When Ynez Hicks’ phone rings, her priorities change instantly.
STUDENT PROFILE: Ynez Hicks, Manager's Toolkit in Management
That’s when she knows something, somewhere in UCSD’s vast campus-wide IT infrastructure needs the attention of her nine-member technician staff, right away.
“I am responsible for making sure that the communications process flows smoothly on a daily basis,” said Hicks, who has spent 23 years at UC San Diego, five in her current role as Installation and Repair Team Supervisor of the Administrative Computing and Telecommunications group (ACT).
Because of her role as a supervisor, Ynez was nominated for the Manager’s Toolkit, a 10-week management development program made available to employees and offered through UC San Diego’s Corporate Training Department.
In addition to IT resources, the human resources Ynez leads are crucial to success.
For Hicks, the Manager’s Toolkit reaffirmed her firm belief that education is a life-long process, especially when you work at a university.
“I learned so many different ways of looking at my role and my responsibilities,” she said. “It gave me a bigger picture of how the university as a whole comes together to achieve a common goal.”
For Hicks and her team, that goal is simple: Keep the campus’ labyrinth master system of voice, data, video and wireless systems up and running.
How frequently do these hi-tech systems fail? “Very rarely,” she said. “When they do, we get them up as soon as possible.”
Originally from New Orleans, Hicks was raised in San Diego and graduated from Patrick Henry High. She later earned a degree from ITT and a master’s from the University of Phoenix.
Asked what she considers the most challenging and fulfilling part of her job, she’s quick to respond: “They’re the same. It’s all about using all my resources for maximum output.”