On September 15, Georgia Tech recognized IPaT’s Beth Mynatt and Sherry Farrugia as recipients of the 2016 Leadership Excellence Award. The awards were created to honor women faculty, staff, and alumnae who are excelling in leadership, collaboration, and innovation, and to mark the 60th anniversary of the graduation of Georgia Tech’s first two female graduates, Diane Michel and Shirley Clements Mewborn.

Through their work, award recipients are women leaders who have accomplished one or more of the following:

• Built communities and raised the capacity of others to collectively advance the Institute’s potential.
• Either had national or international impact, or if at the regional level, attracted wider recognition.
• Created needed institutions, initiatives, and/or programs.
• Transformed their chosen field and presented fundamental and influential research contributions.

In addition to her role as executive director of the Institute for People and Technology, Mynatt serves as a distinguished professor in the College of Computing and director of the Everyday Computing Lab. She is the chair of the Computing Community Consortium and a member of the National Academies Computer Science and Telecommunications Board. Mynatt has been recognized as an Association for Computing Machinery Fellow and a member of the Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction Academy.  

“It is wonderful to see Georgia Tech recognizing leadership excellence by women across all of Georgia Tech and our alumnae," said Mynatt. "It is a privilege to be part of the inaugural group and I look forward to Georgia Tech continuing these awards for many years to come.”

As director of the Pediatric Technology Center, Farrugia works to build and sustain public-private partnerships and manage Georgia Tech and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s multimillion dollar research portfolio. She also serves on multiple boards and was appointed to the Governor’s Council for Child Welfare. Farrugia has 25 years’ experience in the health information technology field, working in data analytics, data visualization, and clinical and financial outcomes.

“I am both honored and humbled to be recognized by Georgia Tech among so many other qualified nominees,” said Farrugia. “This award further demonstrates Georgia Tech’s commitment to an inclusive environment where everyone’s worth is recognized and valued.”

Other Leadership Excellence Award recipients include:

• Meltem Alemdar, assistant director and senior research scientist, Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC)

• Sungmee Park, co-founder and CTO, Sarvint Technologies Inc.

• Jacqueline J. Royster, dean and Ivan Allen Jr. Chair, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts

Mynatt and Farrugia received the awards at the Diversity Symposium Reception hosted by Institute Diversity, the Center for the Study of Women, Science, and Technology, Women in Engineering, and the Women’s Resource Center. The awards were also mentioned the day after at the Georgia Tech Diversity Symposium together with a commitment to inclusive excellence in leadership at the Institute.