Manny Genn Prize Bolsters Professional Development
Knowledge is power.
That’s something Emanuel “Manny” Genn, former associate dean of finance and administration, believed and embraced during his 36 years at Einstein. Following his retirement in 2008, he remained committed to this ideal and was determined to do something that would make it easier for members of the Einstein community to gain knowledge that could help them further their careers.
Manny Genn with prize winners (from left) Jennifer Renta-Barca, Thomas Aprea and Cookie Kurtz
In 2011, he and his wife Myra established the Manny Genn Prize to support the professional growth of Einstein administrators and managers. The award was first presented in 2012, and underwent a brief hiatus during Einstein’s transition to Montefiore. Going forward, it will be presented annually.
“Winners have used their awards to take career-oriented courses and attend professional conferences,” noted Yvonne Ramirez, chief of human resources. “It can also be used toward courses one may be taking to earn a certificate or degree, so long as there is a connection to one’s professional growth.”
Thomas Aprea; Jennifer Renta-Barca“I’m a great believer in continuing education and I’m sure the winners of this year’s prize will do the College of Medicine proud,” said Mr. Genn.
This year’s award winners were Thomas Aprea, administrator for the department of family and social medicine; Jennifer Renta-Barca, grants administrator for the department of medicine’s endocrinology and geriatrics divisions; and Marie “Cookie” Kurtz, manager of creative services in the Philip and Rita Rosen Department of Communications and Public Affairs. All three were happily surprised to win the grant funding. (The next formal application and nomination process will take place during summer 2018.)
Mr. Aprea and Ms. Renta-Barca used their funding to attend the National Institute of Health’s regional seminar on Funding and Grants Administration, held in Baltimore this past October, while Ms. Kurtz plans to take a course specifically designed for creative services managers.
Keeping Abreast of Proper Processes
For Mr. Aprea, who has worked at Einstein for more than eight years, the award was humbling.
“I’ve been here for a long time and I’ve heard stories about what an asset Mr. Genn was to Einstein, so I feel honored to get an award from him.”
The NIH conference Mr. Aprea attended with Ms. Renta-Barca helped both better understand the federal grant process and some of the major changes coming to the process in January.
“It was great to meet the NIH experts, hear about the changes, and get answers to some of my questions about grant applications and the pre-award process,” said Ms. Renta-Barca, who joined the Einstein community in late 2016. “It was an excellent source of information.”
Cookie KurtzShe added, “I’m new here, so I was shocked to learn I had won. It’s incredible that Einstein offers something like this to help career development, especially for newer employees.”
Mastering Her Domain
Ms. Kurtz has seen her career develop dramatically since coming to Einstein as a temporary hire for a two-day event in 2007. Since then, she’s worked her way up the ladder, and has been manager of creative services for the past two years.
“I was inspired to apply for the award after attending a creative manager boot camp,” she said. “I said to myself, ‘I love this. I want to do this and I want to be an expert in what I do so I’m going to take advantage of every opportunity.’”
Ms. Kurtz seeks to stay on top of changes to marketing strategies so she can support the College of Medicine in new ways.
“I want to keep developing my skills, implementing new tools, and identifying and using best practices,” she said. “There are always new innovations to learn about, so it’s super exciting. It can be challenging at times, too, but I love it!”
Posted on: Friday, January 12, 2018