Applauding (and Appreciating) Our Student Workers

January 8th, 2008

While most people are outlining their New Years resolutions, I find myself reflecting back on the year and contemplating our successes.  There are many… and I am proud of the entire department for improving customer service and for taking our organization to a higher, more professional level.

In calendar year 2007, the IS Department closed 11,500 service request tickets.  That number was a 40% increase over 2006 totals.

At the same time, our customer service ratings rose sharply to an overall 96% approval level. 

These stats do not include all of the projects – several large, critical initiatives that consumed enormous development hours.  Nor do these stats reflect the dozen security enhancement efforts that have allowed us to deploy state-of-the-art solutions.  Indeed, I could go on and on about our team’s accomplishments but I will save some of those for future blogs.

As I review the 2007 service statistics, I am truly amazed at the contributions of our student workers.  In short, they are amazing people.  Let me tell you why….

First of all, our student workers perform services that are just as crucial as those that our career staff members deliver.  Except for restricting their access to sensitive data, students provide our customers with a wide range of services.  In the process, they are held to the same high standards of customer service as the full time staff.  For example, after they are fully trained, we trust them to run the Help Desk after hours, to provide desk-side break/fix services to the faculty and staff, and to generally work unsupervised anywhere on campus.  Our veteran students are often accepted into department internships.  We have even allowed our most experienced students to direct and manage critical projects (like the laptop encryption project) or do primary development on our web sites.  

Second, within the IS Department, our students interact with the full time staff on an equal basis.  Nothing more, nothing less.  We tolerate no differences – perceived or real – with “status” levels.  Like full time employees, they are trained and coached and all students receive performance feedback.  They also attend our department staff meetings and all social events.

Third, our students provide a valuable perspective on the state of our network and its utilization.  And we listen.  They have their fingers on the pulse of the student body.  Some of the best ideas on improvements and modernization have come from our student workers.

Fourth, our students contribute significantly to the high morale of our department. They always have a positive attitude and they make us all laugh.  Unlike us older folks, they have not forgotten how to have fun at work.  Personally, they are good for me.  Our students remind me by their very presence to lighten up and not take everything so seriously.

Finally, my hope is that this atmosphere of trust and reliance provides our student workers with a great opportunity to experience a professional work environment first hand.  By being emerged in the full operations of a high performing IT organization, they have a unique opportunity that goes well beyond any internship.  Indeed, they have a head-start over their peers… and a chance to make a real difference here.   

So… thank you VERY much….!

Stephanie G., Steve, Matt, Ricky, Andrew, Joe, Albert, Vicky, Stephanie, Peter, Zach and Adrian.

OK… enough pats on the back… now lets get back to work.