ITS Presents Customer Excellence Awards

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 31, 2018) — University of Kentucky Information Technology Services (ITS) announced the recipients of the Customer Excellence Award for Leadership in IT Advancement at a ceremony May 24. 

The ITS Customer Excellence Awards program recognizes students, staff and faculty members who have greatly assisted ITS in successfully deploying a new service or resource. Nominated by an ITS staff member, the efforts of these individuals on ITS’ behalf have greatly improved the IT environment for the entire university. This year’s recipients are: Elizabeth Foster, Beth Kraemer and Catie Lasley.  

Elizabeth Foster, a senior who graduated with an electrical engineering degree, served as the student representative for the Microsoft Product Contract Advisory Panel where she actively provided constructive feedback, giving insight from the student perspective, regarding Microsoft applications. This guided product and service evaluation during the contract renewal process. During the university’s IT Strategic Planning process, Foster reviewed the draft plan, spoke with other students, and met with ITS Leadership to provide feedback. 

Beth Kraemer, with UK Libraries, chairs the University Information Technology Coordinating Committee (ITCC), which facilitates the exchange of information regarding university-wide computing and data communication needs and interests in research, instruction and administration. In the spring of 2017, Kraemer assisted as co-chair for the Student IT Enablement Task Force for the IT Strategic Plan. Over an eight-week period, her activities included seeking feedback from task force members, collaborating with her project manager in meeting organization, identifying agenda items, coordinating student focus groups, and drafting recommendations. She is currently serving as a member of the IT Security and Policy Advisory Committee where she is playing a critical role in rewriting the university’s IT Administrative Regulations. Kraemer often assesses where IT services can be improved for the campus customer and shares that feedback with ITS.

Catie Lasley, with Human Resources, is passionate about improving the employee experience and work environment through technology tools. Over this past year Lasley has helped shepherd and advise on numerous IT projects from SuccessFactors Learning, human resources focused analytics, identity management, to General Data Protection Regulation compliance and cybersecurity training. This past year Lasley co-chaired the Enterprise Systems Task Force for the IT Strategic Plan. She focused her group on idea gathering and current and future needs assessment, culminating in a report containing recommendations and action items. Lasley and her team also served as a resource as ITS revised and relaunched their communications and marketing efforts.