest strength is her exceptional attention to detail, which has been critical in delivering high-quality work across teams.”

Ari Volchenboum

"The Shred Fest is a community event that has a large number of senior participants. Ari assisted the community members with removing items from their cars, carrying e-waste to the truck, and removing hard drives from laptops/desktops. He wore a few different hats. He has earned the nickname "Flex" for his ability to be go with the flow and assist where needed. Ari was very respectful of the community and other volunteers. I look forward to working with Ari again in the near future."

• Emily Baker

• Hector Herrera

• Tim Hofstra

• Karen Neuhoff

• Wanda Parker

• Kolleen Ritz

• Owen Rowland

• Dan Venske

Brenda Janish

“Brenda has consistently demonstrated outstanding expertise, dedication, and a user-centric approach in her role as a UX designer consultant for the PhoenixAI project. Brenda’s expertise in refining our UI design for PhoenixAI has significantly contributed to making our platform intuitive and user-friendly as possible."

Kristina Maldonado

“Kristina has worked diligently and patiently as we’ve made multiple, multiple reviews and edits of the Service Now form for ITS Expense Requests. She has displayed patience and diplomacy despite the many iterative updates for language and workflow.”

Karen Neuhoff

“Karen’s assistance with IT Services forms for FST makes her a Star Award nominee. Her diligence in coordinating, documenting and testing was impeccable as usual and assistance in ServiceNow FST work going smoothly.”

Rene Noyola

“For the post-go-live support of the FST project, we needed to onboard Deloitte swiftly to ensure their team could start working without any delays. Rene played a pivotal role in this process, handling the creation and processing of all their CNetIDs with an impressive turnaround time of just one day.”

Kolleen Ritz

“I’d like to nominate Kolleen for her outstanding leadership in the successful launch of PhoenixAI and the development of the new generative AI website. Although there were tight deadlines, Kolleen guided the communications strategy for both projects, while fostering collaboration across various teams which led to the successful launch of both PhoenixAI and the generative AI website."

Abe Shaker

“Since the ITS Prodshop has been downsized to one person, Abe has stepped up to keep the lights on, helping Prodshop stay on top of daily, monthly, and yearly challenges that we have faced. He was a major player in the transferring of processes/applications from mainframe to the DE servers (WorkLoadAutomation)."

Dan Venske

“Dan has been great about advocating for digital accessibility during the PhoenixAI project development lifecycle. Specifically around coordinating accessibility testing and proactively including the CDA team in design and definition discussions so that potential issues can be identified as early as possible.”

Michael Wu

“Michael handled a lot of configuration that was unseen or not as public for the GenAI project and deserves recognition to match!”

• Nikita Campbell
• Patty Kim Celmer
• Justin Clark
• Kevin Harris
• Alicia Isidoro
• Derrick Jenkins
• Gus Lacy
• Joseph McCants
• Heather Mirabelli
• Mike Ruel
• Gopikrishna Sirvisetty
• Ari Volchenboum

Knut Boehmer

“Knut provides exemplary support to the IT Procurement/Contracts team on a continuing basis – from the timeliness of his reviews to the depth and breadth of his expertise on security issues.”

Dinesh Budhathoki

“Dinesh has shown incredible growth over the past few months. He has been amazing in helping with DMCA related complaints. Dinesh, acting as the first line to security ops, has a number of plates to spin day in and day out.”

Phil Fry

“Phil has been a gift, providing insight into the often-murky inner workings of the FST integration/retrofit processes. Phil inevitably follows up with a willingness to help, an openness to listen and the technical acumen to understand our concerns, a dogged persistence to ferret out the missing details, and the ability to communicate them in a concise, effective manner.”

Neha Gupta

“Since Neha has joined the Advancement Systems team, she has proven to be an invaluable asset based on her work for Alumni Relations & Development’s NGFT (Next Generation Fundraising Technology) integrations. She has corrected and optimized programming code inherited from contractors.”

Eric Harrell

“Eric is involved in many, many projects in ITS.  From building Data Center networks, the design and plan that would be UAR, to specialized solutions for our researchers.”

Mike Hernandez

“Michael is an exceptionally dedicated worker who brings thoughtfulness, empathy, and superb research skills to his work for Academic Technology Solutions.”

Allison Kallo

“Allison leads the team with an unwavering commitment to addressing and supporting the educational technology needs of UChicago faculty and is always considering how to invite them to use our services and take advantage of our resources.”

David Mendez

“David has taken on a tremendous amount of work and responsibility during the FY24 cycle of the Security Framework Assessment, which allows the University to gather critical data about security practices across campus, and report back to participating units and to University leadership.”

• Daniel Barrett
• Cynthia Davis
• Derrick Jenkins
• Derrick Jenkins Jr.
• Thomas Keith
• Kaleb Kosowski
• Richard Litecki
• Chad Littlewood
• Praneetha Miriyala
• Owen Roland

The Super Nova Star Award is a special distinction that goes beyond the regular Star Award, recognizing staff’s exceptional contributions and outstanding work that truly stands out.

Donnielle Buffington

"Doni is the best! Doni is reliable, efficient, knowledgeable and simply just awesome! She always has a ‘can-do, positive’ attitude that is contagious. She helps finds solutions and provides suggestions around hiccups to keep things going and flowing. If I can sat anything more about Doni, I’d need a book and a half of positive things to say that describe who Doni is as person and as a colleague."

Michelle Cade

"Michelle has more than gone above and beyond supporting the CIO team during the FST transition. She has provided great, unending support being amazingly patient as we learn how to navigate Oracle. She has personally “chased” missing PO’s for vendors that did not get transitioned. With out her help there are many vendors who would not get paid and service ending. I am confident without Michelle’s help the FST transition for the CTO organization would be in jeopardy with many of our vendors, contracts, and payments." 

Stephanie Lewis

“Stephanie does her job so well and so consistently that it often gets past me how truly exceptional her work is. All it takes is a day off or two to thoroughly remind me of her value to ITS. She’s a tremendous asset who I’m proud to work with.”

Heather Mirabelli

“Heather handles spontaneous requests like a champ. Last-minute changes do not throw her off her game. During Cybersecurity Awareness Month, changes are par for the course. Heather can make magic happen on short notice. I am not an artist. The beauty of working with Heather is she can take an idea and not only bring it to but also make it better. I completely trust her eye. With Heather on the team, I can comfortably stay in my lane. Heather is always so positive and bubbly. She is a great team player. I look forward to working with her every year.”

Mari Nakatsuka

“She is an unsung hero on the FST project whose gifts and talents are worth taking notice of. Mari embodies someone who takes her work seriously in an area where imprecision is costly. She’s able to see from a mile off the implications of a decision involving key concepts, such as harmonizing HR and accounting data, not only on her own work, but the work of her teammates.”

Jessica Sandy

“Jessica has been instrumental in planning and delivering the symposium this year. Her leadership focusing on respect for people and ensuring we meet our deadlines – which builds trust, has been instrumental. In addition, her project planning has made it easier to know where we are and when. This has aided in both timelines and budget.”

Gladis Valdivia-Hernandez

“Everyone needs a Gladis on their project. Gladis was new to Communications and the CAM planning team this year, but you wouldn’t have known it. She created all the communication with only high-level instruction needed and hit all deadlines as if she had been working with the team for years.”

• Tom Bailey
• Wendi Barnard
• Dinesh Budhathoki
• Michelle Cade
• Nikita Campbell
• Clairissa Finnigan
• Chris Fox
• Phil Fry
• Jake Halsey
• Kevin Harris
• Michael Hernandez
• Samuel Hyman
• Memory Jacobs
• Derrick Jenkins Sr.
• Karthik Jothimoorthy
• Corey Liss
• Deb Meeter
• Praneetha Miriyala
• Rosa Miller
• Toni Myers
• Brian Ng
• Wanda Parker
• Ray Parpart
• Ashley Pitts
• Andy Poulos
• Mike Ramsey
• Norma Rebeles
• Karen Riney
• Jerome Roa
• Sidney Salud
• Dominic Sanchez
• Robert Shearrill
• Cameron Spencer
• Nadine Terrell
• George Trevino
• Nita Wilson
• Dan Venske

Bosko Barbir

"Bosko Barbir has taken it upon himself to use his automation skills to convert a number of manual administrative processes into automated processes that have saved the entire Windows team time and made us more efficient. In particular, his work to automate our vulnerability management process into an automated process has reduced the University’s overall risk exposure profile tremendously."

Gordon Dixon

“I feel that regular service personnel are too often overlooked. Gordon is an extraordinary support person. Whenever he is assigned to a task for me, he’s quick, accurate, and makes sure all is well before signing off. If I have a question, I know I can reach out to Gordon and he’ll respond. He’ll tell me to get a request started but once I have and there’s a Task he can work on, as long as he’s not in the middle of something else, he’ll jump right onto my issue. I think he should be recognized for the exceptional support he gives to others.”

India Francis

“The fact that the help desk received less than 20 calls after moving approximately 10,000 users from the UC Medical instance of Zoom to the UChicago instance speaks to the planning and execution of this project. India was instrumental in all aspects of this project.”

Dale Mertes

“During the last week of April, immediately before a personal vacation, Dale demonstrated the IT Services core value of Respect when he worked with several faculty and groups to make sure they had the graphics they needed. Dale printed 35 posters for the MindBytes event. As part of this work, he created poster guidelines, created a process for receiving files, adjusted the layout as needed, printed and delivered them.”

Kendall Williams

“Kendall has worked above and beyond to ensure that we improve our security awareness program. This is on top of the already difficult work in Security Ops and Engineering. She is leading a group of people across Security to get this done. She invests large amounts of her personal time in this to build relationships within the Hyde Park neighborhood.”

Nita Wilson

“During the City Colleges of Chicago Internship programs, I’ve enjoyed working with Nita over the past two years. She is always professional and cheerful. She has provided instruction and guidance where and when needed. Nita has demonstrated that she not only does her job well, but she checks back in with you to ensure you are on track also."

• Tim Engel
• Michael Hernandez
• Corey Liss
• Heather Mirabelli
• Andy Poulos
• Sidney Salud

Mark Bieri

“Mark has been taken on an outsized role in the data conversion workload for the FST project, even as he navigates his day to day production workload. Mark also assists in the FST integration and retrofit workstreams. His knowledge of the current financial systems has been invaluable. He has put in long hours to accomplish the work of several people, and hopefully he will be getting some relief from new hires soon. All the while, Mark’s calm demeanor has been a welcome respite from the challenges our team faces.”

Clair Finnigan

“When I was contacted for emergency response over the Holiday break I needed to tap Clair for assistance in Harper and Wieboldt following the water pipe break. When I need quick professional backup I know I can count on Clair to help. Clair and I came in over break and replaced all of the AV in Harper 102 (ceiling speakers, projector, AV switcher), then completed programming, testing, and checkout. In Harper 104, we did full cleanup and replaced the switcher and ceiling speakers.”

Kevin Harris

“Kevin continues to be our lone support for IT Financial Recharge, leading all things Pinnacle. His work on the FST project has been exemplary and recognized by our business partners including Dylan Westring – “Just wanted to remind you of how thankful I am that you are here to help us with our Pinnacle retrofit sessions – couldn’t be doing this without you.”

Karl Haslwater

“I nominate Karl for his big-picture perspective, which is needed for FST success. He thinks about the end-to-end workflow and not just what’s needed for his system. Karl has raised some key risks and issues and is helping us build trust and transparency in the process.”

Mike Ramsey

“This co-worker has been a part of the University and Networking for over 30 years and has always been there for me and the Desktop Support team. He does not get the kudos he deserves with what he does for everyone on a daily basis.”

• Rajendrakumar (Raj) Ghelda
• Hector Herrera
• Kathy Pokonosky
• Karen Riney
• Mingzhi Shen

Lajon Davis Mast

“Lajon joined the deployment team as a trainee, and due to unforeseen events, he became the lead deployment technician within a month of starting. Since joining, he has held the deployment team together!”

Kevin Harris

“This isn’t my first nomination for a STAR award for Kevin. He continues to be instrumental as we attempt to get Pinnacle to integrate with the new financial system. Kevin continues to be proactive, vocal, and isn’t afraid to ask the tough questions in meetings. It is a relief having Kevin and his tenacity moving this forward. With Kevin around, you don’t have to worry about it not getting done or not getting done right. We are really lucky to have him for this transition.”

Allison Kallo

“When a crowded, indoor event proved inadvisable this yeaar, Allison sought out a solution that would provide the perfect in-between engagement for our faculty. She took the lead on an event that provided the most impact given the challenges presented by hosting an onsite event. Through it all she maintained a positive attitude and a collaborative spirit. She is such a delight to work with and I greatly value what she brings to IT Services and the entire University community.”

Tina Morris

“Tina is always professional, pleasant, and helpful. Whenever I don’t know the who, what or where of a thing, Tina Morris has been a great source of information. Never too busy, never passes you on to the next person, it’s never to far, she always finds an answer, always comes through, always finds a path of action to whatever is needed or asked. She is always the same, no matter who you are!”

Denise Wiley

“For the last 6 months, Denise has been supporting the Accounts Payable (APS), Financial (FAS) and Property Management systems – mostly by herself. While doing this, she has also managed the FAS Fiscal Year End processes and written multiple conversion extracts for the FST project. She has worked many long nights and weekends trying to keep up with project deadlines and changes in requirements.”

Kendall Williams

“Kendall went above and beyond to improve our CAM events and communications. She worked outside normal hours to ensure the success of the event.”

• Mark Bieri
• Juris Bocek
• Saul Coleman
• Derrick Jenkins

Dana Bouche

“Dana has gone above and beyond her role to help support and lead the Workday Learning project. Dana has put in extra effort to ensure the success of the project.”

Patty Kim Celmer

“Patty has continued to be a major asset to the NGFT program completing the technical designs for the required systems integrations. She demonstrates a critical attention to detail and ensures her deliverables need very little re-work once they are handed off to the developers.”

Allison Kallo

“She is very hardworking and will take every opportunity to proactively help students and faculty. She is always kind and helpful when I need assistance. She demonstrates all IT core values on a daily basis.”

Deb Meeter

“Deb has been taking on an increasingly larger share of the HR responsibilities while maintaining her current duties. She has been able to do this despite not letting her existing work slide an inch.”

Karen Riney

“Karen has grown as a ServiceNow Developer while she continues to exceed in Customer Service and Satisfaction, Problem Solving and Decision Making. Our ServiceNow customers have acknowledged her efforts on numerous occasions in recent months.”

• Marlene Fisher
• Brenda Janish
• Mari Nakatsuka
• Alex Stern
• Tommy Thomas
• Scott Wilson

Michelle Cade

“Michelle has the difficult job of keeping the CTO department finances in order. She faces ongoing changes, budget adjustments, and helping her user community with every aspect of IT spending. Michelle does this with a smile and amazing patience.”

Dominic Sanchez

 “Dominic’s calm approach helps to ease my anxiety and frustration, especially when working with a vendor’s product and support personnel. My respect for his work ethic and tenacity for resolving issues grows each time I work with him. The skill and knowledge he showed in resolving the SSO implementation of a vendor’s product resulted in the vendor asking for a write-up of how Dominic resolved the issue.”

Andy Tucker

“Andy has taken on more duties for the Managed Print Services team. He has been setting up any new departments with new Canon MFD’s without my presence. In turn, this frees up much time for me so I can work on other issues quickly.”

Cheryl Walker

“Cheryl demonstrated the IT Services core values of Respect and Transparency when she figured out and encouraged the use of Zoom Events for the 2022 Symposium for Teaching with Technology. Cheryl was tenacious in giving Zoom Events a fair chance as a platform, even when others were quick to dismiss the product because it was so new.”

Kendall Williams

“Kendall Williams is creative in her thinking, and I like to bounce ideas off her. She’ll find the time to listen. Remote work has changed our interactions with colleagues and teammates. I am so grateful for the development of what I recognize as a STAR; an outstanding, willing, and professional colleague.”

• Emily Baker
• William “Bill” Beckner
• Kevin George
• Thomas Keith
• Hector Martinez
• Mari Nakatsuka
• Mike Ramsey
• Sean Russell

Michael Abreu

“Michael brings up his deep knowledge of offensive security every day and helps the team and whole IT Services in general to meet the goal.”

Hector Herrera

“Hector was asked to assist with improving the project deployment schedule. I am very happy with his work, but what really stood out for me is the commitment to excellence he showed in doing this work. He was assigned to put in 4-6 hours per week, but he ended up putting in many more hours than that, much of it on his own time, to ensure success. This was my first time working with Hector, but I would be happy to have him assigned to any of my projects.”

Alex Lee

“The AC failed in the 1155 UPS room. Beyond simply reporting the issue Alex took the time to mitigate the risk by installing fans and eventually a portable AC unit. The efforts prevented the UPS and UPS room from overheating which would damage the batteries, possibly damage the UPS, and possible failure of the 1155 Data Center.”

• Timothy Glanton
• Tim Gossett
• Surya Kadali
• Jeff Lee
• Richard Olivares
• Hemal Patel
• Norma Rebeles
• Nadine Terrell
• Mark Vincent

Marlon Aguilar

“If not for Marlon and his audiovisual aptitude, personal work ethic, and super agile mental and physical dexterity, our project would have had significant and disappointing outcomes.”

Cornelia Bailey

“Cornelia worked quickly and efficiently to create an inclusive team, providing help if needed as well as clear expectations, and pushed the team to strive for excellence in the services we provide. She embodies leadership at a Star power level!”

India Francis

“India’s work ethic has been unwavering during the pivot to remote and hybrid learning. Her willingness to jump in and quickly find solutions to the Zoom issues that faculty bring up has been essential to the success of remote and hybrid teaching.”

Alicia Isidoro

“Alicia has been the sole manager of the TechBar for almost a year now, and she works extremely hard juggling calls from the Service Desk, supporting student workers at the TechBar and Virtual TechBar and stepping into pretty much EVERY role at the TechBar.”

Dan Venske

“Dan’s role as a Sr. Business Analyst on the .edu project was recognized and appreciated. His analysis and detailed testing/UAT was consistently mentioned by the project sponsors.”

• Mohammad Ahmed
• Jack Auses
• Thomas Keith
• Patty Kim-Celmer
• Cecilia Lo
• Dale Mertes
• Cheryl Walker