UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Irv Wilson, applications developer in the Human Resources (HR) Information Technology team, is the recipient of the 2024 Ray T. Fortunato Award for Excellence in Human Resources for his outstanding contributions to Penn State HR.

Established by the late Ray T. Fortunato, the flagship award acknowledges HR employees’ exceptional contributions and dedication to bettering human resources at Penn State. This year’s award was presented to Wilson by Jennifer Wilkes, vice president for human resources and chief human resources officer at Penn State, during an HR Town Hall event in May.

“Irv has been an integral part of our IT team, developing and supporting many applications that are used University-wide,” said Wilkes. “I cannot thank Irv enough for his outstanding work. During the pandemic, he developed several applications that were essential in helping drive the University forward during that challenging time. More recently, he developed our new staff job profile catalog, and he continues to support HR through his development of new applications and enhancements to existing ones. He is more than deserving of this award.”

Over the past 10 years, Wilson has been key in developing and supporting many HR applications including, Unemployment Compensation, Exception to Hire, Penn State Jobs, Staff Job Profile Catalog, Performance Management, Promotion and Tenure, and many others.

“I was surprised when my name was announced. Past award winners had always been individuals who more directly perform HR work, so to be recognized for work that isn’t necessarily a core function of HR, felt really good," said Wilson. “I think it goes to show how much everyone’s contributions in HR matter and that we’re all part of one HR team. There is no greater accomplishment than recognition by peers who work so hard each day. I look forward to continuing supporting HR and the University in the coming years.”