“Hastings prepared me for any role I wanted to be involved in after graduation”: An Alumnus Reflects
Brett Williams (’98) writes:
My name is Brett Williams and my title is Director, Applications and Customer Relationships at the University of Wyoming, Division of Information Technology. I direct and manage multiple teams within my department. Currently that department has 34 full time employees. I manage our student application system team, which is the system of record for the University of Wyoming. This team does all the support, maintenance, and modifications to meet our customer needs for all systems that integrate with the tool. This system is how our students access data for registration, grades, degree evaluation, and transcripts. I also supervise our Learning Management System (LMS) team, which is currently Instructure Canvas. We support all the functions of the tool, working with our faculty support group, Ellbogen Center for Teaching and Learning, where our course designers reside. We work more on the backend of making sure the tool is working properly. I also manage our department applications team, which supports over 125 applications for the University of Wyoming. This team is the day to day support and new project team for any legacy or new applications that come to campus. My role also supervises our desktop support team, our IT Training team, and the UWIT Service Desk. These teams are the first level of contact for technology support here at UW. They support all faculty and staff, including the board of trustees. They average over 40,000 contacts per year including phone, email, chat, and walk-in support when needed.
In my role, I work with vendors in contract negotiation and on-site visits, give presentations to other institutions, and oversee budgeting for the department. The budget work is yearly based on our fiscal year requirements and the finances for all applications and personnel. It is roughly a 2.5 million dollar budget. My role also puts me in many meetings with institutional leaders on strategy and new initiatives. Currently we are working on many student success initiatives, and artificial intelligence is a core strategy across higher education and other industries. It is a very unique role to higher education information technology. Working with developers and applications, as well as front-line support with our desktop support team and the service desk, is a unique organizational chart. We make it work and our leadership team is our CIO and VP of IT, our Deputy CIO, myself, and our Director of Academic Support Services (student support, classroom technology, and our data center).
My experience at Hastings College was phenomenal for me. I came to Hastings from Laramie, WY (where I am now), and the fit was perfect for who I was in my youth. I always knew that I would be an English major. It came easy for me and I enjoyed writing and learning from some legends at HC, including Rich Lloyd, who was one of my favorite professors. I am glad to see him in his role there now and well deserved. His Dad was really great too. Between English and History, which I majored in, and my minor in Philosophy, I really believe Hastings prepared me for any role I wanted to be involved in after graduation. After graduation, I was hired at a software company in Lincoln, NE, where I traveled to 37 states installing and training on banking software. When I wasn’t on the road, I was in the office supporting the products in a help desk setting, taking phone calls and helping banks through their technology issues. After three years I accepted a position at the University of Wyoming in desktop support. I found that working in higher education was great for me. I quickly moved to Service Desk Manager, then Desktop Support Manager, and now my current role.
The skills of communication and the smaller institution really prepared me for my career. I have had a lot of opportunities to network with colleagues in higher education across the country. I have been able to present on current technology, organizational structure, and how the University of Wyoming works with our academic and administrative customers to other institutions which I hope brings great value to collaboration and sharing. The ability to read and comprehend literature has helped me present ideas and new applications to our institution, but also allowed me to work with vendors to find contracts that benefit both parties. I think a forgotten skill that came from my studies at Hastings is customer service. All of these skills I have mentioned have helped my customer service skills, which is ultimately what I do for my career. Whether with a student, a dean, faculty, the provost, or the President of the university, I am able to communicate and provide service that helps them with large and small scale issues and make recommendations.
Outside of work, I am an avid sports fan and golfer. I have done five tough mudder races across the country, which I am really proud of! My wife Tracy and I have an 18 year old son, Brayden, who is a freshman here at UW, and a daughter, Mikayla, who just celebrated her 16th birthday. I worked hard to get my Masters degree in Higher Education Administration here at UW, class of ’23.
In my role, I work with vendors in contract negotiation and on-site visits, give presentations to other institutions, and oversee budgeting for the department. The budget work is yearly based on our fiscal year requirements and the finances for all applications and personnel. It is roughly a 2.5 million dollar budget. My role also puts me in many meetings with institutional leaders on strategy and new initiatives. Currently we are working on many student success initiatives, and artificial intelligence is a core strategy across higher education and other industries. It is a very unique role to higher education information technology. Working with developers and applications, as well as front-line support with our desktop support team and the service desk, is a unique organizational chart. We make it work and our leadership team is our CIO and VP of IT, our Deputy CIO, myself, and our Director of Academic Support Services (student support, classroom technology, and our data center).
My experience at Hastings College was phenomenal for me. I came to Hastings from Laramie, WY (where I am now), and the fit was perfect for who I was in my youth. I always knew that I would be an English major. It came easy for me and I enjoyed writing and learning from some legends at HC, including Rich Lloyd, who was one of my favorite professors. I am glad to see him in his role there now and well deserved. His Dad was really great too. Between English and History, which I majored in, and my minor in Philosophy, I really believe Hastings prepared me for any role I wanted to be involved in after graduation. After graduation, I was hired at a software company in Lincoln, NE, where I traveled to 37 states installing and training on banking software. When I wasn’t on the road, I was in the office supporting the products in a help desk setting, taking phone calls and helping banks through their technology issues. After three years I accepted a position at the University of Wyoming in desktop support. I found that working in higher education was great for me. I quickly moved to Service Desk Manager, then Desktop Support Manager, and now my current role.
The skills of communication and the smaller institution really prepared me for my career. I have had a lot of opportunities to network with colleagues in higher education across the country. I have been able to present on current technology, organizational structure, and how the University of Wyoming works with our academic and administrative customers to other institutions which I hope brings great value to collaboration and sharing. The ability to read and comprehend literature has helped me present ideas and new applications to our institution, but also allowed me to work with vendors to find contracts that benefit both parties. I think a forgotten skill that came from my studies at Hastings is customer service. All of these skills I have mentioned have helped my customer service skills, which is ultimately what I do for my career. Whether with a student, a dean, faculty, the provost, or the President of the university, I am able to communicate and provide service that helps them with large and small scale issues and make recommendations.
Outside of work, I am an avid sports fan and golfer. I have done five tough mudder races across the country, which I am really proud of! My wife Tracy and I have an 18 year old son, Brayden, who is a freshman here at UW, and a daughter, Mikayla, who just celebrated her 16th birthday. I worked hard to get my Masters degree in Higher Education Administration here at UW, class of ’23.