Rob Notari is Penn State Scranton's October Employee of the Month

DUNMORE, Pa. — Penn State Scranton Chancellor Marwan Wafa has announced that Rob Notari, system administrator, Information Technology Support, has been named the campus' Employee of the Month for October.

Each month, nominations are received in the chancellor's office for employees whose peers feel they have gone above and beyond in their job duties.

In nominating Notari, Director of Business Services Gene Grogan said, “Rob Notari continues to take the lead and plays a major role in providing the technology infrastructure (the “stuff” behind the walls and above the ceilings) to all of the campus’ renovation and construction projects. He works closely with the design professionals on layouts and implementation of the technology needs of these projects. He and the team of both staff and tech service personnel work either alongside contractors or, after they left for the day, pulling miles of data cables, making connections, and mounting projectors, screens and speakers. His technical knowledge and work have provided significant cost savings for the campus, over all these years of renovation work.”

Caroline Chronowski, director of information technology at Penn State Wilkes-Barre, wrote: “I would like to nominate Rob Notari for Employee of the Month, especially for “excellence in performance — going above and beyond job expectations.

“During the pandemic, I had two staff members move on to new positions, leaving me with having to train two new employees while keeping the department operational. I did not know how I was going to manage until Rob Notari offered to help train my new staff. It was because of Rob that we were able to keep IT operations at Wilkes-Barre functioning and classes and offices running smoothly — especially during a pandemic when many users were trying to navigate technology to teach, learn, and work in a remote environment.”

She continued, “Rob is extremely knowledgeable about all aspects of information technology. He has extensive experience working with Penn State systems and offices. He is always professional and kind and willing to lend a helping hand and share his technical skills.

“He provided training to help us keep our network systems safe and secure and in compliance with Penn State policy. Rob also assisted us with programming our unique software packages that we use for Surveying Engineering and Game Development. He met with us on Zoom to provide guidance and answered questions whenever we asked. He was always available whenever we needed him. He was even willing to travel to Wilkes-Barre to help. I do not know what we would have done without his support. He is a huge asset to Penn State.

“Rob has been such a huge help! I just cannot thank Penn State Scranton enough for helping us out! Through this collaboration with Penn State Scranton, we were able to keep Wilkes-Barre IT operations running smoothly and build relationships for mutual assistance in the future.”

Congratulations, Rob!

The Employee of the Month recognition was initiated in 2016 by Wafa as a way of distinguishing staff members who "go above and beyond the call of duty" in serving Penn State Scranton.

Campus staff, faculty and students are encouraged to nominate staff members that deserve to be recognized for “going above and beyond.” The link for nominations is available here.