PHILADELPHIA – The Division of Recreation and Intercollegiate Athletics (DRIA) is proud to have several of its members recognized with the University of Pennsylvania's Models of Excellence Award for the 2020-21 academic year.
 
This year's special Sustaining Penn Through COVID-19 category shines a light on those individuals and teams that contributed directly to creating extraordinary outcomes for the Penn community. The category focused on maintaining life-sustaining on-campus services and support, delivering mission-critical programs and services working from home, finding new ways to work safely onsite, and improving the morale and well-being of students, staff and faculty at a time of need.
 
The following staff members were honored by the University:
 
DRIA WELLNESS SUPPORT TEAM
Joe Haughey
Erica Hildenbrand
Mike Martin
Keith Maurer
 
The DRIA Wellness Support Team focused on sustaining the division as it moved forward with virtual programming and preparing the facilities for resumption of activity, while securing business development income.
 
BEN EVANS, OFFICE OF RISK MANAGEMENT AND INSURANCE: "When Ivy League sports were canceled, DRIA staff would not let that stop them from being productive. There is a saying in sports: 'Next man up' and in this case 'next man and woman up.' This is exactly what Joe, Erica, Mike and Keith did. All four jumped in to assist the Wellness Office on the University's front line for COVID-19 testing, contact tracing, and education."
 
ERIKA GROSS, HEALTH AND WELLNESS: "With Wellness' staff being pulled in a multitude of directions, Joe, Mike and Keith were brought in to support the day-to-day operations. Through their expertise and professionalism, the Houston Hall COVID testing site tested on average 3,000-5,000 individuals weekly. Through a combined effort between Wellness and DRIA, the Public Health Ambassadors program was launched. This program has also been immensely successful under Erica's leadership."
 
PENNOPEN PASS TEAM
Matt Carmody
Meghan Cartafalsa
Steve Cunha
Pat Dolan
Amy Graber
Kyle Gurganious
Christina Kossak
Joe Mihalich Jr.
Josh Seeherman
 
The PennOpen Pass Team, a cross-functional group of employees from across the University, developed digital tools and operational processes to enable the safe return to campus for the Penn community. This team worked together to conceive, design, build, and operationalize the PennOpen Pass program and associated software products to perform daily COVID-19 symptom and exposure checking for the Penn community.
 
KATY MAHRAJ, PERELMAN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: "Through their dedication, hard work, and innovative problem solving, the Open Pass Team at the University of Pennsylvania has created a timely, widely adopted tool that promotes the healthy and safety of everyone in the Penn community and advances Penn's mission of excellence in education, research, and patient care."
 
KASH PATEL, PUHS CORPORATE INFORMATION SERVICES: "Enthusiasm, commitment and support from many of the talented team members we have at the University of Pennsylvania were the secret ingredients in making PennOpen Pass successful. The dedication, hard work, innovative problem-solving and amazing spirit of collaboration by the Penn team and the Health System created a tool that has categorically proven itself to improve the safety of everyone in the Penn community."