Lisa Bitacola, Research Lab Coordinator of the Ivey Behavioural Research Lab, has won a 2015 Western Award of Excellence, the highest honour for staff member achievement at the university.
As Lab Coordinator, Bitacola’s main responsibility is to make sure all the research in the lab is done efficiently and with high quality.
“I’m trying to make the lab a sort of one stop shop,” Bitacola explained. “Faculty members are so busy – I’m trying to take as much as I can off their plates.”
The research lab at Ivey is an experimental lab that runs studies for many different departments at the School, including information systems, general management, organizational behavior, and marketing. Faculty members bring their research studies to Bitacola, who conducts the research with the help of five undergrad research assistants.
“I can honestly say every person I’ve worked with I’ve really and thoroughly enjoyed,” Bitacola said. “That’s what I like about the lab – it’s important to build community in a work environment.”
With a Masters in Psychology and past lab experience at Western, Bitacola has a strong understanding of how to conduct research. And it shows – the feedback she gets from faculty, staff, and students is exclusively positive.
“Lisa is the outstanding team player who has come indispensable,” Matt Thomson, PhD Program Director said in Bitacola’s award nomination form. “Everyone she interacts with, she makes better because of a kind word, a smile, an encouraging hand, or taking on a bit extra here and there. What awes me is how every single person she interacts with walks away feeling better.”
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