Outstanding Yale staff members receive Lorimer Distinguished Service Awards
President Peter Salovey and Linda K. Lorimer, former vice president for global and strategic initiatives at Yale and former Yale trustee, presented 51 Yale staff members with the Linda K. Lorimer Award for Distinguished Service in a virtual ceremony on Nov. 18.
The award, now in its seventh year, recognizes staff members who exemplify Yale’s spirit of leadership, innovation, collaboration, and excellence.
This year’s honorees represent 10 key initiatives across the university, including many types of service related to the Yale community’s extraordinary response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In his remarks, Salovey noted that this year’s awards ceremony was “an opportunity for us to celebrate all of Yale’s amazing staff members.”
To learn more about award eligibility, the nomination process, criteria, and past winners, visit the President’s Office website.
To view the Linda K. Lorimer Awards 2020 slideshow, click here (PDF).
A list of the award winners and their citations follow:
Individuals
In the Department of African American Studies
Vanessa Epps
Demonstrating exceptional performance, Vanessa went above and beyond her primary job responsibilities to foster an inclusive environment for faculty, students, and staff in her department.
In the Office of International Students and Scholars
Ann Kuhlman
A fierce advocate and compassionate visionary, Ann tirelessly worked to ensure the wellbeing of Yale’s international community and built the Office of International Students and Scholars to connect diverse populations in new ways.
Teams
At Yale Health
Cheryl Carden, Mary Cofrancesco, Nanci Fortgang, Giuseppe Giorgetti
To reduce the risk of a “double pandemic,” this team reinvented the entire flu vaccine delivery model and developed an ingenious scheduling system to provide a broad spectrum of safe and convenient offerings to the Yale community.
In Yale Hospitality
Trumbull Residential Dining — Aniello DeMartino, Danielle Lucci, Nicole White
Culinary Support Center — Cyon Jones, Craig Staffey, Christina Wethington
With exceptional operational performance, this team selflessly distributed thousands of pounds of food to the New Haven community and created a “home away from home” for all students remaining on campus during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting the Yale community and beyond.
In Yale Conference & Events, Facilities Services, Risk Management, Housing & Fleet Management, Yale College, and Student Administrative Services
Heather Abati, Melanie Boyd, Donald Filer, Jeff Hughes, Ferentz Lafargue, Shannon LeGault, Marjorie Lemmon, George Longyear, Nathan Lubich, Suzanne Shaw, Caitlin Slattery, Kate Vieillard, David Wright, Jennifer Zuccaro
Under untested and challenging circumstances, this team helped solved the temporary housing crisis for frontline health care workers and first responders during the COVID-19 pandemic and managed the logistics of moving students’ possessions to and from campus.
In Yale College Undergraduate Admissions
Ashleigh Corvi, Hannah Mendlowitz
With visionary leadership and creativity, this team converted Bulldog Days to a highly successful online experience for admitted Yale students.
In the Department of Emergency Medicine
Luis Cruz, Joy Grabow, Jeffrey Hoffman
With exceptional creativity, flexibility, and utmost attention to detail, this team seamlessly transitioned emergency medical training to a virtual environment, providing educational continuity for medical students and residents during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the Office of Environmental Health and Safety
Kevin Charbonneau, Ben Fontes, Peter Reinhardt
Under enormous pressure, this team calmly and rapidly led the creation and mobilization of an infrastructure that ensured university-wide biomedical safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the Yale Cancer Center
Trisha Burrello, Diane Eannotti, Laura Leary, Neta Shanwetter Levit, Talia Mitchell, Kira Pavlik, Sara Raboin
With extraordinary care and diligence, this team rapidly transitioned Smilow cancer patients, researchers, and staff to remote care and work while upholding a high level of productivity, engagement, and quality.
In Yale Printing and Publishing Services, the Yale Broadcast Studio, and the Office of Public Affairs and Communications
Nicholas Appleby, Gregg Chase, Jason England, Douglas Forbush, Andrew Hurley, Zoe Keller, Rick Leone, Jack Neiswanger, Guy Ortoleva, and Dan Renzetti
In record time, this team worked together to create and produce an accessible, virtual Commencement and Opening Assembly, ensuring the continuity of hundreds of years of Yale tradition.
