Q: Can you describe what a typical day as a Desktop Support Manager looks like?
A: On any typical day you can find me meeting with my eight individual team members, helping our team manage staff and faculty computer upgrades, checking on the status of our current projects (we have 11 projects going on right now!), and building relationships with our departments, including Astronomy, Physics, Statistics, and five others! The Randall team provides walk-in support which keeps us busy and our team provides 3D printing services and consultations for faculty, staff and students for the entire College. Along with the other Desktop Managers from Technology Services, I also facilitate Open Sessions with staff on different topics centered around the Windows, Linux and Mac operating systems. Right now, we are getting a lot of requests to meet with faculty candidates as part of the faculty recruitment process. During these meetings we learn about their research IT needs and introduce them to LSA services to support that. Then we make recommendations to departments as part of their start up packages.
Q: What has your career path looked like and how did it influence your current position and work?
A: I have been with the university for almost eight years, and my time has been split pretty evenly between ITS and LSA. I started out at the ITS Tech Shop and worked my way up to a supervisor position before taking the Desktop Support Specialist Supervisor role in LSA almost four years ago. Last year, I was fortunate to become a Desktop Support Manager and continued on managing the same team.
Q: What do you enjoy most about your position and team?
A: The people that I get to work with! My staff and the departments we support are fantastic people! I love to support the amazing research at the university and the Randall team is incredible. Being surrounded by faculty and staff that are always learning and discovering is an inspiration. And the Randall team is famous for being the LOUDEST desktop support team on campus–so we have fun, too.
Q: What was a memorable project (or projects) you worked on?
A: I have been involved in two MAJOR projects–and both of them are coming to a close. Working on our Knowledge Base (KB) has been awesome because I had the opportunity to dive into what we do across LSA Technology Services. It’s been fascinating to understand the different pieces of our organization and how they all fit together. The amount of diversity, expertise, and depth of knowledge across our organization is amazing. We are also spinning down our Windows 7 end-of-life project. This has been a year-long project involving a ton of internal communications and alignment across LSA Technology Services and LSA departments and researchers.
Q: Outside of work what would we find you doing?
A: I received an undergraduate degree from the Kendall College of Art & Design with a concentration in photography. I still have a passion for photography and, lately, I’ve also developed an interest in creating stained glass.
I love to garden but specialize in growing “weird” things that can be hard to find at the grocery store. I’ve tried planting oca (a Peruvian tuber that tastes like a “lemony” potato) and hardy kiwi. I’m hopeful that, after two years of near misses, my kiwi comes in next year.
I also love to read and, post-COVID, my family has taken up hiking. We have just started to travel to do our hiking and have gone as far as the Smoky Mountains, with some other trips on the horizon.
Keep an eye out for Laura Green out on the trails with her family including her faithful dog!
