Celebrating Excellence with the OSU IT Annual Awards
Every spring, OSU IT holds an annual awards celebration that highlights the amazing dedication, contribution, and just general awesomeness of the OSU IT community. The awards are an opportunity for the community to recognize IT colleagues from across the university and showcase the impact our work has on the community, the university, and beyond.
Congratulations to this year's winners!
Customer Service Award
Michael McDonald
Assistant Director, Web Technologies
"Michael creates a welcoming environment through his informative and friendly training sessions. His ability to simplify complex concepts and provide clear, actionable guidance has made a substantial impact on the OSU community's ability to utilize SharePoint and Copilot. His approachable personality and likability have made him an excellent trainer, striking a perfect balance between expertise and relatability. Michael's positive and courteous communication style ensures that everyone understands and can utilize the systems effectively."
Data Services Award
Emmanuel Sanchez Tovar
BI Analyst, Decision Support
Emmanuel has demonstrated and applied a wide range of advanced data modeling, business intelligence, and reporting skills and an unwavering commitment to advancing our university's data initiatives. His contributions, particularly in the development of the Prosperity Widely Shared (PWS) Leadership Planning Tool and numerous other operational and smaller projects, have significantly impacted our data culture and environment, making him an invaluable asset to UIT and the broader community.
Security Services Award
Marjorie McLagan
Deputy Chief Information Security Officer
"As the Deputy CISO at OSU, Marjorie has been the person making the biggest difference in making OSU's IT Ecosystem more secure over the last year. Within the Endpoint area, Marjorie led the effort to implement cloud based management for Windows machines, and continuously improved the MacOS management capability, which has resulted in improved vulnerability management, consistent application of risk policies as well as improved support for application updates and service delivery."
Exemplary Student Award
Amanda Hunt
OSU Media Hub
"Amanda's journey with Media Hub is truly inspiring! From the beginning, Amanda has shown a strong work ethic, professionalism, kindness, and a willingness to take on any task needed. These qualities have made her a valuable team member. Amanda has successfully worked in all five positions within Media Hub, often earning employee of the term or year in various areas. Her ability to excel in multiple roles highlights her versatility and commitment to excellence. Over time, Amanda has evolved into a top lead in four of the five areas."
Technical Services Award
Joseph Duncan
Manager, Infrastructure
"As the technical lead for the migration of UIT's server infrastructure to the state data center, Joseph utilized his deep understanding of infrastructure architecture and network architecture to ensure a seamless transition. This migration enhanced the stability and security of OSU's IT operations, providing a more reliable and efficient environment for both students and staff by moving critical infrastructure quickly and efficiently to a Tier 3 data center designed for resiliency and continued operations in the event of a disaster."
Culture & Community Award
Kate Birney
Cloud Platform Analyst, Cloud Platform Services
"Kate Birney is dedicated to identifying ways to decrease bias in systems, practices, policies, and procedures. They bring this perspective to various working groups, including IT change management, where they actively engage in conversations on how to make practices and procedures accessible and inclusive. Kate is assertive about bringing specific concerns and issues about systems, practices, policy or procedures to their manager and to people responsible for the specific area of concern."
Team Award
AMP Adaptive Planning Core Team
"A cross-functional team of budget and technology experts across the university implemented the AMP Adaptive Planning Phase 1 in Feb 2025. The launch of Workday Adaptive Planning is the first big step in automating our cumbersome budgeting processes and making finance processes more accurate and efficient. Launching Workday Adaptive Planning ahead of the larger Workday roll out created an opportunity to test our processes, gather lessons learned, practice OCM, and better prepare for Workday to go-live in 2026. "
AMP Adaptive Planning Core Team: Leslie Wolgamott (pictured, center), RaeLee Aguilar, Erik Calbreath, Erica Dodson, Madalyn Ford, Tiffany Gillis, Suzanne Grey, Langling He, Bob Imhoff, Kent Kuo, Ryan Loftus, Teagan Mclachlain, Alex Merino, Leslie Roe, Shelby Towns, Kellie Ann Walker, Chris Young... and many more contributors!
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