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Dustin Luca
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SALEM, MASS. – A group Commonwealth Award issued to Salem State University’s ITS Digital Media and Classroom Technology Services department is the product of years of heroics bringing impactful on-campus programming to the greater community.
The department was honored in the state’s Employee Recognition Program awards ceremony in October, with four employees receiving a group award alongside dozens of outstanding civil servants: assistant director Derek Barr, and staff Jason Hagberg, Marissa Hanson and David Walker.
Barr said the award came upon the nomination of Christopher Mauriello, director of the university’s Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. It came after ITS employees helped get the Center’s programming online when the world went offline from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We were nominated for the work we’ve done and continue to do for the Center,” Barr said. “During the pandemic, they didn’t have any in-person events. They had webinars, and we were in charge of all their webinars.”
Much of this was made possible with Hyflex cart installations, mobile platforms incorporating a PC and the hardware necessary to run Zoom. The carts, when brought to an in-person event, allowed them to become hybrid for online attendees and remote presenters.
Hagberg and Walker’s work with Hyflex carts was pivotal in events being successful online throughout the pandemic, Barr explained.
The department also lent the Center a major assist in its overseas travel to Europe in 2024. Staff member Marissa Hanson joined a group of faculty and students from the Center to document their work abroad, which explored the history of World War II and the Holocaust in locations across Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
At the same ceremony in October, Elisa Castillo, Salem State’s assistant vice president for HSI-MSI Initiatives, received the Manuel Carballo Award for Excellence in Public Service. The university also had several employees receive certificates of achievement individually: Rhonda Berry, Ana Bettencourt, Nuala Friel Wright, Deborah Germano, Kelly Janos, Melissa Kaplowitch, Lisa Masella, Kathleen O'Brien, Maria Powers, and Walker.
Barr also received awards in 2008, 2014, and 2018 for similar work supporting faculty in Salem State’s Center for Teaching Innovation.
Barr said he’s ecstatic for his team, who were all delighted to receive the award.
“Sometimes, recognition beyond ‘thank you’ can be few and far between. Verbal thanks are always appreciated, but an actual award is icing on the cake,” Barr said, looking up at the award as the latest addition to his desk’s “wall of wonder.” “Recognitions of this nature never get old and only add to our love for the work that goes into supporting our colleagues and their events.”