Lee Faber, Cory Faber, John Krug & Lisa Keys

During our Vonage implementation with our facilities area last week, we found out that several main phones were not working properly. Through diligent troubleshooting, hardwire testing, and mind blowing deduction, this team came up with the reasoning behind the issue. Once the problem became apparent, the team quickly turned it around and made sure to reboot, retest and let the customer(s) know that the line was up and working. Great teamwork

-Cherie Galantis

Stephanie Klare

Stephanie always has a solution when you need it the most. Recently helped out with a time-sensitive issue for one of our valued customers. Her response time was impeccable, and her expertise and professionalism were a crucial factor in the customer leaving with a positive impression of ITS.

-Mukarram Shahzad

Abdur Razzak

I want to write to recognize another great DBA Team member: Abdur.

We (AR Team) have been working on an ongoing data issue (related to a multiple pidm merge) since Friday, Sept 1st. The data issue necessitated us to inactivate a overnight job related to current term processing for over a week. And larger problems loomed if the student had additional activity on their account in PROD before we were able to get the data corrected.

After 2 rounds of DEVL testing by multiple members of AR Team that finally confirmed as correct yesterday…. we found out today there had indeed been PROD activity this morning in the form of Financial Aid (which happens, we can’t stop every process!). But – we managed a full testing cycle in PPRD, were able to confirm our fix worked and get the data adjusted in PROD – with hours to spare before COB.

We got this done today because Abdur picked up 2 ‘critical’ tickets I submitted to update data – one for PPRD this morning and one at lunchtime for PROD. He handled the requests right away.

It’s such a relief to know that when I submit tickets to the DBA’s (and I really do try to be realistic about priority – but today these were critical) they are handled so quickly AND 100% correctly.

So thank you Abdur! All of AR Team is grateful!!

-Rhonda Baumgartner & Erica McQuiston

Rob Sparkman

Rob stayed online after hours tonight to help Fiscal Services reopen October in Banner Finance and enter/post a correcting JV. In particular, Rob helped Claire manually update 1,300+ rows in the JV that had errors preventing posting -- truly teamwork above and beyond! We very much appreciate the support and advice to help get this correction posted quickly, as data is needed for several leadership meetings tomorrow.

-Sharon Heinle & Erica McQuiston

David Namiotka

David stayed online after hours tonight to help Fiscal Services reopen October in Banner Finance and enter/post a correcting JV. In particular, David helped Claire manually update 1,300+ rows in the JV that had errors preventing posting -- truly teamwork above and beyond! We very much appreciate the support and advice to help get this correction posted quickly, as data is needed for several leadership meetings tomorrow.

-Sharon Heinle & Erica McQuiston

Josh Grant

Josh Grant was extremely helpful when we moved over our VIPs in Merten to the new Vonage App. A few days later we found out that some phones that had ties to the VIPs lines were unfortunately disconnected. Josh was in a tight spot of dealing with the customer, our telecom team, the new Vonage app, and the old MASON system. He kept his professionalism intact and was able to work with all parties to get things resolved. Josh is our boots on the ground and we greatly appreciate his teamwork and continued innovation when it comes to phones! KUDOS!!

-Cherie Galantis

Nikolai Majorin

As the newest member of the Enterprise Collaboration team, I have had the pleasure of working with a team of top notch colleagues. I would like to mention one particular teammate and that person is Nikolai Majorin. Nikolai is an incredibly generous teammate. He is always available to assist when I have questions about work related issues. His integrity for his work and dedication to our team is second to none. Nikolai shows respect and courtesy for everyone on our team and for our partners. Nikolai has demonstrated a great patience when providing instructions on how to perform certain tasks all the while not making me self conscious for asking what I perceive as rudimentary questions. It has been an absolute pleasure to get to know and now call Nikolai my teammate and friend

-Mike Fuemmeler

Will Grayson

Thanks, I appreciate all the patience from Will Grayson.

-Laura  Nichols

Myong Kim

Myong Kim is a confirmed GMU asset. From the very beginning, he blended exactly the right amount of professionalism with cordiality. As he began to resolve my issue for my webpage error, his expertise became readily apparent. He quickly ... and correctly ... assessed the cause and proceeded to effectively resolve the issue. He merits top marks and has my highest personal recommendation!

-Sioeli T. Mafi

Robert Solander

There were a few scattered reports from students and instructors about error messages while students were completing tests in Blackboard. Rob gathered the information he needed and delved into the Blackboard log files. He was able to find that all students reporting the issue were on the same application server. A service restart removed the bad server. Rob's persistence and expert knowledge saved many students from needing to worry about technology and instead focus on their mid-term exams.

-Joseph Balducci

Sophie Luu

Sophie Luu came by to drop off a computer and totally went above and beyond to help me with some additional questions. As well, as helping with a couple loaners laptops I have. She could have told me to submit another ticket and then she would help but, she didn't. She gave me her undivided attention and was happy to me. This really stood out for me and I'm very appreciative for her kindness!

-Yana Arvanitis

Tiffany Luu

Tiffany Luu came by to drop off a computer and totally went above and beyond to help me with some additional questions. As well, as helping with a couple loaners laptops I have. She could have told me to submit another ticket and then she would help but, she didn't. She gave me her undivided attention and was happy to me. This really stood out for me and I'm very appreciative for her kindness!

Yana Arvanitis

Mindy Stawarz

Mindy always provides a positive force on the team working with customers to implement data exchange and with peers. Mindy consistently develops good working relationships with all customers who know Mindy can be relied upon to deliver quality work. Mindy understands both the business and technical implications of the work. Recently Mindy worked to complete three data exchange implementations with three different customers over a short period of time documenting the business requirements and developing the code. Mindy is always ready to work with the customer to resolve issues and is often working on the resolution before contacting due to the proactive monitoring to report issues. Customers always extend Thanks to Mindy for doing a great job.

-Mary Lulis

Debbie Penny

I contacted the GMU Tech helpdesk in a state of frustrated desperation. I was trying to reset my GMU email password and could not break out of a Claim Code/Bypass code/2FA-DuoMobile loop that would not let me accomplish my very simple task.

Debby spoke with me from approximately 1:15 to 1:50 PM. She was calm, thoughtful, and persistent in helping me navigate the system, get the code I needed, and set me on the best path to solve my problem. When I had to end the call to teach a class, she let me know how long she would be working that day and encouraged me to call back to work through any further problems I had.

I want to make sure she is recognized for her patience and ability to actually be helpful, when so many other attempts failed.

-Crista M. Vandervort

Khoi Nguyen

Khoi is a valued member of the EDIS team. Khoi consistently goes the extra mile to support project work and to meet or exceed customer expectations. During meetings, customers comment appreciation for Khoi's efforts to resolve issues. Team members reach out to Khoi to help resolve issues and for guidance on the the approach to implement data exchange and integrations. Khoi often volunteers to figure out how to use then demonstrates new tools to help the team improve effectiveness and efficiencies. I would like this moment to call out my appreciation.

-Mary Lulis

Zein Eldin Holail

When ITS Telecom Logistics began the Vonage Installation portion of the project, additional team members were needed to fill the install teams, and that is when Zein came along. He was a reference from another employee and ITS is fortunate his name came up. Zein is a new student to Mason and new to ITS and has embraced both with dedication and professionalism. There is not a customer he won't happily assist or a task too big or small that he won't help with. He has even been heard asking if there is any work to be done that he can help with. Zein shows everyday our ONE ITS motto. As a student wage, it is hard to find ways to say "you are doing a great job." This Valued to the Core shout out to Zein is well deserved.

-Lee Faber

John Krug

John is a new wage in ITS Telecom. He has embraced the job with enthusiasm and routinely goes out of his way to ask for things to do and if anyone needs assistance in the department. He is always willing to lend a hand. He is working on one of the Vonage installation teams and shows professionalism with everyone he comes in contact with on install days. He is truly a team player. His background in telecommunications makes him an asset to the team because he has picked up the job quickly. ITS is lucky to have John, he is definitely valued to the core!

-Lee Faber

Mike Fuemmeler

Mike is a newly hired Enterprise Collaboration Engineer and he has taken on his position running. Not only has he worked on streamlining our Zoom processes but he recently gave a very comprehensive explanation through Delton Daigle for one of our professors on campus. These included: Zoom updates and the reasons behind them, retaining recordings and who has access, IP addresses that are not accessible to Zoom, and the one on everyone's mind-A1 and how Zoom is moving forward with it.

The professor, Marvin Powell, responded with the following: "This has been greatly helpful. Much appreciated for the information and speed with which it was generated. Thank you."

Way to go Mike and thanks for jumping right in there to take one for the team! KUDOS!!!

-Cherie Galantis

Christina Frasson

Christina recently contributed to a presentation for the ITS Lunch and Learn on file storage. She was nominated to help prepare a survey to go out before the session. She not only helped with the survey, but also jumped in to collaborate on the presentation slides, translating ideas into a very professional and well-designed presentation. She demonstrates a commitment not only to her work, but also in helping her teammates succeed. Great job going above and beyond!

-Lauren Hutt

Marcus Wilson

Marcus recently presented at the ITS Lunch and Learn on file storage. Even though he was more "voluntold" than "volunteered" on his own, he put in 100% effort and it showed. He put a lot of thought and time into making sure the presentation was informative and useful for staff. He had a great collaboration with team member Christina Frasson, who helped get his ideas into a very professional and eye-catching presentation. Marcus is a great team player, and he did a wonderful job presenting!

-Lauren Hutt

Nikolai Majorin

Nikolai has been an outstanding troubleshooter within our Enterprise Collaboration group, especially with telecom issues. We had an unfortunate outage on the SciTech campus and Nikolai kept testing and researching what had happened along with our vendor. Finally, nothing made sense so at the last minute he volunteered to go to the campus with no equipment but his brain to figure it out. HE DID. He was able to diagnose the issue and correct it after less than 20 minutes of walking into the Hylton box office!!! What a relief and great job! He continued going through campus making sure the other lines were now working. That is dedication on a late Friday afternoon at 4:30!

-Cherie Galantis

Steven Lindner

Autodesk delayed the process that would normally allow us to create a custom automated install for Navisworks Manage. The standard installer is not meant for a silent automated install which is required to deploy to the classrooms. As Autodesk Support was not responsive, Steven went above and beyond researching and testing a method to force the standard installer to do what was required without the help of Autodesk. He was successful in this and was able to deploy to a 100% success rate in the required classroom. Great job Steven!

-Ryan Sakai

Peter Duong, Tommy Dang & Sean Wilder

Earlier today, we had a customer in Fenwick library who was connected to eduroam but was unable to access any sites. After exhausting our standard troubleshooting, we contacted NET via MS Teams chat asking if they could see her on the network. Peter Duong, Tommy Dang and Sean Wilder jumped right in to assist. They could see her on the network but no traffic was being sent. Although it wasn’t a network issue, they provided a suggestion that ultimately resolved the issue. Great teamwork!

-Teresa Gibbons

Lisa Carr

Lisa is always so helpful and, to her detriment, very accessible! Today is Sunday. It was about 8:15am and my weekend maintenance is appearing to be dead in the water. I needed assistance from people that were not online. I see Lisa's status is green (I thought, "Of course it's green"). She suggested actions I should take to get in touch with the appropriate help, etc. She was still online and "green" as I wrapped up my work to thank her.

But this is typical for Lisa. She's thoughtful, thorough, conscientious and smart. She is always like this and I know I can go to her about anything. She's a technical genius. And very accessible!

-Matthew Berlejung

Mike Briggs

Today is Sunday. I am doing maintenance work on virtual servers that comprise our backbone for our video endpoints for standards-based calling. Upgrade is in shambles, Cisco's documentation is ok, but I don't know what to expect. My servers are seemingly offline so I call the Data Center, who then reach out to Mike at 830am. He calls me at 8:31am. He stayed with me, utilizing his VMware access to supplement my server access until 3:30pm. On a Sunday. At some point, I suggested that we quit, call it quits, wrap it up, revert the snapshot, etc and we both just go back to doing what we would normally be doing on a Sunday, and reschedule. HE WAS THE VOICE OF STRENGTH and he said (I am quoting) "No. Today's the day." Several hours later, one would ask: Would he say that now? Yes, I bet he would do it all over again. Additionally, while we had quite a bit of hurry-up-and-wait periods, he taught me how the COLO worked, what I needed on my servers and what accounts I needed to best utilize my appliances. I COULD NOT HAVE DONE THIS WITHOUT MIKE. Thank you Mike.

-Matthew Berlejung

Michael Kramer

Yes, GMU computer password was successfully up-dated this afternoon, thanks to Mr. Micheal Kramer, the IT Tech on duty.  He was especially helpful in several password problems.

-D. First

Geneva Williams

I had a request concerning some non-SBUS shares for an employee who is leaving, and who I could contact to make sure this employee was deactivated. Geneva sent me a very comprehensive list of the shares and admin names, plus the NetIDs for more than a dozen admins. Including both the names and NetIDs saved me a lot of time in composing my own emails, and I appreciate Geneva's attention to detail.

-Kathi Gelona

Cory Faber & Joshua Grant

I found myself in a desperate situation. While our new standing desk pod was being built, I realized that our phone cords were not included in the wiring of the pod. I couldn't tell the furniture installers to delay building the pod or to come back so I called Joshua Grant in a panic. Joshua was extremely helpful in a previous renovation. Minutes later, Joshua and Cory Faber responded, assessed the problem, got some cords, and wired the pod. They also took care of installing everything (phones, fax, computers, cord management). The quality of the work delivered was impeccable, demonstrating the expertise and commitment of both gentlemen. In a world where exceptional customer service can be rare, Joshua and Cory truly set a shining example.

-Beverley Jackson

Michael Fletcher

I requested several software installations in the Lab. One of these installations was to install WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) with a Linux distribution. Installing a Linux distribution requires an account to be generated and this would be associated with the student account working on the specific machine. This also means that the students must be the ones doing the installation in every lab since any installed software on a student account gets deleted once the student logs out. So this was not a viable solution. However, Michael and his team worked hard to find a solution and Michael cared to ensure that the solution works by running one of my lab exercises.

-Hoda Hassan

Jasser Syed

I wanted to say that Jasser at ITS Support Center did an amazing job assisting me today. My experience to date has not been the best. But Jasser was super kind, patient, and detail-oriented in explaining what to do, even as I goofed up! Thanks to him and your team for making my day easier. You have an amazing employee. Promote this guy!

-Smita Madhur

Jed Frye

Jed was recently asked to give access to and provide training on Beyond Trust (Bomgar) for the entire Enterprise Collaboration team. Jed did a wonderful job, showed a detailed presentation, and answered all questions. Keep up the good work Jed!

-Matthew Berlejung

Stephen Tate

Stephen has been a fantastic addition to ITS since day one. He came on board on the heels of retirement and in the midst of Mason determining a new phone vendor, followed by endless prep for implementation, which is now underway. As a Telecom Coordinator, I had a number of questions and with each, Stephen was pleasant and provided additional explanation as possible to help prepare validation data and make for a smoother transition when the time came. Stephen has a desire to help teach, too, which provides additional confidence in using Pinnacle as well as making things easier to sort initial data down to the layer that was most relevant to my area of support, showing me some snazzy Excel tricks along the way. Stephen appears to be an Excel and Pinnacle wiz and a natural problem-solver. I have a great appreciation for his team-player approach and his innovation in helping improve Mason's existing telephone billing/tracking tools to be more user-friendly. Great work, Stephen, and thank you!!

-Whitney Sublett

Ryan Sakai

Ryan always goes above and beyond when called upon. I recently had a ticket I needed his assistance with. He knew exactly what needed to be done, and took the necessary steps to resolve the task. This isn't a one-off incident; Ryan is consistently reliable and defines excellence.

-Mukarram Shahzad

Kevin Gibson

Kevin Gibson and his team (CJ Morgan, Sophia Luu, Shane Hayes, and Kevin Nguyen) are super efficient. They completed secure erasure on 20+ devices in an amazingly short period of time. Thank you very much for carrying out these tasks.

I'd also like to thank Chris Nayeri and Richard Jackson for helping with the logistics and doing the heavy lifting. Thank you!

-Yuko Kuo

Anna Stackhouse

Anna is a STELLAR superstar who should join Cirque du Soleil due to her impressive juggling skills. She's handled the twists and turns of the Telecom Replacement Project with grace while never letting any of her other projects or responsibilities drop. She's done a great job keeping me informed when I can't be fully involved because of all the other things our team has going on. She's also been a great support system for me and her teammates during a particularly stressful spring and early summer, and I just wanted everyone to be aware of this. Thank you, Anna, for all you do to make ITS a better place every day you're here.

-Lauren Reese

Michael Kramer

I recently returned to Mason after having been gone for more than 20 years. As you can imagine, much has changed. Initially, my return brought with it some technical challenges since I previously had an account. In addition, there have been some general set up/access issues that required IT support.

I can't remember when I first spoke with Michael, but I do know he went out of his way to fix my issue and followed up afterward to make sure everything was resolved. Additionally, he made it clear I could reach out to him should anything else come up (which it has). I've contacted him several times and he has gone above and beyond to provide assistance. He is technically skilled and helpful, kind, and overall excellent at his job. I asked him for your contact information because I think outstanding work deserves to be recognized.

-Lisa Adams

Tommy Zuo

Tommy went above and beyond to help out ITS Logistics when we came out to walk the building for the Vonage Phone Implementation. He walked every floor with us, opened doors, chatted with the staff, and introduced us to staff along the way, and made a very long work day a very pleasant one. There was hard work and laughter combined to lighten the voluminous amount of data that needed to be verified. Tommy was a rock star and is definitely valued to the core by our team!

-Lee Faber

Shane Hayes, Kyle Goodell, Richard Jackson, Yuko

A planned change to the modernization of the DUO interface broke how Zoom for Outlook Extension/Add-in authenticated new users to the add-in. Of course, the first people to discover this and bring it to the attention of ITS was the VIP of Merten Hall. Luckily, Shane was the boots on the ground in the Desktop Support rotation for VIP support in Merten. Shane was able to clearly describe the problem, replicate it while on a call with me, and even forward me help materials that could clearly define a fix from our vendor DUO. I forwarded the information to Kyle and Yuko and within an hour the fix was in-place. I am uncertain what I would have done if there were different people working on each piece of this outage. I am grateful to work with people like Shane, Kyle, Richard, and Yuko. Thank you!

-Matthew Berlejung

Matt Berlejung

I have been remiss in thanking Matt for always being a supportive partner in all things collaborative - not just on an enterprise level, but on a people level. Even when I knowingly should first check the ITS website or make a quick call to the ITS Support Center, I can't help but send a quick line to Matt knowing he will have a quick answer. He is also quick to remind me of our available resources, but in a kind and informative way, still providing detailed answers and solutions, and no doubt reporting quirkiness back to the team. In terms of overall collaboration, Matt is always attuned to things (chatter) that might impact the organization and makes a point to relay feedback and also provide his own in support of his beliefs and those of his constituents. He is a steadfast supporter of One ITS and brings great humor and candor to every interaction. Matt is genuine and consistent, and I'm happy to know and work with him. Thanks, Matt!

-Whitney Sublett

Tracy Holt, William "Brad" Sullivan, Stephen Tate

This group spent many hours trying to sync up a rogue Vonage account for this person to use the MS Teams dial pad. They worked diligently with our Vonage team, reached out to MS, and scoured the web trying to find a "fix". Finally, after many weeks, failed attempts, and scalp-scratching meetings, this team found the solution. Talk about teamwork, incredible communication and innovation, I cannot say enough about this group of talented and persistent employees! Great job and follow-through!

–Cherie Galantis

Atefeh Fard

Atefeh checks classrooms for problems every day before they can be an issue for classes. She repairs many issues and reports things that he needs help with.

–Chris Galvan

David Rajaobelina

David checks classrooms for problems every day before they can be an issue for classes. He repairs many issues and reports things that he needs help with.

–Chris Galvan

Trong Ho

Trong has been amazing covering while I was out taken care of family during the Classroom technology refreshes. He is always availbale to lend a hand, thanks so very much Trong!

–Rodrigo Alva

Neha Sharma

I wanted to take a minute to give you some feedback on the service Neha provided me this afternoon. I am applying for a residency program that is requesting all my academic records, including all the undergraduate ones. I have not attended GMU for over a decade. I took a few courses and that was it. Neha went way above and beyond to assist me. She was so kind and so patient. She's special. Thank you Neha. I deeply appreciate every minute of your assistance.

–Cyrus Razmgar

Brian Gantt

I was invited by Fiscal Services to represent Purchasing Equipment & Technology at the Boot Camp 2023. Brian was a big help in suggestions for the power point slide information and for sitting with me on the panel during the presentation to help curve any questions concerning equipment purchases. Thanks much Brian for the assist. I appreciate you.

–Toni Mehrman

Cassandra Carter

Cassie was a huge help with me as we prepared for Purchasing & Equipment Boot Camp that Fiscal Services invited me to speak at. She helped me put together the Power Point presentation. She was a tremendous help and sounding board to the material. Thanks so much Cassie. I appreciate you.

–Toni Mehrman

Ryan Sakai

Ryan is always available to pull data for Projects and detail the findings when large amounts of data are sent out. He has been extremely helpful with the Windows 11 upgrade project. With such a large volume of data, Ryan assists whenever we need updates on data or a new data to be pulled. Any questions I have are met in a timely manner with a polite and professional reply. He embodies the achievements of Communication, Integrity, Respect and Teamwork. He is an asset to our ITS Team!

–Lee Faber

Geneva Williams

Good morning, Geneva, and all that work this account.

I apologize for not responding quickly but want to express my appreciation for such a thorough response.

The extra research into other tickets and comparison to routine maintenance speaks positively about the skill and professionalism of the team. I'm a distance student, so Blackboard and other technologies are not trivial nice to haves, they are the graduate student experience. Truly, a 1000x better experience than, "yes, we are aware of problems" that many tier-1 platforms deliver.

I am very thankful. Please pass my gratitude to management. They need to know!

Sincerely,
Keith Maly

Kevin Gibson, Sophia Luu, Carey Morgan, Kevin Nguyen, Kris Piyavansuthi, Patrick Tam, & Evelyn Vuong

We submitted a big set of service requests to TSS Desktop Support. While short on staff and loaded with other tasks, manager Kevin Gibson quickly assembled technicians to get our requests done in such a short period of time. Evelyn is one of the team members to make this happen. I’d like to send a big “Thank You!” One ITS!!

–Yuko Kuo

Mike Rothgeb

As always Mike is amazing. A month before the five-year ADFS trust certificate with Jamf was set to expire, Mike contacted me to let me know so we could set up a time. Today we tested in our dev environment to make sure everything would go smoothly in production. Once that was complete and fully tested we were able to do the same in production with zero downtime. I always enjoy working with Mike because while we're working, he explains what he's doing on his end so there is no confusion. Thanks again Mike for your help!

–Jed Frye

Matthew Berlejung

I raised an issue re MyHub in the SALT meeting, and it was suggested I contact ITS after the meeting. Matt immediately messaged me on Teams and solved the issue within minutes. As always, Matt was polite, prompt, and went the extra mile. Much appreciated!

–Kathi Gelona

Tom Deike

Tom provided assistance with the Purchasing Equipment & Technology session at the Fiscal Transformation Boot Camp 2023. Thanks for helping out.

–Brian Gantt

Toni Mehrman

Toni led the presentation during a recent session at the Fiscal Transformation Boot Camp 2023 and did a fantastic job.

Purchasing Equipment & Technology
Description: Learn why ITS Computer Standards are important for GMU and how you can ensure equipment and technology purchases follow these guidelines. Once purchased, learn how to maintain the equipment inventory by tagging new equipment and disposing of old equipment.

–Brian Gantt

Michael Kramer

I just want to let you know that I am grateful for all the patient IT support provided to me by Michael yesterday for several hours. There were some issues that I was not familiar with at all and he patiently, professionally resolved all. Thank you to him and your team. I value your support tremendously. Keep up the wonderful work you all are doing. Warm regards, Hans

Kate Orf

I wanted to give a quick shout-out to Kate. She's always so helpful and this time was no different.

I was having issues renewing a S/MIME certificate and the previous one had expired. Kate contacted me to help out and we tried a few methods which finally worked perfectly.

Thank you Kate for always being great to work with.

–Jed Frye

Carrie Stewart

Over the last five months or so Carrie has worked with me in posting four open positions and recruiting for them. There is a lot of work involved with just one position much less four. She has been pleasant and professional and helped me understand the process in a way that kept me from getting frustrated.
Carrie is always positive and insightful when I have questions about the process and is always willing to listen to me about any Human Resources inquiries I may have. She is a great asset to ITS!

–Kevin Gibson

Morgan Garnes

Morgan took extra initiative to organize PCs for the assistant director so that it was an easy and seamless process.

Morgan also took the time to help out a customer in the Innovation Lab who was having trouble printing and adding money to their mason money account. The student was obviously stressed about the whole situation and Morgan's constantly cool and caring demeanor was a major asset.

–Eric Potter

Lisa Carr

Communication: Lisa is clear in communicating with our Support Center group and always has concise, informational responses to our questions.

Integrity: While having many tasks to complete in any given day, Lisa exceeds in honoring her commitment in completing the tasks she says she will and more.

Innovation: Lisa always has good ideas for troubleshooting any and all issues and is well respected for thinking "outside of the box" in finding resolutions to difficult problems.

Respect: Always willing to assist, I find Lisa to be professional and caring not only towards her work, but also towards all team members and customers.

Teamwork: Lisa is the consummate team player, assisting every time when asked while taking on what I can only imagine is a multitude of tasks that she handles adeptly.

I feel that Lisa Carr is a true asset to George Mason University and has earned well-deserved recognition.

–Michael Kramer

Joe Balducci

I was having trouble with a developer code signing certificate and contacted Joe for assistance with the account. In minutes he was able to sort it out so I could get what I needed. The quick turnaround is very much appreciated.

–Jed Frye

Amir Ali

Amir has continuously shown a willingness to work and goes above and beyond to make sure that classes are kept to the highest standards. He is always the first to do tasks presented to him and will even ask for more time after his shift when he knows there is work to be done. Amir appreciated our core values and we value him to the core.

–Sayf Turkomani

Michael Kramer

I always love working with the ITS Support Center and want to make sure they have what they need to be successful.
This morning Michael contacted me about someone not being able to access the BeyondTrust Rep Console installers which reminded me of a report that I ran recently...

I wanted to give a shout-out to Michael Kramer for having the most remote support sessions (80 sessions) in a 90-day period (November 17, 2022 - February 15, 2023). The next highest was Steven Story (also in the ITS Support Center) with 55 sessions, which is also impressive.
By using the tool so frequently they are reducing call times and increasing resolution rates.
Thank you for using the tools and reporting issues in real-time so they can be fixed/addressed.

–Jed Frye

Patrick Tam

Patrick makes himself available to the customers and other staff. He is a team player and will take the lead and is willing to take action to get a resolution. He is professional and courteous. He is very much appreciated.

–Deborah Penny

Larry Marca, Toni Mehrman, & Kate Orf

Earlier today Toni noticed some “chatter” in a non-ITS MS Teams she’s a member of, regarding problems accessing some websites through the VPN. The string was long and everyone was going back and forth until some suggest to write to support@gmu.edu. Toni jumped right in and encouraged them to contact us. Even though she wasn’t experiencing the problem, she went the extra mile to notify us herself. Initially, the problem was thought to be related to the VPN. We opened several tickets and messaged NET. Larry Marca jumped right in to investigate. He worked with Kate Orf and determined it was related to the WordPress Engine. Then Kate jumped in. She identified the issue, contacted the vendor, and sent an ITS Alert. Within the hour, the issue was resolved. Great Teamwok, a true One ITS effort!

–Teresa Gibbons

Ryan Sakai

On 1/19, we received a call from campus police regarding a missing/stolen desktop. They wanted to know if we could see when it was last on the network. Even though he was off that day, Ryan replied immediately to the MS Teams request. He logged in and checked the serial number, and let us know it could not be found. Thanks, Ryan for being so responsive on your day off!!!

–Teresa Gibbons

Sam Child

In conversations with staff from the Office of Registration about Ellucian Workflow progress, several comments were made about the outstanding efforts the Ellucian Workflow team has made to improve numerous processes allowing automations to reduce hours of administration across various departments at Mason. OUR was able to reallocate one employee's previous manual process functionalities to other vital areas within their department. Sam was specifically mentioned how much help he has been improving the process. Great job team!

–Debra Isaacs-Kazemi

Vu Doan

In conversations with staff from the Office of Registration about Ellucian Workflow progress, several comments were made about the outstanding efforts the Ellucian Workflow team has made to improve numerous processes allowing automations to reduce hours of administration across various departments at Mason. OUR was able to reallocate one employee's previous manual process functionalities to other vital areas within their department. Vu was specifically mentioned on how much growth he has had since his involvement in the project. Great job team!

–Debra Isaacs-Kazemi

Hossein Kord

In conversations with staff from the Office of Registration about Ellucian Workflow progress, several comments were made about the outstanding efforts the Ellucian Workflow team has made to improve numerous processes allowing automations to reduce hours of administration across various departments at Mason. OUR was able to reallocate one employee's previous manual process functionalities to other vital areas within their department. Hossein was specifically mentioned how awesome he is at managing the task at hand. Great job team!

–Debra Isaacs-Kazemi

Charles Crum & Ben Patton

Charles was able to assist me remotely by deploying to the Fairfax classroom (EXPL L111) after Ben so kindly asked him to assist. Charles went twice and was able to help me gather multiple screenshots, and perform multiple tests to remedy the professor's issues. Since it appeared the initial ticket may have been user error (by the professor), Ben assisted me in how to best communicate this to the client, as well as to the rest of the support staff involved. I could not have confirmed this was working without the timely, effective assistance from CALT. #TeamCALT are heroes and embody the ITS values, especially "Teamwork" as defined by ITS Value: "Thrives by working with others, encouraging and celebrating individual contribution and responsibility."

–Matthew Berlejung

Francesca Brunner-Kennedy, Sam Ghandchilar, & Karen Savell

Karen Savell, Francesca Brunner-Kennedy, and Sam Ghandchilar really helped me out this week. I need access to a report, but had no idea about the report, the process, or really how to get it. Karen, Francesca, and Sam all made it their priority to help me. They took the time to look into things and helped me figure out a solution. Work is so much better when you work with team members that believe in ONE ITS! Thank you all!!!

–Carrie Stewart

Vicky Palazzo

When I needed access to a report that I wasn't even sure I could run, Vicky reached out right away. She filled out the necessary paperwork and then emailed it to me and walked me thru the whole process. It was so easy and it was because Vicky was willing to be a team player that my 4:30 request was made a priority. Thank you, Vicky, thank you for being such a great team player and really showing that ONE ITS is still alive and active.

–Carrie Stewart

Larry Marca

I had an overarching set of problems we were experiencing when providing support for the GMU board of visitors meetings and Larry helped with all of my requests. Several of the issues they were having required Larry to put in extra work creating documentation, contacting, and liaising with Aruba to see what we could do to simplify and improve the login process for board members. Larry was patient, kind, and responsive throughout the entire process and due to his assistance, we have nearly eliminated all login issues when the board members are using their personal devices during these meetings. I am very appreciative of his work and I know the president's office appreciates that they can now assign several staff members to manage the board's access to the wi-fi so that we don't have a single point of failure if one staff member is out.

Larry is just always a stand-up guy to work with and I just wanted to let him know that his efforts are certainly noticed.

–Paul Damasco

Michael Kramer

I wanted to let you know that Michael was extremely helpful to me this morning. He was knowledgeable and patient with me an 82-year-old who was trying to change my password.

–Rita Ailinger