STLCC Project Earns League for Innovation Badge

St. Louis Community College’s 2022 Overall Innovation of the Year award-winning project has received further recognition from the League for Innovation in the Community College. 

The STLCC vax incentive app was launched in fall 2021 by information technology’s enterprise services team, led by Khouloud Hawasli, director of enterprise applications services and operation. 

The League for Innovation recently presented its Innovation of the Year Award badge in recognition of innovative practice at a league member institution. The electronic badge, which can be used by the staff on email, websites, social media and the like, can function as a visual cue to spark conversation around innovation, create relationships and build community.

STLCC’s COVID-19 Response Team needed a way to encourage employees and students to get vaccinated against the virus while recognizing that a vaccine mandate would not be possible. A monetary vaccine incentive program was implemented, and Hawasli’s team developed the vax incentive app used through the existing STLCC mobile app that allowed participants to provide proof of vaccination quickly, conveniently and securely. 

The team worked with finance and payroll, student affairs and project management to quickly develop both the tool and the process for validation and payment. The result was significant: a 67% increase in confirmed employee vaccinations compared to pre-incentive numbers, and a 235% increase among students. 

In addition to Hawasli, other team members were Jeff Kapp, director, applications solutions; Suhail Awan, application/system analyst programmer lead; Brian Bakula, senior oracle and database systems analyst; Adam Lopresto, data integration lead; Matthew Schrum, application/system analyst programmer; and Jim Cooper, application/system analyst programmer.