Established in 2005, the Excellence Through Innovation Award (ETIA) program recognizes exemplary administrative staff and librarians across our tri-campus community. The ETIA program is an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate ‘above-and-beyond’ contributions towards the University’s mission as one of the world’s foremost research-intensive universities.

Individual and team nominations were submitted by colleagues and evaluated based on specific contributions and achievements in transferability, quality impact, productivity, cost savings, transformative value, and equity, diversity & inclusion. This award serves as an inspiration for our community to implement similar initiatives in their own units or, more broadly, to make the University of Toronto a better place for students, faculty members, librarians, and staff.

Thirty project teams (comprised of over 300 individuals) were recognized for their innovation to the University including the following, comprised at least in part of OREP staff who were recognized for their role in these innovative projects:

EASI-PSEC Wellness Pilot

Recognized for launching a Wellness Pilot Program that provided managers and staff with curated sets of well-being materials to encourage an improved employee experience.

OREP team members included: Vikram Chadalawada*, Aline Pruvot, Dana Pogaceanu, Jimmy Au, Justin Charlick, Mariana Vardaei and Vicki Vokas

Inclusive Language Working Group

Recognized for expanding engagement and raising awareness about the importance of intentional inclusivity within information technology across the University, particularly through the creation of the IT@UofT Inclusive Language Guide.

OREP team members included: Annie Hua, Carly Popenko*, Belinda McKay, Elicia Wilkinson, Keshav Raina, Laurie Harrison, Peter St. Onge and Sarosh Jamal

Intellectual Property Education Program

Recognized for fostering community connections by developing content and forming private and provincial government partnerships, improving understanding of Intellectual Property rights.

OREP team members included: Laurie Harrison and William Heikoop

Rocket Shuttle Migration project

Recognized for successfully and seamlessly migrating over 250 Rocket Shuttle users to new data-serving tools, saving the University in licensing fees and ensuring more secure data storage and robust reporting.

OREP team members included: Alim Lalani, Amy Li, Bruce Zhu, David Wang, Dmytro Larichiev, Joanne Sukhai, Katie Babcock, Moulika Ranikunta, Pierre Hanna, Rodney Branch, Tammy Chan and Titus Hsu

Student Advising Service

Recognized for transforming student advising services by creating a foundational enterprise system capable of enhancing student and staff needs and experiences at the University.

OREP team members included: Court Van Beek, David Wang, Elicia Wilkinson, Frank Boshoff, Kelly Jay and Zoe Wong

The UDATA Project Team

Recognized for launching UData, an internal information hub for data analysts that promotes good data governance and facilitates data-based decision-making.