Core Value: Teamwork
Curt Carver's thoughts on Teamwork
Teamwork is necessary for our success internal to ITS. We work together to solve complex problems that require innovation and the combined efforts of dedicated professionals in ITS. Our roots in ITS are deep and our personal commitment is not only to each other but to defy common expectations.
We work as a team with our customers so that we can solve the most important problems and speed their solutions. We participate in communities of practice so that we can benefit from a deep and continuous interaction with our customers as we strive to constantly improve education in Georgia. When working on a project, our customers are not just someone on the phone but instead someone on the team.
Finally, the best ideas don’t come from a single mastermind but instead come from an experienced collaborative team intent on success.
“Teamwork is the ability to work together towards a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments towards organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.”
Andrew Carnegie
Carson Is A Team Player
Darlene Carson exemplifies the ITS core values of teamwork and tenacity in her position as a database administrator with Integration and Deployment Services.
“Darlene is a pleasure to have as a part of our team,” said Beverly Norwood, deputy vice chancellor of Operations. “She is one of those people who always strives to do the right thing to make sure that everyone she interacts with feels respected and appreciated. She believes it is a privilege and an honor to help people in life and is a true demonstration of our ITS core values.”
According to Beverly, Darlene works hard to ensure that her team provides exemplary service to our ITS customers, both internal and external. She is customer-focused, reliable and willingly goes the extra mile to help ensure the customer has a pleasant and memorable experience. She approaches work with an attitude toward professionalism and doing things “the right way.” One of the things Darlene often says is, “Treat others not just as well, but even better than you would treat yourself.”
Beverly describes Darlene as being encouraging, saying, “Darlene provides encouragement to her team as a whole, as well as to individual team members. She constantly seeks ways to improve and make things better. She approaches problems with a mind toward solutions, offers innovative ideas for problem solving and refuses to give up just because a problem’s solution may be tough or difficult to implement.” Darlene has a winning smile and an engaging personality and always has an encouraging word to share. “She seems to have a knack for knowing when a team member may need just a little encouragement and seems to always know just what to say to make the team feel better,” added Beverly.
Darlene provides database administration and technical support to both internal and external customers of the Banner Student Information System and the integration with other applications such as PeopleSoft Financials and the G2I data warehouse.
Expressing that she enjoys her job, Darlene enjoys the interaction she has with people on campuses as well as working with exceptional people at ITS. “They are supportive and provide great insight which increases my professional development,” said Darlene. “I am truly surrounded by talented individuals who exhibit a high level of intellect which in turn, helps me to excel.”
Darlene gets excited about her position because it’s “truly rewarding” adding, “My work is always changing and evolving. I love the hands-on experience, being able to learn different concepts. From the very beginning, technology has always been my passion. I can remember working with my first computer, an Apple IIe, and loving being engaged in innovative ideas and theories.”
Darlene has been a member of the ITS team for almost a year. She holds a bachelor’s degree in information technology with a concentration in database administration from Macon State College. Prior to joining ITS, Darlene was a database administrator at Macon State College.
Thanks Darlene for your continued commitment to ITS!
Georgia Summit and the University System Annual Computing conference at Rock Eagle
Marie Steed, Chair, Georgia Summit Conference; Denise Samples, Chair, University System Annual Computing Conference
There is a saying that many hands make light work. That is definitely true about the effort needed to produce the Georgia Summit and Rock Eagle conferences. We all know that the conferences provide opportunities for technology professionals and technology users throughout the System to exchange information with their peers and gain an accurate picture of the current and future state of technology in higher education. But for all of that to happen, the common denominator is that both of these events require a massive amount of planning by ITS folks; in other words, some good old-fashioned teamwork.
Anyone who participates in one or both of these conferences knows that each one is no small undertaking. And the short timeframe for this year’s conferences required coordinated teamwork to pull them off. Employees from across ITS stepped up and worked together to ensure that these conferences met the needs and exceeded the expectations of our stakeholders.
Both conferences were a huge success. Many thanks to the folks from the following ITS areas for providing the teams needed to deliver high-quality conferences for our stakeholders:
- Data Warehouse, Distance Ed, GeorgiaBEST, GeorgiaFIRST, and GeorgiaVIEW: program development/planning/ content for the conferences
- Information and Web Services: setting up and maintaining websites for both conferences
- Enterprise Infrastructure Services: setting up and overseeing the technical infrastructure for both conferences; providing technical support to presenters and attendees (projectors, laptops, audio/visual, wireless connectivity, etc.)
- Resource Management: registration logistics and staffing; vendor solicitation/sponsorships coordination
- Customer Support: communications planning and support; producing program guides (PDF and print) and schedule grids
- Library Services: producing creative after-hour event at Rock Eagle