Each year, the University of Florida (UF) recognizes employees who go above and beyond by awarding them with the UF Superior Accomplishment Awards. On February 17^th, Division 1 award winners were announced, and they will now have the opportunity to move forward for the university-wide awards in April 2021.

My colleagues and friends of the CITT were celebrating after hearing that not one, not two, but three members of the CITT team were awarded the Division 1 Superior Accomplishment Award! We are trying to stay humble, but I am personally too excited about this success to keep it secret. Let me tell you about my three wonderful colleagues who won!

Shannon Dunn, Assistant Director

Shannon was nominated by her staff for this award because of her leadership, guidance, and response during one of the most challenging times to deliver instructional design. Instructional designers were carrying heavier affective labor while juggling new service deliveries and technologies to meet the needs of faculty during the pandemic. In her nomination letter, CITT staff said “when we reflect on the past year, many of us wonder how we did it; we certainly could not do it without the guidance and calm presence of Shannon’s leadership.”

During all of this, Shannon also led the development of the UF Strategic Plan for 2020-2025 for IT; organized the fall 2019 meeting of the Learning Technology Consortium; and orchestrated and delegated teams to respond to transitioning courses online or using HyFlex technology, as well as transitioning student services online (e.g., Building the New Preview).

Chris Sharp, Education Technologist

Chris supports faculty in the exploration and application of emerging and innovative technologies such as virtual and augmented realities and 360 video in their courses. He was nominated for the SAA for exceeding expectations in every area of his job. For instance, Chris expanded the educational technology service despite the challenges presented by the pandemic, including the launch of a pilot chatbot project that provides an authentic learning experience for students regardless of their physical location. Chris also played a central role as author for many faculty support resources over the past year, including Keep Teaching, Keep Learning, Teaching HyFlex, and Engaging Zoom Classes. Chris is also a persistently positive and helpful colleague, supporting creativity, connection, and community building within our team and across partner units.

Stephen Carter, Instructional Designer

Steve consistently illustrates dedication to service, helpfulness, and continuous learning in his efforts. For the past two years, Steve's client feedback ratings have been 5 out of 5 (very satisfied) across all respondents. He also provides the same dedication to his team, volunteering to lead projects such as the organization of open houses, spearheading the development of reference resources for faculty, and working with a small group to transition a large in-person event to fully remote hosting and delivery. Steve also helped transition UF Preview, the signature orientation event for incoming UF students, to a fully online delivery in a few short weeks, working with colleagues to support staff from the Dean of Students Office to accomplish this impressive task. Steve also co-authored 3 Reasons to Go Online with New Student Orientations and matriculated into an M. Ed. program, challenging himself to grow and learn and setting an inspirational model for others.

Photo by William Montout on Unsplash

Tags: Superior Accomplishment Award, CITT