Kudos & Congratulations - University Information Technology

UIT staff recognized for their excellent work

I would like to thank Dustin Udy for his hard work and extra time spent making the PCI logging project a success. With very little time and a large amount of work and pressure, Dustin was able to build and install a centralized logging environment from the ground up that met the complex requirements of the PCI Data Security Standard. This project was a major part of the PCI compliance effort for the University and deserves to be recognized. ~ Colby Gray

I'd like to send out thanks to Jake Johansen for his impressive work on the Penetration Testing requirements of PCI Report on Compliance. Jake coordinated vendor interactions, operational logistics, and project management all while still having to perform the technical tasks required by the assessment. Without Jake keeping the process on course and his willingness to go the extra mile, the assessment could not have been nearly the success it has been. ~ Corey Roach

Kudos to the CIS and USS teams for the go-live of the Exadata system. This is our new Oracle environment that is hosting the databases for the PeopleSoft environment (and some other databases, too). It has been immensely successful and has cut the run time on numerous jobs by more than 50%. Most importantly, it has brought a number of improvements to a vital University environment. Thanks to all involved who worked above and beyond with an aggressive timeline.

Kudos to our DNS/DHCP/IPAM (DDI) team for the successful Phase 1 rollout of InfoBlox. This system has created a solid foundation for IT Professionals, ISO, and networks teams, to move forward with improving the security at the University, with true Internal and External views and DNS Blacklisting (to name just a few of the features!). This is a giant leap forward for the University. A special thanks to all involved, especially Florian Stellet and Levi Conner.

Kudos to our evolving monitoring team. The University went through an exhaustive process to improve our monitoring which had been fractured and spread across departments in the past. Now we have a group dedicated to this critical function. While still in its infancy, a great deal of progress has been made which has brought additional insight into the complexity of the University IT environments. A special thanks to Elliot Fenech, Lee Schuster, and Laura Qualey on a job well done. ~ Mike Ekstrom, Trevor Long & LaRon Taggart

With Jeff Hassett’s departure, a huge vacuum in leadership was created in CIS. Trevor Long, Associate Director of Operations in CIS, for many months now has been filling that vacuum. He deserves huge kudos for his personal sacrifices to cover his job and much more. Under his watch, monitoring and network operations have matured, network naming infrastructure (DNS) has been renovated, core backbone services have been upgraded, and Oracle database hosting technology has been completely replaced. With LaRon Taggart joining the team as Jeff’s replacement, we are hoping that Trevor will get some more sleep! ~ Mike Ekstrom

Want to nominate someone?

Anyone can submit an item for Kudos & Congrats. Email praise for your UIT colleagues to emily.rushton@utah.edu. The people you recognize will be put into a drawing to win gift cards, event tickets, merchandise and more. Those who submit entries will also be put in a separate drawing for more prizes. (Directors and associate/assistant directors not eligible for prizes.) A special thank you to some exceptional campus organizations that donated tickets, merchandise, and gift cards to help recognize UIT employees: Athletics, Auxiliary Services, Dining Services, Kingsbury Hall, Pioneer Theatre Company, Red Butte Garden, UIT Leadership, and Utah Museum of Fine Art.