Professional News

ITS Honors Employees and Customers

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 18, 2020) University of Kentucky Information Technology Services (ITS) has recognized its employees who celebrated a milestone in years of service for the year 2019. The 30 ITS employees honored totaled over 600 years of service in ITS.

“It is always so rewarding to take a look back at the years some of our ITS employees have spent with us. They are such a valuable asset to our department,” reflected Chief Information Officer Brian Nichols.

Additionally, ITS recognized three recipients of their Customer Excellence in Leadership in IT Advancement Award for 2019. Among the recipients were Department of Computer Science faculty member Jerzy Jaromczyk; Teaching, Learning, and Academic Innovation staff member Alex Cutadean; and marketing and management student Lauren Fox.

Associate Professor Jaromczyk is an active promoter of careers in STEM. In March of 2019, he attended the LIFT 2019 Career Conference alongside ITS for middle school and high school students across Kentucky. In addition to generating interest in young people, he often engages ITS for ways to encourage women to go into computer science. Jaromczyk was recognized for empowering women and encouraging all to pursue STEM careers no matter their gender or age.

Cutadean has always been a faithful supporter and technical advisor to the student Media Depot. For years he has been one of the go-to people for technical assistance and knowledge. Cutadean helped develop the UK esports weekly show for campus, championing the weekly Twitch news format to represent UK’s esports initiative. His extensive technical abilities and knowledge make "Kentucky Esports Weekly” both high quality and successful, and he is very supportive of the faculty, staff and students who work with him on the show.

Lauren Fox worked with the Smart Campus Initiative, Public Relations and Strategic Communications and Marketing and Brand Strategy on various student-focused projects. She provided the app development team with a student voice throughout the build of the UK:Go app. Fox also continued working with the team after app launch, helping to ensure events and other useful information is posted in the app.

These three recipients were recognized for their leadership in technology and their commitment to furthering IT advancement at the University of Kentucky.  Nichols said, “It is incredibly important to have members of our community that are committed to advancing technology at UK. For them, we are so grateful.”

Due to COVID-19, a celebration of ITS employees and Customer Excellence Award recipients was unable to be held. However, each recipient had their award or chosen token of appreciation delivered to them personally. Employees also received a reach out from their respective leadership team member and a video was shared with all ITS staff honoring their service.

As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.   

In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.