2020 Annual Award Recipients
Outstanding Service Award
Eugene J. Monaco.
Eugene J. Monaco
Executive Director/Principal Investigator and Public Service Professor, retired December 31, 2020
Professional Development Program
Gene Monaco first joined the Professional Development Program in 1985, after over a decade at Hudson Valley Community College overseeing Continuing Education and then Public and Community Service programs. During Gene’s earliest years at PDP, he oversaw Program Evaluation, among other areas, and played a key part in the development of an early 1990’s paid program of non-credit courses offered to public audiences, which took place in addition to our regular state contract work. There was also a summer camp program and training done in Somalia, to name just some early highlights from Gene’s time at PDP.
Gene later served as PDP Executive Director for over two decades. During his time with PDP, he was instrumental in building it into one of the largest university-based continuing professional education programs in the nation. Gene’s Rockefeller College biography lists his academic specialization as Government & Technology. He has over three decades of experience in the design and delivery of instructional activities using state of the art delivery modalities and in the development of curricula, training and research materials for continuing professional education geared toward the public service workforce. Gene was the driving force in PDP’s expansion into online learning as an early adopter of then newly emerging delivery methods.
He has authored numerous journal articles and scholarly abstracts, and presented papers both nationally and internationally, regarding continuing professional education and workforce development. In addition, Gene is the co-author of two books on government and technology. Gene developed and led PDP’s biannual newsletter, the Communiqué, overseeing 45 issues. It is a project about which Gene is particularly passionate and one that will continue after his retirement.
As we honor Gene for his Outstanding Service to PDP for well over three decades, we reflect on his dedication to the mission of PDP – to make a difference in a changing world by linking the learning, applied research, and evaluation resources of the University with the continuing professional education needs of the public service, and doing so with excellence in all that we do!
Gene, congratulations on receiving the 2020 PDP Outstanding Service Award!
PDP Outstanding Team Award
CONNECTIONS Placement Build Team
Team Members: Nathan Cadoret; Max DeSieno; Amy Goodrich; Lakia Green; Stephen Guckemus; Jodi Kerper; June Mastan; Tammy Morrissey; Patty Seeberger
The SYS20 team’s work includes curriculum development, help topic development for the Help system, and classroom and distance learning training to support statewide users of three major computer applications used by the OCFS Division of Child Care Services. These are: Child Care Facility System (CCFS), Child Care Time and Attendance (CCTA), and Facility Application Management System (FAMS).
A tremendous amount of work took place throughout the year with shifts to training needs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A new two-day CCFS classroom training course launched in the first quarter of 2020, requiring team members to work extended hours over several days to meet sponsor needs and accommodate not only system but also business procedure changes immediately prior to the course pilot and launch. SYS20 team members also worked closely with the Bureau of Training and Development (BTD) and DCCS to develop two new CCFS/CCFS2 courses using the BTD crosswalk process to convert portions of existing classroom training to two WebEx courses. Both courses successfully launched in 2020.
The team on this relatively small contract also produced nearly 400 help topics for the CCFS Help system and 11 sets of system Release Notes to assist system users with 24/7 support. The help topics development required extensive troubleshooting with RoboHelp software.
In developing meaningful training scenarios and supporting CCFS training records, PDP worked with Information Technology Services (ITS) staff to support new and revised CCFS and FAMS courses. This process required frequent communication and system testing. For CCTA training materials development, PDP also had to work with a private vendor responsible for system development.
Throughout the project year, staff needed to develop training materials and evaluation instruments, work with ITS on Training Database updates and training records to accommodate system changes, monitor registration, manage print production (first quarter only), deliver training, design and develop help topics, and participate in frequent communications with DCCS, ITS, and BTD.
In recognition of the SYS20 Team’s excellent work, we are pleased to present them with the PDP 2020 Outstanding Team Award.
SYS20 Child Care Systems Training Team
PDP Outstanding Trainer Award
Eleanor Daiga
Eleanor Daiga
Sr. Education Specialist/Trainer
Department of Child Welfare Training
Ellie provides virtual and classroom training and develops curriculum for PDP’s CC05: Working with Substance Affected Families project. Ellie is the sole Sr. Education Specialist/Trainer on this project. For a period of time in 2020, due to staffing vacancies, Ellie solely and successfully managed project deliverables. Ellie converted content for virtual delivery, posted trainings in WebEx and HSLC, and marketed her offerings while also maintaining a consistent training calendar.
A licensed social worker, Ellie consistently does research to stay current in the field of substance use disorders. She also attends additional training in the field. Ellie is positive and supportive in the classroom and welcomes participant questions. She allows participants to explore the topic and identify their challenges in working with substance affected families honestly and without judgment. Ellie consistently receives high marks on Participant Reaction Questionnaires and her trainings are frequently sought out by the field and regularly filled to capacity.
Ellie has served as a mentor to new staff joining the Department of Child Welfare, welcoming observations of her training for trainer development and sharing her vast knowledge of substance use disorders with colleagues on a variety of projects.
Ellie is forward oriented and is always willing and able to “pitch in”. She recently assisted in developing a proposal for training on the correlation between substance use disorder and trauma, and the impact of vicarious trauma for the Child Welfare workforce, which required her to do research on the prospective topic, training hours and time it would take to complete the project.
In recognition of Ellie’s excellent work, we are pleased to present her with the PDP 2020 Outstanding Trainer Award.
PDP Outstanding Professional Staff Award
LaToya Jackson
LaToya Jackson
Project Staff Assistant
Public Service Workshops Program (PSWP)
LaToya Jackson of PDP’s PSWP unit was charged with leading the effort to transition the 12-day, 8-month NYS Leadership Institute from a classroom-based training program to fully virtual when the pandemic began. Originally set to begin as a classroom training program in May, the virtual program was scheduled and delivered over a condensed 6-month period and began in September 2020 after months of planning and preparation that was ongoing through the final session and graduation on February 18, 2021. She was responsible for coordinating all aspects of training delivery, faculty and speaker preparation, facilitator preparation, and participant communication. LaToya was the “glue” that held together a complicated program delivery model demonstrating impressive critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills to allow for not only a successful transition to virtual, but in some ways superior training experience for the high-level State executives participating in the program
LaToya personified PDP's well-respected reputation for meeting challenges head on and delivering a high-quality training experience despite myriad challenges. LaToya has not only taken it upon herself to learn and gain expertise in the program content on leadership, she evaluated and trained herself on multiple virtual delivery platforms, such as WebEx, GoToWebinar and Zoom, learning which platform best suited the needs of the program, with the least learning curve, and the most inexpensive alternative. Once Zoom was selected, LaToya shared her expertise using Zoom through one-on-one Zoom training for faculty and presenters, assisted co-facilitators with figuring out ways to leverage the technology, and led numerous rehearsal sessions with media staff and presenters to ensure sessions were delivered seamlessly.
The positive feedback from GOER, Rockefeller College, and PDP staff, as well as from NYSLI participants regarding LaToya’s excellence was absolutely overwhelming over the last 6 months and at the final session and graduation on 2/18/21. This included recognition from Dean Rethemeyer of Rockefeller College and Michael Volforte, Director of GOER.
In recognition of LaToya’s excellent work, we are pleased to present her with the PDP 2020 Outstanding Professional Staff Award.
PDP Outstanding Administrative Support Staff Award
Terri Zuelsdorf and her daughter Tessa
Terri Zuelsdorf
Administrative Assistant II
Finance and Project Support
When the Research Foundation initiated remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic effective March 17, 2020, Terri adapted quickly to the change of her required duties. For example, it was initially thought that Terri could not continue HWRI work remotely but was able to keep processing the paperwork using RDS and CISCO. Terri worked with the IT Department and figured out how to keep both going without losing time and kept the payments going for the HWRI students seamlessly. The first day CISCO was up and running a college called with a voucher that was about to expire. If Terri did not have the ability to answer the call remotely and process the paperwork, the college would have missed the voucher deadline and the student would have lost their tuition money.
Terri’s dedication to her work responsibilities, evaluating and assessing tasks that could be more efficient, and taking the initiative to make improvements where possible contributes to PDP’s success with internal and external activities. She consistently demonstrates expertise in administrative support, competence in customer service and interpersonal communication skills. Terri is a valued PDP employee who is always willing to help while maintaining a positive attitude and an open mind to new opportunities.
Terri also does an outstanding job working with several state agencies as well as various colleges to process nursing grant requests. She is often recognized by the DOH program liaison for her excellent customer service under the HWRI project. For example, the program liaison wrote, “Thanks, as always Terri, for going above and beyond and reaching out to the school.”.
In recognition of Terri’s excellent work, we are pleased to present her with the PDP 2020 Outstanding Administrative Support Staff Award.