The Greene Center not only deeply appreciates all of our campus partnerships, but also loves to celebrate and support them.


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

  • Ajay Anand,  Associate Professor &  Cantay Caliskan, Assistant Professor of Instruction, Goergen Institute for Data Science:  DSCC 383W
    Award 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.
  • 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.
  • 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

  • Stephanie Ashenfelder, Director, Digital Media Studies, Academic Director:  Studio Arts
    A 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.
  • Terry Noto, Senior Lecturer in Political Science, Law and Policy Coordinator:  PSCI/SUST 246
    Inclusion 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.

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.

    • Student Leader Award
      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 Award
      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 Award
      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 nominated
      2021 (new award category) – Rob LaVaque, Senior Lecturer, Electrical and Computer Engineering
    • Department Coordinator/Leader Award
      2021 – 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 Initiatives
      2023 – Office of Minority Student Affairs
      2022 – Dr. Col Raimond, Director of LGBTQ Life
    • Campus Partner Award (Individual)
      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)
      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 Award
      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 Award
      2022 – 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
      2022 – uConnect
      2021 (new award category) – Handshake