Kudos & Congratulations

UIT staff recognized for their excellent work

Congratulations to Carrie Felton (USS) and Ellis Valdez (CTO) for winning the last prize drawing!

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Kudos to Colton Rogers (School of Dentistry) and Trenton Watts-Klein (School of Dentistry) for all their help setting up my accounts and Box. Fixing an HR error that created a new ID required many weeks and coordination across multiple levels to successfully migrate all my information back.

~ Fabio Leite, School of Dentistry

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Kudos to William “Bill” Blycker (Seismograph Stations) for his many years of service and mentorship at the University of Utah Seismograph Stations. Thanks for everything, and we wish you all the best in retirement!

~ Nick Forbes, Seismograph Stations

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Thank you, Heather Winters (UIT), for keeping me in the loop of communications on my ticket and modifying last minute requests. Thank you!

Thank you, Julia Harrison (UIT), for getting my last minute ticket request on adding an option to my department’s phone tree. You are AWESOME!

~ Trinh Lam, UUHP Administration

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Heather Winters (UIT) is an amazing asset for the U of U Voice Services team. When a work order is assigned to her, you know it will be done right and in a timely manner!

~ Swen Sullivan, Pharmacy Services

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A massive shoutout to Ellis Valdez (UIT) for always being ”Johnny on the Spot“ — he is readily available to assist with a ”no task too small“ attitude. Most recently, we had an early morning Leadership Team meeting and the computer in our conference room wasn‘t working and folks from outside of the college were joining virtually. Within mere minutes he had a spare device fully connected and ready for use. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! 

~ Nate Merrell, College of Architecture + Planning

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Big thanks to AJ Malupo (UIT) for helping me with my Duo issues this morning! Starting the day off with a tech problem is not my idea of a good time, but AJ was fast AND friendly, and it really brightened my day to talk to someone so competent and courteous. Thanks!!!

~ Scott Mikos, UAIR

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Luan Vu (Advancement) worked very hard to find a bug with browsers and narrowed it down to the ForcePoint extension, he worked closely with the SMEs and got a resolution. Luan then worked with end users to get the resolution in place.

~ Ryan Lark, Advancement

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Kudos to Richard Glaser (Marriott Library) for putting together the monthly Mac Admins meetings. It has helped me immensely.

~ James Reynolds, LAS IT

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Shanna Long (Office of Research Information Systems, ORIS) is the consummate IT project management professional. She is knowledgable, organized, and proficient. She is personable, pleasant to work with, and provides prompt responses to support requests. The thing that I appreciate most about Shanna, however, is the way she takes ownership of IT-related items. She is an invaluable asset tot the ORIC and ORIS leadership and operations.

I recently worked with Roopshika Vennam (ORIS) to run a data query from one of the VPR research administration systems. Roopshika was very thorough in listening to and identifying my needs. Roopshika clearly understood the parameters of the query without unnecessary back and forth or repeat iterations. She made sure that I could access the data using the most efficient method and ensured that I understood how to rerun the query if necessary. Thank you, Roopshika, for making this experience so efficient!

Chris Green (ORIS) is incredibly pleasant to work with. Several attributes Chris embodies as an IT professional that I really admire are:

• Collaboration: Even though he is the expert, Chis is open to hearing ideas and is committed to finding a way to incorporate them.
• Creativity: Chris doesn't pretend to know the answer to everything. He knows an awful lot, but when he encounters a challenge, his first instinct is to immediately look into it and find a solution.
• Responsive: Whenever I have reached out to Chris for assistance, he is prompt in either resolving the request, setting a timeframe for resolution, or scheduling a time to meet to discuss. Chris provides critical collaboration to the VPR subunits, creativity in solutions, and is responsive to each request.

I want to recognize him as an essential member of the ORIS team!

~ Zachary Mitchell, Office of Research Integrity & Compliance

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Woah! I am in absolute awe of the grace and professionalism that Arainna Forth (UIT) has demonstrated as she leads our team through ongoing change. Through major shifts and high‑impact initiatives, she remains deeply supportive and consistently people-centered. I’m unspeakably grateful for the way she advocates for our team, builds strong partnerships across departments, and leads with both vision and compassion. Thank you, Arainna, for everything you’re doing for our team and the people we serve!

A sincere thank you to Mythri Ravandur Mani (UIT) for her unwavering dedication to the user and student experience as we’ve worked through some insidiously persistent vendor‑related issues. Her attention to detail and commitment to delivering a seamless experience have ensured that students and users don’t feel the impact of the challenges happening behind the scenes, all while excelling in the day‑to‑day work. Mythri, your diligence and care make a meaningful difference, and I’m deeply grateful for the excellence you bring to our team.

I am consistently amazed by the insights and ideas that Izzy Solvang (UIT) comes up with, and I appreciate the user-centered focus in every action. The user satisfaction and system efficiencies that Izzy has delivered have been remarkable, strengthening not only our systems but also the trust our users place in us. Thank you for bringing such creativity and heart to everything you touch.

Huge thank you and kudos to Patrick Harris (UIT) for the detail-oriented approach to our documentation overhaul project. From page structure to organizational tips to long-term usability, Patrick has helped our team mature our documentation strategy, and it is already proving so useful! I so appreciate the time and energy that has gone into it.

~ Carrie Felton, UIT

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I’d like to nominate Ian Johanson (ORIS) for recognition based on the outstanding support he’s provided to RMC over the past couple of months. As we’ve worked to rapidly expand and nearly double the size of our team, Ian has consistently gone above and beyond to ensure we stay operational and on track. Ian has taken incredible initiative and has been exceptionally responsive — often making himself available on short notice to support urgent needs like setting up temporary workstations for expansion, onboarding new employees, and troubleshooting systems access, software permissions, and other technical roadblocks. His reliability and partnership have made a tangible difference in our ability to keep hiring momentum moving and maintain service continuity during a high-growth period. We’re grateful for Ian’s professionalism, urgency, and proactive support, and RMC is genuinely better positioned because of his efforts.

~ Casey Erickson, Research Management & Compliance

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Shanna Long (ORIS) has been terrific in managing the RFP process for the new platform that will replace Erica (our Huron product). She was patient with the ORIC as we considered different companies. In addition, she was thoughtful and thorough in assisting us in considering which company will provide the ORIC with the best platform to meet the needs of approximately 10 different units. Shanna has been amazing!

~ Caren Frost, ORIC

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In preparation for the upcoming transition to our new degree audit system, we updated the existing petitions and exceptions workflow. Rolling these changes out to the university presented challenges for many stakeholders, and we received substantial feedback with thoughtful suggestions for improvement. We brought this feedback to Brad Grow (UIT), who implemented major enhancements that have significantly improved both efficiency and transparency. Thanks to Brad’s work, users can now navigate the portal more quickly, sort and filter with ease, clearly identify where exceptions are in the process, and view feedback on approvals and denials. These improvements not only streamline day-to-day operations but also allow departments to proactively address curricular issues — laying important groundwork for our new degree audit project by reducing artificial or unintended curricular barriers that negatively affect students. As soon as the updates went into production, we immediately heard from advisors, academic leaders, and others about the dramatic improvement. Brad — thank you for your dedication. Your efforts have solved critical short-term issues while helping us address fundamental curriculum-related challenges, ultimately supporting a better student experience across the university.

~ Erin Mason, Office of the University Registrar

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I so appreciate Tony Le’s (UIT) excellent IT teaching skills. He is very knowledgeable and at the same time he teaches at the level of the learner. He has repeatedly provided instruction that I could easily understand and implement. Thanks, Tony!

~ Susan Saffel-Shrier, Family and Preventive Medicine

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Ryan Kinville (Auxiliary Services-Campus) deserves some kudos! Being able to have confidence that Ryan and his team will handle a crisis or need is easy. Ryan makes regular check-in, establishing a trusting relationship with those of us dependent on his expertise. When asked for assistance, he is attentive and quick to act. With the new projects he is helping with, he is positive, has great answers, and is willing to find out what he doesn’t know. We can depend on Ryan!

~ Suzy Bindrup, Commuter Services

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Doug Kenner (UIT) used to be my manager, and he is incredibly supportive and approachable. He creates a relaxed and welcoming environment where conversations feel natural and open. He is consistently kind, approachable, and friendly, making it easy to share ideas or ask questions. He also helps with anything you might need, going out of his way to provide guidance and support. I have deeply appreciated the positive energy he brings to every interaction, which has made a lasting impact on my experience.

~ Srinivas Peddola, UIT

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Many thanks to Thomas Lu (UIT) and Chad Bake (ITS) for fixing some issues with our annual KB article review process and updating our review notifications. The journey was arduous, but they perserved! I appreciate your diligence, thoughtful questions, and determination to deliver solutions that would work best for us. Kudos to you both.

~ Larrisa Beth Turner, UIT

 

 

 

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