Congratulations Dave Souder and Khalil Alston!

Congratulations Dave Souder and Khalil Alston for being selected as this month’s DoIT Gritty Award winner!

We are proud to announce that Dave Souder and Khalil Alston have been awarded the DoIT Gritty Award for their critical support of National STEM Day.  

Dave and Khalil designed the hybrid event to meet the needs of sponsors and presenters, trained all of the presenters, and provided day-of event support. The event was a STEM Speed Networking Event, held as a webinar. At least 45 students who registered through the Career Center attended this event and 15 professionals from the Environmental Protection Agency, United States Geological Survey (USGS), and United States Forest Service shared information about career paths and internships with students.

A few weeks before the event, Dave and Khalil were brought in to assist with the National STEM Day virtual event taking place on Friday, November 8th. With the assistance of Audio Visual full-time staff Steve Anderson, Hunter Gordon, and a team of DoIT student employees, they started testing the Webex Webinar process and workflow. They set up several test meetings internally and then, as we received the list of external presenters, Khalil and Dave started meeting individually over Webex with them to be sure they could all attend and present smoothly on the day of the event. 

They worked closely with members of the Office of the Provost, the UMBC Career Center, USGS, and the Chesapeake Bay Program to put this program together as a team effort. They are looking to expand this event to include other Universities and Government Agencies in the future, as it was a wonderful networking opportunity for the students and panelists who attended. 

For their exceptional efforts and commitment to excellence, we are proud to present Dave and Khalil with the DoIT Gritty Award. Congratulations!

The Gritty Award is in recognition of outstanding work within the Division. Full-time DoIT employees and teams are eligible to be nominated for going above and beyond! Anyone in DoIT can nominate someone for the Gritty by completing this short Gritty Nomination Form. 

Thank you for all of your hard work, Khalil and Dave! 

The DoIT Community & The DoIT Gritty Committee

Erica D’Eramo

Ally Hepp

Carlos McKinney

David Toothe

Dondre Hatef

Kashka Donaldson

Mariann Hawken

Nick Beech

Tony Finneran

Roy Prouty