Tucson, Arizona, United States
Technical and Teaching Leader Sustainable Team Builder | Versatile Problem Solver | Cross-functional Collaborator I bring director-level technical leadership to higher education. I have been in many industries and environments, and higher education is my favorite. As both an instructor and one who provides technology for faculty, I understand both the wants and needs as well as the limitations. In my roles at the University of Arizona, I have initiated new programs, led enterprise-wide transformations, and championed conversion to new teaching modalities. I am a firm believer in continuous improvement, providing leadership for a process improvement team, introducing scrum development for better scheduling and transparency, and using feedback to improve my teaching. On the personal and personnel side, I focus on team building through trust and mutual respect. My belief is that to provide a successful service or product, you need to have a successful team. Therefore, mentoring, training and development, as well as interpersonal conflict resolution, are key for employee satisfaction and retention. Just as important as establishing trust within the team is creating trust outside the team. I focus on effective communication and relationship building with everyone: end user clients, senior leadership stakeholders, deans, peer partners, faculty, and students.
• Imparted Student-Centric Teaching: Use evidence-based, active learning methods for student engagement. Incorporate feedback to redevelop curriculum to focus on the essentials of the course for better student outcomes. Crafted presentations and teaching materials for class.
• Streamlined Operations: Directed enterprise-wide implementation of campus desktop management system. Transition clients from custom applications to enterprise or SAAS (software as a service) solutions for faculty and staff.
• Championed Active Learning: Led the conversion of 58 classrooms into collaborative learning spaces to improve student outcomes. Obtained government funding for all departments to support hybrid teaching modalities during and post COVID-19. • Fostered Student Engagement through Innovation: Introduced new technologies into the classrooms and conducted research studies on the impact on student engagement. Brought 3D scanning and printing technology to students in partnership with UA Libraries. • Advocated Student Recruitment and Belonging: Assembled a cross-functional team to write proposal and gain approval from senior leadership for a new esports program. Collaborated with Recruitment, Student Engagement and the School of Information for recruiting students. Established presence in a PAC-12 coalition for esports. • Streamlined Information Access: Reduced information silos across five departments by collaboratively establishing a single source of truth for classroom information. • Provided Leadership and Team Management: Led teams of staff and student workers to provide services in classroom technology, computer labs, and student training. Provided leadership within UITS (University Info Tech Services), serving as vice-chair to foster a culture of continuous improvement and employee engagement.
• Transformed Development: Increased transparency and focus on delivery by introducing Scrum development methodology. Influenced other departments to adopt Agile methodologies. • Delivered Improvements: Led development of flagship products, delivering software per schedule. Automated production of RFID tags. Trained team members in advanced problem-solving techniques. • Enhanced standardization: Both enforced and influenced modifications to governmental and industry technical standards.