As the Associate Chief Information Officer at Portland State University, Ellen Weeks heads a department of 35 developers, the office of project management and several enterprise systems. She has come a long way from her start at PSU, manually processing registration changes as “Office Specialist 1”. Nowadays, her department uses Banner finance software to handle registration. Managing the project which implemented that change was Weeks’ self-described big break.
On the weekends, she packs away her accomplishments in favor of the quiet of her vacation home in the woods of Trout Lake, Washington.
The outskirts of her property are marred by burns from the previous night’s big incident: a meth lab fire within a visiting RV which reached heights rivaling the surrounding treetops. A dry region even in spring, Weeks and her neighbors feared the fire would spread through the acres of forest that serve as their backyards. It wasn’t until late into the night that the volunteer fire department packed up their equipment, and Weeks felt safe returning to bed. The meth RV remained in the road until morning, its owners having fled with an unkept promise to pay for it to be towed.
Still, sitting on her back deck after a short hike, Weeks says there is nowhere in the world she would rather be. Though a promotion may be on horizon for her at PSU, she’s counting down the days until she can retire to Trout Lake.
Before she disappears off the professional grid, we sat down to discuss her experience in university technological administration.
Did you feel prepared for your first tech position when you began it?
- Not at all! I thought they were crazy to hire me. I suffered mightily from the “imposter syndrome”, thinking someone would catch on to the fact that I was not really prepared for the job. I have felt this at each promotion as well.
Was there much you had to teach yourself?
- I have had to constantly teach myself new things. Each project I managed involved learning new technology. I currently review articles from technology research institutions such as Gartner or Educause to stay current with trends.
Do new hires in your department come in prepared for the work you need them to do?
- Usually about 50% of what they need. It is very difficult and rare for us to find someone trained in all the systems we use. So we look for people with some of the technical skills, but more importantly a strong passion for learning, a self-starter, and interest in teamwork.
What skills do you wish you saw more of when working with recent graduates?
- It’s usually the soft skills: teamwork, the ability to take and incorporate feedback, sense of humor, honesty, but also the ability to promote their strengths!
What changes do you expect to see in university IT over the next decade?
- More and more emphasis on data-informed decision making. Greater efficiencies in how we use technology, minimizing the time we spend staring at screens. Although there has been a trend towards more online courses, I believe there will be push-back for a return to more face-to-face opportunities.
If you could make one change to the curriculums of students going into IT fields after graduation, what would it be?
- More field work, project work, capstones, anything that gets students working together as teams.
Ley Aldinger 