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Please join us in congratulating Mariana Rieke, Kasey Godard, Cassidy Leasure, Scott Lewis, Bridget Leyland, and Alex Walters from the Department of Psychiatry Office of Grants and Contracts (OGC), who have been recognized by the University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences Research Administration Office.

Mariana, Kasey, Cassidy, Scott, Bridget, and Alex received the following awards at the Research Administration Day ceremony on October 13, 2025:

Mariana Rieke (Director, WPH Office of Grants & Contracts) - Outstanding Career Achievement Award

Awarded to a staff member who has made exceptional contributions to the success of their department and the University, who has earned the respect of their peers, and whose efforts have defined what it means to be part of the Pitt community. 

Mariana joined the Office of Grants and Contracts as a Grants Specialist I. Her drive, motivation and advanced understanding of grants management led to her assuming greater responsibilities within the office and ultimately leading the office as Director in June 2019.

The Department of Psychiatry has over 150 Pitt or dually employed research faculty with a vast portfolio of primary and subaward grants, and Mariana has recruited, trained, and retained a stellar team of talented individuals who are known for providing outstanding services tailored to the specific needs of each individual member of our research faculty. Consistently, Mariana’s professional demeanor is at once upbeat and tenaciously determined; she excels at overcoming seemingly intractable problems, retaining admirable poise and calm amid times of stress. She is the consummate professional and approaches each person and situation with dignity and respect and has earned the respect of our faculty, her peers, and those she supervises. Mariana adapts to the ever-changing landscape with calm and a purposeful strategy, adhering to the highest standards of excellence and innovation.

Kasey Godard (Data Manager) and Cassidy Leasure (Grants Specialist II) - Standout Performer Awards 

Recognizes staff members who demonstrate a sustained high level of excellence in the execution of their job responsibilities. Awardees are solutions-focused and have made a significant impact on the achievement of departmental or Health Sciences goals and objectives. 

Kasey Godard has grown tremendously as her responsibilities have increased, and she now generates a wide range of reports that support leadership in decision-making and overall departmental management. These reports include workload distribution, deadlines, departmental performance, and data for budget preparation, ensuring data accuracy and timeliness. Kasey provides essential data the team uses for published papers and for presentations at national conferences. Her consistent level of performance, productivity, and engagement makes her a valuable member of the department and a major contributor to the OGC’s success. 

Cassidy Leasure joined the Office of Grants & Contracts as a grant assistant, and quickly showed an early aptitude for pre-award work. Cassidy was rapidly promoted, working with one of the largest grant and contract proposal submission volumes of any department in the University. Cassidy continued to produce high quality work and receive glowing reviews from faculty members. Recently, Cassidy was promoted to the role of Grants Specialist II, with the added responsibility of training pre-award staff, developing training materials for our faculty and their project staff, and providing input on departmental process improvement. 

Scott Lewis (Database Administrator) – Innovator Award

Recognizes staff members who develop efficient solutions to problems within research administration, which makes the department and/or Pitt more effective in managing our sponsored projects. 

As the OGC’s primary programmer, Scott has been instrumental in the group’s substantial advances in data management, paper tracking, process improvement, and innovation. With Scott’s process development and programming expertise, the OGC has been able to build and implement databases, smart forms, and other products that allow for robust and efficient account forecasting, faculty and staff salary and effort distribution change review and routing, award closeout processing, and other critical tools. The tools that Scott developed has enabled the OGC to vastly improve its daily operations. 

Bridget Leyland (Pre-Award Team Manager) - Mentoring Award 

Recognizes a staff member who inspires and brings out the best in others. This individual mentors colleagues and fosters an environment of collaboration, and empowers others to achieve goals. 

From the moment she joined the OGC, Bridget’s work ethic and professionalism shone through, and she has steadily assumed increasing responsibility. During her time as Lead Grants Specialist and Pre-Award Team Leader, Bridget has successfully on-boarded and/or was integral to the training and career development of multiple grants assistants and grants specialists, including some who have subsequently taken on training and mentorship responsibilities of their own. Bridget dedicates time to providing valuable one-on-one mentorship to early-career staff, she assists other teams in the OGC with cross-training, and she has developed training techniques that other team leaders in OGC have implemented into their own team development strategies. 

Alex Walters (Grants Specialist I) - Rising Star Award 

Recognizes a staff member who consistently exceeds expectations, is motivated to achieve top performance, and displays a positive and service-oriented approach. This individual takes initiative to identify problems and offer creative solutions and is dedicated to the success of the organization. 

From the start, Alex has demonstrated initiative and commitment, as well as an ability to quickly absorb and relate information. He is exceptionally self-motivated and views challenges and changes as opportunities. Alex has exhibited these skills with the implementation of a new financial data system, as he actively collaborates with the team to manage with top efficiency. Additionally, Alex has developed innovative methods to track his constituency, skillfully applying knowledge gleaned from discussions he had with more experienced grants specialists. 

Congratulations to the above OGC staff members and thank you for your contributions!