 Most people know that I started out my career in German literature, and that's my bachelor's degree and my PhD and a master's degree and At the same time that I was getting my PhD. I got a graduate certificate in women's studies and a Master's degree in higher education administration. I've known since I was probably four years old that I I wanted to go to college and I've known since an undergraduate that I wanted to work in higher education So it's it's just been one of those things where I just kept going down that path What was interesting is that starting in as an undergraduate? I was a power user of technology so I like to joke that without even knowing what I was doing I was in chat rooms before there were even chat rooms and I always tried to use Whatever technology was available. I had one of the first Macs ever as an undergraduate and just loved it I didn't get too deep into it. I wasn't a technologist per se, but I was definitely a user I really wanted to pursue using technology and applied technology for my my studies and then of course just for playing around when I went to Graduate school and I was a TA. I was a TA for German languages and literatures Then again, I was always pushing the edge of Technology use so I was working for with the center CRLT the Center for Research on Teaching and Learning at the University of Michigan and Testing out the tools that they were bringing on so asynchronous group writing tools for instance First generation it didn't go well, but it was fun to really push the technology to its limits in In intro and intermediate language and culture classes now when I moved from Michigan to Colorado, I started to work for the first CIO at at the University of Colorado Boulder and Y2k was my first project and if there is any I think it was the best way in the world to get a crash course in the the technical infrastructure of a University that keeps the Administrative trains running the educational trains running and the research trains running So I learned a whole lot real quickly about the structure of the University and about the infrastructure the technology infrastructure that was in place and From that we learned we learned a lot We learned how to reach out in a very decentralized Campus and start to bring people in at least in communities of practice or having people embedded in departments and we found models that really worked and started to investigate models for Technology refreshes for instance around the campus, but then again, this was way back in the day After that I am I was working for the Atlas Institute, which is the Alliance for Technology Learning and Society Did a lot of ed tech research use of technology by faculty some obstacles to technology technology use by faculty and students and Ran a student computer lending program also way back in the day And I think one of the biggest lessons I learned and it was I actually repeated the same lesson Out loud in a meeting yesterday is it's not the technology. It's the practice and I think if there's been one thing It's to look at the the learner needs the pedagogical needs and then to appropriately Match that those needs Whether their assessment whether their classroom Teaching styles whether they're fully online, but match those appropriately to the tools that we have I One of the best things about being at the University of Utah right now is that there is broad and deep support for Diversity equity and inclusion efforts practices and mindsets. This has been Making it very easy for me as a new person coming in To be able to give authority to staff who really want to pursue this as part of their jobs So what I have been doing personally is making sure that there's a committee Looking at this and giving the perspective of from from the staff level What's needed because if I just come in and say this is what we need I could be way off because it could just be what I need I need to hear from the broader community from from our staff, especially to say this is what's missing This is what we need to do and to give them the authority to come up with strategy and tactics for For moving us all toward being a more inclusive Organization We're I'm also closely aligned with Campus leadership to see what do you need what what are the other efforts happening on campus? And how can I help and even if I can't help it with a particular project? How can I make sure that my unit is aligned with the campus vision and the campus practices? So those are just two ways really authorizing giving authority giving agency to as many people as possible to develop and and disseminate Effective DEI practices and then also aligning with what the campus is doing because sometimes Other people on campus feel that they're working in isolation and don't realize that they have a whole unit That can be seen as an ally to their efforts as well what I've seen time and time again is the organizations that do the best job of Using technology to help them teach and learn and do research are the ones where there's some strong IT Leadership in the organization on campus and that's organization that is not just Focus just on keeping the bits flowing but understanding how we can help the school leverage things This awards ceremony opened up to us. Oh, maybe I don't eight nine years ago or so and we grabbed it right away because I'm big. I'm a big fan of role models and Have people kind of say well, how do they get the award and take a look and they gets them to have the conversation to think through Who's getting the award and why and there's always a great story behind many of these recipients? I just think it's critically important to reach out and and help organizations like this help the industry This organization we can work here and have the biggest impact on the industry anywhere. We're on board We're supporting why because it's getting the award winners out there getting that to happen and And you know, I've been around a long time I'm sure I'll be around 30 years from now, but I'll stick around a few more years But I'm more worried about the longer-term picture of the industry healthy So things that promote that are always good for the industry They're good for the industry as a small boutique firm like ours. They're good for us, too