Category: November 2020

Role: As a videoconference engineer, I help plan, deploy, and support web conferencing solutions in classrooms, conference rooms, and in the cloud. My office (Enterprise Collaboration/ITS) is currently working with a massive pilot using Microsoft Teams telephony. This integrates plain old telephone service into the collaboration tool Microsoft Teams. Pilot users can answer their office phone from anywhere in the world with internet connectivity. Additionally, ITS released Zoom and continues to implement new services to aid in the secure collaboration for healthcare and security-minded customers. Lastly, I am helping to retire Webex at Mason. I am proud to say, the Staff Senate is doing a great job at making the switch to the newest supported platforms MS Teams and Zoom!

Mason Journey: I started at Mason as an undergraduate student, earning my B.S. in Marketing. Within the first week of school, I was seeking a position as a Patriot Leader (formerly Orientation Leader) and a part-time position with ITS Classroom Support. After graduation, I was hired as a non-student wage in Arlington and later hired as classified staff in Fairfax. I took advantage of the free courses and earned my master’s degree in Telecommunications (and a graduate certificate in Telecommunications Forensics and Security). I have worked in the classrooms (Fairfax and Arlington Classroom Support), on the phones (ITS Support Center) and in the cloud (Enterprise Collaboration). When I am not social distancing, you can find me in my office in Innovation Hall.

COVID-19 Transition: I was assisting with the transition to remote work before most people knew what was about to hit us. Working closely with the Environmental Health and Safety Office, we provisioned 16,000 Mason employees for instant messaging and collaboration platform access. The telepocalypse has been exceptionally smooth – despite Earth’s inflammatory response to our human presence.

Best thing about working at Mason: I love working with people who are smarter than me and who are younger than me. They keep me learning, and they keep me young, respectively. The people at Mason who give 110% are my heroes.

Why I serve on Staff Senate: There have been many recent changes at Mason. We welcomed Gregory Washington as the new president, have seen sweeping senior leadership changes, and moved to a hybrid online work/education environment. When we return to normal, experts suspect many jobs will be changed dramatically. During this transition (and in the next), the Staff Senate will be very important in advocating for any new changes needed at Mason.

Favorite comfort food: Grilled cheese and tomato sandwich but I can settle for lunch at Ike’s.

At the end of the day: I am a proud father of two daughters (7 and 2 years old) and the luckiest husband in all of the Mid-Atlantic (and beyond)! I am proud that my career at Mason has landed me so many opportunities to continuously interact with such a diverse and talented population.