Campus IT Services Celebrates a Year of Accomplishments

Photo by David Stowers

Special guest John C. Pijanowski, Faculty Senate chair, addresses the campus IT community.

On Dec. 2, over 140 campus IT staff gathered to celebrate the accomplishments of 2016. Some of the highlighted accomplishments included progress on several Achieve IT initiatives, including the completion of the first phase of Network Everywhere project. Achieve IT workgroups, such as Virtual Desktops Everywhere, Classroom Technology Everywhere and Service Desk Everywhere, are also on schedule and moving toward completion in 2017.

An intangible value was also celebrated at the gathering: a shift in culture that emphasizes strengthening collaboration and leadership.

"Just over a year ago, Chris McCoy arrived on campus as CIO and brought together a small group of leadership from both campus IT and central IT," Teresa Waddell, IT director of Fulbright Arts and Sciences, said. "That enabled the beginning of IT collaboration on our campus.  And now as we celebrate IT with the entire IT campus community, it seems appropriate to thank Chris McCoy for getting us started and working better together."

Fourteen IT employees were nominated by their peers as individuals who have campus IT core values in the past year.

Paige Francis, associate CIO of shared services and academic technologies, said about the nominees: "Leadership in technology requires confidence in being able to pivot to meet rapid change, foresight to realize anticipating needs is a moving target that must be continuously revisited, and a dedication to communicating and educating non-technical leadership on highly-technical topics in a relatable, non-confusing way. The individuals who were nominated are examples of this forward-thinking leadership as well as commendable examples of the category in which they were chosen."

Customer Service/Attitude
Terry White, Computer Support Specialist, UITS
Staci Hudspeth, Fiscal Manager, UITS
Birajan Bista, Network Analyst, UITS

Leadership/Influence
Eric Roberts, Associate Director for I.T., Housing
Scott Zemke, Director of Technology, FJAD

Teamwork/Collaboration
Bryon Speller, OUCampus project lead, UITS
Scott Gardner, senior network engineer, UITS

Campus Engagement/Understanding the Business
Niccola LeBaron, senior software support analyst, UITS
Marie Riley, technology support director, UITS
Rob Pilgrim, research associate, CHEG

Creativity/Innovation
Art Miller, designer/web developer, UITS
Will Allred, associate director of technology, UITS

Job Knowledge/Quality of Work
Martin Bailey, project/program specialist, UITS
Erin Griffin, content and IA specialist, UITS

Nominations are accepted throughout the year. If you would like to nominate a campus IT employee, please email cio@uark.edu with the employee's name, a brief description of the example of relevant work and the core value in which it fits.