staff honors

Think. Teach. Do. Awards Celebrate Staff Achievement

The staff awards program acknowledges staff achievements, behaviors, and strong work ethics that embody SPH’s core mission and values. The latest recipients of the awards are Dylan Keating, Jean-Claude Regis, Kevin Lin, Kashia Point du Jour, Eva Asllani, Isabelle Kiritsy, Joela Goga, Meredith Hanna, Jillian McKoy, Agnes Regis, and Michael Koehler.

Eleven School of Public Health staff members were recognized for their service to the School during the first two quarters of 2023 with Think. Teach. Do. Staff Awards.

Modeled after SPH’s core purpose, “Think. Teach. Do. For the Health of All,” the awards program acknowledges staff achievement, behavior, and strong work ethic that embody SPH’s core mission and values. It was developed by the Staff Recognition & Awards Subcommittee, an extension of the Staff Senate, in collaboration with Ira Lazic, associate dean for administration and finance.

The program aims to enhance team morale and staff resilience while rewarding staff excellence at the School and is designed to stimulate innovation and novel approaches to work-related tasks and projects that benefit individual departments, SPH, or Boston University as a whole. Awards are given to individuals for each of the three categories on a quarterly basis, and both part- and full-time staff members are eligible.

Think.

The Think. Award is presented to an individual who has demonstrated exceptional innovation in research activities, program development, or the creation or implementation of tools and systems that improve processes at SPH.

Dylan Keating, research manager in the Department of Environmental Health, received a Think. Award.

Keating recently conducted a critical review of her lab’s recruitment strategies and created an innovative flow sheet detailing a new recruitment strategy. Keating then trained research assistants at other study sites as well as new staff, doctoral and practicum students at SPH in her workflow. Her initiative ultimately increased the efficiency of study coordinators as they can now recruit prior study participants without unnecessarily contacting people who do not actually meet the criteria for the current study. Keating’s nomination letter also recognizes her contributions as a tireless cheerleader and walker organizer while captain of the EH department’s FitBit Challenge team this year.

Jean-Claude Regis, senior budget and financial analyst in the Administration and Finance Unit, received a Think. Award.

When the cost of one of SPH’s contracts unexpectedly skyrocketed, Regis renegotiated and capped the contract, saving the University roughly $100,000 with his quick thinking. Regis’s nomination letter highlights his creative problem-solving, commitment to excellence, and consistent support of the University’s best interests.

Kevin Lin, faculty resources associate in Faculty Advancement & Resources Administration, received a Think. Award.

Described by his nominator as “a highly skilled planner [who] is simultaneously detail-oriented and flexible,” the Think. Award recognizes Lin for his smooth execution of a series of workshops for faculty, staff, and students organized around SPH’s five strategic directions. Lin’s creativity, warmth, and dedication were integral to the success of the workshops in encouraging interdepartmental collaboration.

Kashia Point du Jour, academic program administrator in the Department of Global Health, received a Think. Award.

Eight members of Point du Jour’s department wrote nomination letters on her behalf. Their letters illuminate the instrumental role Point du Jour has played over the past 2.5 years, not only in coordinating six of SPH’s 16 MPH certificates, but also in collaborating with students on the Global Health Student Organization and in coordinating the GH department’s DEIJ and Decolonizing Global Health (DGH) task forces.

One nominator wrote, “Motivated by her own experience of power relations during the humanitarian efforts following the devastating earthquake in her native Haiti, [Point du Jour] contributed to the development of practice recommendations for more equitable cross-country collaborations in global health. She took the lead in organizing meetings and also set up, together with two colleagues, a series of listening sessions with existing DGH collaborators. For this, she led the development of interview guides and other material, set up interview meetings, distilled the sessions’ main findings, and reported back to the working group. The work of the working group is a perfect example of what ‘Think’ can do at its best, would not have happened without [Point du Jour].

Teach.

The Teach. Award is presented to an individual who has taken ownership of key concerns and needs, acted on opportunities, solved problems, or brought people and resources together to make processes at SPH more efficient and accessible for others.

Eva Asllani, senior financial administrator in the GH department, received a Teach. Award.

Asllani came to SPH in April 2022, but has been a part of the BU community since 2016. Asllani’s nominator writes that her “go-getter attitude, “willingness to take initiative,” and “proactive stance to tackling issues” have proved instrumental in improving adherence to BU policies by faculty, staff, and student. Her careful onboarding of employees to administrative protocols has led to better understanding of the legal underpinnings behind transactions, leading to greater overall proficiency. Asllani’s ongoing contributions have been especially salient given a long vacancy in the director of administration role in her department.

Isabelle Kiritsy, executive assistant in the Office of the Dean, received a Teach. Award.

In the past year, Kiritsy has proven herself an attentive and effective mentor. When Erica Augustine began work as the assistant director of strategic initiatives at SPH, Kiritsy took it upon herself to teach Augustine all the necessary protocols and procedures to support Dean’s office activities, even creating written reference manuals. Kiritsy went on to provide the same level of meticulous support to the office’s student intern. Kiritsy’s nominator writes that her methodical approach to mentorship resulted in the enhanced efficiency of Dean’s office operations. 

Joela Goga, administrative assistant in the Administration and Finance Unit, EH department, and Department of Health Law, Policy and Management (HLPM), received a Teach. Award.

In the relatively short time Goga has been at SPH, she has demonstrated a keen commitment to fostering collaborative relationships and provided outstanding service to multiple departments. So far, Goga has streamlined numerous processes, including student reimbursement requests, purchasing orders, and meeting organization and set-up. Recently, Goga skillfully navigated a high-stakes scheduling mix-up in which another department occupied a conference room reserved for an important job candidate’s visit. Goga immediately found a new location and communicated the change with the candidate and hiring panel. Her quick action ensured the visit ran smoothly and the candidate, unaware of the logistics scramble, gave positive feedback on their experience. Goga’s colleagues were impressed how she managed all of this with a smile and cheerful attitude.

Do.

The Do. Award is presented to an individual who has created extensive opportunities for others toward community building and making connections through programs, policies, and/or spaces, honoring the experiences of various populations and reflecting the SPH core purpose of sparking social change, fostering a sense of belonging, and building relationships across differences.

Meredith Hanna, executive director of administration in HLPM, received a Do. Award.

Hanna’s nomination letter credits her with making HLPM the “best-run department [her nominator] has ever worked in as a researcher.” She hires excellent staff, creates efficient and transparent procedures, provides clear budgets, and orchestrates a reliable and redundant system of support for department faculty. Hanna’s colleagues describe her as “responsive beyond the call of duty” and “unfailingly good humored.” The tone that she sets in the department goes a long way to make it a happy place to work, writes her nominator.

Jillian McKoy, senior writer/editor in the Office of Marketing and Communications, received a Do. Award.

Like clockwork, McKoy compiles the SPH This Week newsletter to go out to inboxes across the world every Sunday morning. Her close collaborations with faculty and research staff always position their work for maximum exposure. In fact, a piece McKoy wrote about Elaine Nsoesie’s research showing the contribution of neighborhood characteristics to racial disparities in health drove the single highest day of website traffic SPH experienced all last year. McKoy’s nomination letter also spotlights her contributions as having directly resulted in growing the number of newsletter subscribers to over 40,000 people over the past year.

Agnes Regis, senior research administrator in the Administration and Finance Unit, received a Do. Award.

Recognized in her nomination letter for her exceptional patience, Regis helped her nominator successfully submit their first large federal grant. In Regis’s role as senior research administrator, she provided support and guidance throughout the process, making a challenging undertaking a positive learning experience. Regis’ nominator notes that many other faculty members also speak equally highly of her and her contributions to the GH department.

Michael Koehler, director of facilities & building operations in the Administration and Finance Unit, received the Do. Award.

Nearly every time SPH onboards a new faculty or staff member, Koehler helps roll out the welcome mat by immediately procuring whatever office electronics the individual needs, often dropping by in-person within minutes of receiving an inquiry via email. His nomination letter details one instance in which Koehler even volunteered to deliver personal belongings to a retired faculty member’s home in New Hampshire to free up an office for an incoming faculty member. His colleague wrote in his nomination, “[Kohler] is the definition of a rockstar!”

To recognize an employee for their outstanding contributions consistent with the Think. Teach. Do. mantra, please submit your online nomination form.