The Greene Center not only deeply appreciates all of our campus partnerships, but also loves to celebrate and support them.
Annual Gwennie Awards
The Gwennies are an annual celebration each year in April of the partners who make our work possible. Named after our benefactress Gwen M. Greene, they celebrate the contributions of students, student organizations, faculty, staff, alumni and technology partners to our work in career education and student support. Each category highlights multiple nominees, all of whom are celebrated, as well as final winners listed below.
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Student Leader Award2024 – Rhea Bharadwaj (’24); Ellie Vetack (’24)
2023 – Wendy Li (’23); Neziah Osayi (’24)
2022 – Samia Afrin (’25)
2021 – Dominick Harasimiuk (’21)
2020 – Aaron Haynie (’20)
2019 – Julia Norwood (’20); Claudia Sofia Carrillo Vazquez (’19)
2018 – Anisha Khosla (’18)
2017 – Grant Dever (‘17) -
Student Organization Award2024 – Minority Male Leadership Association (MMLA)
2023 – Society of Undergraduate Public Health Students (SUPHS)
2022 – National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)
2021 – Forte Campus, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE)
2020 – Rochester Design; AiChe (American Institute of Chemical Engineers), Student Association: Anne-Marie Cortes, Lilly Hutton, Harris Kalac, Victoria Ann Liverpool
2019 – 2021 Class Council; First-Year Fellows
2018 – Meliora Launchpad
2017 – Chinese Students’ Association -
Faculty Member Award2024 – Nancy Chin, Professor, Undergraduate Public Health-Related Programs; Jon Shipley, Undergraduate Program Faculty Director
2023 – Chris Muir, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
2022 – Laura Smoller, Professor of History and Pablo Sierra, Associate Professor of History
2021 – Stephanie Ashenfelder, Director of Digital Media Studies and Academic Director of Studio Arts
2020 – Kristana Textor, Instructor, Digital Media Studies
2019 – Ajay Anand, Deputy Director of the Goergen Institute for Data Science
2018 – Joanie Rubin, Dexter Perkins Professor in History
2017 – Amy Lerner, Biomedical Engineering, Academic Director, Center for Medical Technology & Innovation -
Faculty Member Award – student nominated2021 (new award category) – Rob LaVaque, Senior Lecturer, Electrical and Computer Engineering
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Department Coordinator/Leader Award2021 – Jennifer Condit, Undergraduate Program Administrator, Chemical Engineering
2020 – Kristine Seewagen, Handler Scholars Program Manager & Academic Advisor
2019 – Brynn Wilkins, Undergraduate Program Manager, Department of Computer Science
2018 – Nick Maynard, Operations Manager, Event and Classroom Management
2017 – Marty Guenther, Undergraduate Program Coordinator, Department of Computer Science -
DEI Initiatives2024 – Roc Rainbow Rally
2023 – Office of Minority Student Affairs
2022 – Dr. Col Raimond, Director of LGBTQ Life -
Campus Partner Award (Individual)2024 – Hillary Lincourt, Senior Analyst/Programmer with University IT
2023 – Lynn Stork, EMS Software Manager & Kim Hoffman, Interim Assistant Dean, Engaged Learning & Research
2022 – Lisa Altman, Data Science Program Coordinator
2021 – Eric Roule, Information Technology Project Management
2020 – Teresa Long, Office of Undergraduate Research
2019 – Lauren Ward, Program Manager, Office of College Enrollment
2018 – Marcy Kraus, Director of the College Center for Academic Support, Gretchen Briscoe, Director of Graduate Enrollment, Arts, Sciences & Engineering
2017 – Brian Magee, Wilson Commons Student Activities, Sarah Van Munster, Dean’s Office -
Campus Partner Award (Department)2024 – International Services Office, Meliora Catering, Simon Benet Center
2023 – SMD GEPA Office
2022 – UX Certificate Work Group
2021 – Orientation and First-Year Programs; Innovation Challenge Team
2020 – Hajim Undergraduate Advising
2019 – International Student Engagement, The David T. Kearns Center
2018 – iZone, Wilson Commons Student Activities, Office of Global Engagement
2017 – Office of Admissions -
Alumni Relations & Advancement Partner Award2024 – Alyssa Shoup, Bailey Nixon & Aamir Anwar
2023 – Becky Picone, Assistant Director of Career & Professional Affinity Programs
2022 – Megan Thompson, Executive Director, Alumni Relations
2021 – Karen Chance Mercurius
2020 – Corinne Dagen
2019 – The Meliora Collective Steering Committee: Michelle Cavalcanti, Emily Gillette, Anthony Giordano, Elizabeth Huberli
2018 – Brittney Snyder, Hazel Williamson
2017 – Hajim Advancement Team; Lisa Hall -
Alumnus/a Partner Award2022 – Nik DeMaria ’09, Ryan Dougherty ’21, and David Schryver ’20 (MBA); Mark Goldstein ’78 + Abby Zabrodsky ’14, ’19(MBA); Jason Sherron ’97, ’98(MBA)
2021 – Joshua Richards ’12, ’14 (MBA); Jessica Bernstein ’17; Brad Orego ‘11
2020 – Lorenzo Mendez ’12; Evans Lam ’84; Dr. Phil Breitfeld ‘79 MD
2019 – Raymond Hanson ’94; Martin Pavelka ‘91(MS), ‘94(PhD)
2018 – Kevin Mille ’04; Max Sims ‘16, ‘19 (MBA)
2017 – Andrew Bosco ‘91; Stephen Fantone ‘79 (PhD) -
Technology Partner Award
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Greene Center Course Development Grant
The Greene Center Course Development Grant supports faculty interested in embedding career-related activities into new or existing courses. Such activities can take the form of career modules, assignments, experiential learning, skill development opportunities or industry exploration.
2022-23 Recipients
Coming soon!
2021-22 Recipients
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Ajay Anand, Associate Professor & Cantay Caliskan, Assistant Professor of Instruction, Goergen Institute for Data Science: DSCC 383WAward will be used to fund the implementation of the virtual internship platform, Riipen, into the Data Science Capstone course. This will expand the breadth of companies the department collaborates with to offer exceptional capstone projects to students.
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Kristana Textor, Instructor, Writing, Speaking & Argument Program/Digital Media Studies: WRT 105.Award will be used to fund an out-of-classroom learning experience at the National Museum of Play, covering transportation and admission expenses to receive a behind the scenes tour of the Museum’s collections and gain access to resources such as the American Journal of Play and the Video Game Hall of Fame. Seeing how the Museum curates, displays and supports programming around their collections will help students craft contextual arguments for an argumentative essay assignment around nominating a game for the Video Game Hall of Fame.
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Liz Tinelli, Associate Professor, Writing, Speaking & Argument Program: WRT 105.Award will be used as extra compensation for curriculum development to systematically integrate life design activities into the course and provide opportunities for students to meet all Greene Center learning outcomes (Get Curious, Talk to People, Try Stuff Out and Tell Your Story). Some examples of activities include student development of life design sketches and opportunities for informational interviews, as well as a final project where students create a “my story” podcast to draw from their experiences to articulate where they are and what they want to explore next.
2020-21 Recipients
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Stephanie Ashenfelder, Director, Digital Media Studies, Academic Director: Studio ArtsA curated learning environment where UR students can find digital media resources in an interactive learning environment. Including: alumni interviews, curated internships, and workshops (Blender, Unity, and Adobe Premiere). The site also highlights exciting student research and scholarship in new media and public events.
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Terry Noto, Senior Lecturer in Political Science, Law and Policy Coordinator: PSCI/SUST 246Inclusion of guest speakers, including alumni, representing an array of careers in environmental policy pertaining to the various environmental issues and programs we’re studying. This provides students with direct exposure to people who are working in the field in a variety of capacities, giving students hope, encouragement, greater knowledge about possible policy roles/careers and a networking opportunity.