Patrick Tam
I have worked with Patrick for some time here at George Mason and he always goes the extra mile to solve or assist with solving our desktop support issues here in University Life, especially in regards to highly sensitive areas like SHS or CAPS. He has recently provided excellent hardware guidance for our area and is a truly indispensable technology resource here at George Mason. I never have to worry about not finding a solution or workaround in my role because I know Patrick (and his equally excellent team he leads!) are always just a short TDX ticket away.
-Mike Benedict
LeAnn Pittman, Kelly Spence, Gedeon Turner
LeAnn and team made a tremendous impact on the faculty experience by redesigning and enhancing the Classroom Guide website on the Stearns Center site, a resource that supports more than 1,000 faculty members each semester. Recognizing the importance of this page, especially during the first few weeks of classes, they created a more intuitive and user-friendly experience that makes it easier for faculty to locate their classrooms, understand available technologies, and access supporting resources.
The team approached this work with creativity, collaboration, and a strong commitment to accessibility, helping the site achieve over 95% ADA compliance. They were consistently responsive to feedback, readily implementing changes requested by me and our Stearns Center partners with professionalism and a positive attitude.
Their work continues to have a lasting impact. The Classroom Guide remains one of the most visited pages at the start of each semester and has significantly improved the experience for faculty, staff, and students alike.
Thank you LeAnn, Kelly, and Gedeon for your partnership, flexibility, and dedication to excellence. You all embraced every request with a solutions-oriented mindset and worked tirelessly to create a resource that truly serves our university community. Your creativity, responsiveness, and commitment to quality made this project a success, and I am deeply grateful for all you have done. Your work continues to make a difference for our faculty every day.
-Crystal Clemons
LeAnn Pittman, Eric Saulsberry, Doug Whetzel
Doug, Eric, and LeAnn demonstrated exceptional innovation and teamwork through their leadership of the 2026 University Classroom Programming Refresh, one of the most ambitious AV enhancement projects undertaken at George Mason. Together, they successfully planned and executed the upgrade of more than 180 classrooms, modernizing aging Flash-based interfaces and implementing a new platform to create a more consistent, intuitive, and future-ready classroom experience.
What makes this effort especially noteworthy is that the team went far beyond a required technology upgrade. They used this opportunity to reimagine the faculty experience by introducing numerous quality-of-life improvements, including enhanced display controls, camera and microphone privacy features, remote support capabilities, accessibility enhancements, streamlined help resources, user feedback tools, and building-specific dynamic branding. Their forward-thinking approach not only addressed an upcoming technology challenge but also significantly improved usability, security, supportability, and data collection capabilities across the university’s learning spaces.
This project required close collaboration across multiple teams and stakeholders. Doug, Eric, and LeAnn worked seamlessly together, leveraging their individual expertise while maintaining a shared commitment to the success of the project. Their willingness to innovate, solve complex technical challenges, and support one another enabled the team to deliver a large-scale refresh that will positively impact faculty, students, and staff for years to come.
Thank you, Doug, Eric, and LeAnn, for your vision, creativity, and teamwork. Your dedication to improving the instructional experience and your commitment to delivering a high-quality solution have made a lasting difference for our university community. This project is a great example of what can be accomplished when talented individuals work together toward a common goal.
-Crystal Clemons
Mohammed Boukhira, Kristen Jennette, Dave McGarry, David Namiotka, Larry Song
Two EASD servers were recently migrated to Azure. After the migration was completed and the team resolved several minor issues, we discovered that responses from TouchNet were not reaching our server. Although we were able to send payment transaction data to TouchNet, the response indicating whether each payment was successful could not be returned to our system.
The team conducted extensive troubleshooting to confirm that the incoming requests were not being blocked on our side. After thorough investigation, we determined that the issue was likely on the TouchNet side and that its firewall rules needed to be updated to allow communication with our server’s new IP address.
We contacted TouchNet and asked them to open a support ticket. However, we were informed that only a limited number of authorized individuals at George Mason University could create and approve tickets. I contacted David, and he graciously joined the call and remained with us late into the evening. He helped ensure that the ticket was created and approved and that TouchNet received all the information necessary to investigate and resolve the issue.
Kristen, Larry, Mo, Dave McGary, and David Namiotka all remained on the call well into the night. I could not have asked for a more dedicated, collaborative, and supportive team.
Mo was especially helpful throughout the process. He continued following up with TouchNet into the early morning hours and resumed his follow-up first thing the next morning. He also manually processed all failed transactions to prevent any adverse impact on the students who had submitted payments to the university.
The entire team continued working together throughout the following day. We provided TouchNet with all the necessary information, manually processed the affected transactions, tested the system once the firewall issue was addressed, and notified all stakeholders after confirming that the problem had been resolved.
I am extremely grateful to work with such committed and dependable colleagues, and I am proud to be part of this team.
-Amir Tofighi
Chad Britt, Casey Campbell, Kate Orf, Justin Powers
We recently got notice that an ssl certificate that is deployed to 700+ wireless presentation devices in classrooms across 3 campuses was expiring within 24 hours. This expired cert would present end users who connected to the device via web browser with an intimidating error page, warning about being insecure/non-encrypted, and it could only be bypassed by clicking “take me anyways (unsafe).” Even though we prefer users to use the solstice app, we knew there are users who would be confronted with the warnings, and we did not want to train users to engage in surfing insecure sites in other places. When I tried to find a solution, Kate Orf was referred to me by Casey Campbell, to help us get an updated cert, Kate roped in Chad Britt, and Justin Powers helped configuring security templates, uploading the new cert and deploying the new settings. It was a great example of One ITS, working together to get something done that could impact faculty and students as the fall semester was about to launch. Everyone jumped on this immediately and worked collaboratively, respectfully, and swiftly to resolve the issue before any end-users could be impacted. Kudos and thanks to all these ITS teammates for their contributions and efforts on this unplanned incident.
-Scott Behrens
Scott Behrens, Jeff Kling, Adithya Reddy Koppula, Akhil Nakka, Shruthi Pachava, LeAnn Pittman
I am pleased to nominate Shruthi and the AI Team for their exceptional innovation and teamwork in the development of TechMate, George Mason University’s AI-powered support chatbot for faculty and students.
Over nine months, the team dedicated countless hours to transforming an initial vendor-delivered product that contained significant inaccuracies and was not suitable for supporting instructional environments. Recognizing the importance of providing reliable, timely assistance to faculty, Shruthi and her team systematically refined, tested, and enhanced the platform to ensure accuracy, usability, and trustworthiness.
Their innovative approach and collaborative effort resulted in a solution that directly supports teaching and learning. Many instructors are reluctant to contact support during class because it disrupts valuable instructional time. TechMate provides immediate access to troubleshooting guidance, classroom information, and support resources, enabling faculty to resolve issues quickly and remain focused on instruction.
Through their perseverance, creativity, and commitment to quality, Shruthi and the AI Team transformed a challenging project into a valuable university resource that exemplifies both innovation and teamwork while delivering meaningful benefits to the George Mason community. I look forward to introducing TechMate to faculty in Fall 2026 and seeing the many ways it enhances the teaching experience.
-Crystal Clemons
Myong Kim
Myong Kim partnered with New Student and Family Programs to develop a new format for delivering ITS information during orientation sessions. Despite being a remote employee, he came to campus to personally present to incoming students and their families. His dedication, professionalism, and ability to clearly communicate essential technology resources showcased ITS in a positive light and helped prepare students for a successful transition to life at George Mason.
-Joe Balducci