Celebrating excellence and dedication at RIT Croatia: Annual awards ceremony

RIT Croatia recently honored its outstanding faculty and staff members during its Annual Awards Ceremony, a tradition that underscores the institution's commitment to recognizing excellence in both academic and administrative realms. The event was a heartfelt celebration of those who have demonstrated remarkable dedication, expertise, and a relentless drive to enhance the institution's quality of education and services.

Categories of Excellence

The awards were presented across several categories, each aimed at highlighting different aspects of the faculty and staff's contributions to the vibrant RIT Croatia community. Nominations were submitted by colleagues who provided detailed explanations to support their chosen candidates, reflecting the collaborative spirit that defines the institution. Below are the categories, the distinguished recipients of this year’s awards, and quotes from the nominations:

Excellence in Service Award

Barbara Gabud, Student Services and Administrative Assistant

Barbara’s position is an extremely busy place, and she is always on top of things, reliable and easy to work with; known for their quick and efficient handling of all tasks. Whether it’s processing paperwork, responding to inquiries, or managing appointments, helping the team with events - everything is always done promptly and accurately. Her ability to work swiftly without compromising quality ensures timely assistance and support to students, faculty, and staff, she makes sure her "clients" are satisfied and their needs have been met.

Iva Kužina, Specialist in Career Services, Alumni Relations, and International Student Department

Iva is on top of their game all the time. Extremely patient with different constituencies they work with daily: MUP and other authorities, embassies, agencies, landlords, parents, etc. Iva did an amazing job supporting all summer students at the Zagreb campus. She is proactive in searching for solutions to the challenges at hand. In all those situations, she is calm and acts with a smile. Iva is an exceptional professional, her dedication is inspiring, easy-going, and she has a unique ability to dissolve any work tension.

Mario Ljubišić, IT Operations and Facility Manager

Mario is the colleague who is always ready to assist, students, faculty, and staff. Regardless of how trivial question is, he helps right away, with a smile and a joke on the side. Even if off duty, he steps in and offers his expertise and a helping hand. Mario is also an outstanding person, it's just a pleasure to have him around, just a lovable person who tries to make the best of everyone's day!

Matea Novak, Accreditation Coordinator and Ministry Liaison

Matea has consistently gone above and beyond in providing exceptional support to colleagues and to students who have sought out her assistance. A true team player, and always willing to lend a helping hand. She not only with enthusiasm takes on any additional tasks that come in front of her, but she proactively identifies additional tasks she could complete. No matter how simple or tedious a task might sound, Matea takes it on with enthusiasm. She is also very diligent and she leads the colleagues on joint projects with ease, but quite precise, in particular regarding deadlines. A very nice and easy-going person, a huge contributor that we all rely on.

Valentina Soko, Finance and Accounting Specialist

The prime elements of Valentina’s nomination are a responsible, diligent, and honest employee. Valentina completes all tasks promptly, always prioritizing her work. Her past year has marked noticeable progress and what in particular stands out, Valentina is ready for growth, learning, and development every day. She maintains a positive and respectful relationship with all her colleagues and is always available to assist them.

Dr. Alan Mutka, Area Head for Web and Mobile Computing, Senior Lecturer

Alan’s unwavering dedication to his students is evident in his commitment to teaching challenging and significant courses with clarity and passion. He has the ability to simplify complex concepts and engage students is enhancing their academic experience. On the other side, Alan was very persistent in exploring and finding a different solution to one of our long-term sore spots, closely working on it with our faculty, ITS staff, and their RIT counterparts.

Excellence in Professional Engagement Award

Dr. Marlena Ćukteraš, Instructor

Marlena is deeply engaged in a wide array of academic, cultural, and scientific initiatives that significantly enrich our institution and the broader community. Her involvement ranges from supporting student excellence, as demonstrated by her role in leading and supporting various student initiatives, to fostering global awareness through events focused on sustainability. Marlena’s passion for sustainability and preservation of the environment shines through her workshops on environmentally conscious travel and the preservation of Dalmatian Coast species and habitats. Her diverse contributions reflect a remarkable dedication to both academic excellence and community engagement, making her an invaluable asset to our institution. 

Dr. Kristina Šorić, Area Head for Humanities, and Natural and Social Sciences, Professional studies professor-tenure

Kristina exemplifies excellence in professional engagement through their unwavering commitment to both academic and industry pursuits. She is a dynamic and positive force within our institution, consistently stepping up to take on additional responsibilities, ensuring that students receive top-tier academic experience, coupled with exposure to real-life business challenges. Her ability to build and nurture meaningful industry partnerships, both locally and internationally, is an invaluable complement to academic excellence.  Kristina’s dedication, collaborative spirit, and approach truly sets her apart.

Excellence in Research Award

Dr. Kristijan Tabak, Professional studies professor

Kristijan has been quite active throughout the past academic year. He has not only attended several research seminars at Croatian and American institutions but also delivered several talks. He has also reviewed papers for prestigious journals and published three articles in high-quality journals. On top of this, Kristijan managed to organize a scientific conference and got appointed to the grade of a college professor.

Dr. Martin Žagar, Senior Lecturer

Martin has been intensely involved in a variety of research activities in the past academic year. He has authored and co-authored seven papers and submitted four more for publication. Martin has managed to establish strong ties with RIT Dubai through several research initiatives. He is a project manager on an Interreg project, as well as on a recently approved project that ventures into Ethiopia and Somalia, and a partner lead on an Erasmus project.

Special Awards

Outstanding Financial Management Award was awarded to Jelena Tolić, Director of Finance, for her ongoing contribution and hard work.

The Special Project award goes to the Mindfulness workshop for high school teachers, led by Dr. Ana Havelka Meštrović, Senior Lecturer and Marija Vujević, Recruitment and Enrollment Specialist.

Another Special Project award is handed out for the Employer Satisfaction Survey project to the following project team members: Dr. Besim Agušaj, Dr. Vanda Bazdan, Dr. Ana Havelka Meštrović, Matea Novak, Dr. Jakob Patekar, Dr. Maja Vidović and Jelena Zvono.

Length of Service Awards

RIT Croatia also honored the commitment and loyalty of its long-serving employees, acknowledging those who have dedicated years to the institution:

• 5 Years: Dr. Alan Mutka, Marko Baričević, Dr. Kristina Šorić, Toni Njirić
• 10 Years: Dr. Ana Havelka Meštrović, Dr. Branko Mihaljević, Dr. Milivoj Marković
• 15 Years: Dr. Vanda Bazdan, Ivona Labaš
• 20 Years: Irena Ljubišić
• 25 Years: Milena Kužnin

Congratulations to all the awardees for their remarkable achievements!