As a kid growing up under the wide-open skies of Wakita, Oklahoma, Mark Lacy enjoyed watching the stars at night. That fascination carried with him into college. On the first day of a physical science course, the professor announced, “We will not be discussing astronomy in this class.” With a twinkle in his eye, Mark recalls his reaction. Immediately after the session ended, he dropped that class.
Mark continued with the rest of his courses, eventually receiving a degree in business administration with a minor in computer science. This was not his first exposure to business. His first job was in sales and customer service at a hardware store when he was just 14 years old.
By 1999 he had moved to College Station where he started to blend his college major and minor by working in the business office of a local technology company. Because he had an interest in it, they also taught him the tech side of the business, and he started providing technical support to customers.
Although he didn’t really get to pursue his interest in the stars, he did continue gaining experience providing technical support. After many years working with technology in the energy industry including call center operations, Technology Services – Student Affairs was able to attract Mark in August 2020 to a position with our service desk operations.
Within a year customers saw him really shining alongside our other bright service desk stars.
The Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs underwent significant changes in recent months. A new assistant vice president started in May. Brigadier General Joe Ramirez started as interim vice president in June. Offices were shuffled in August, and computers had to be moved. Immediately after that another new assistant vice president started. Email was migrated to the cloud in October.
Cindy Smith, executive assistant to the vice president, felt the weight of trying to keep the office running smoothly during all the transitions. The new vice president had meetings with student leaders that could have been disrupted. It was important that BG Ramirez receive help transitioning from his previous role as commandant.
Cindy described “the personal relief I had knowing our new VP would be supported the day he walked in. It allowed the office to serve its mission to serve the rest of the division. Otherwise it would have brought us to a stop. We didn’t skip a beat!”
As the day approached for email migration to the cloud, she was concerned for the business impact. Email is an essential communication tool for the vice president’s office. “When we started all this, we thought we’d be down for days.” Instead, she said, “Mark was here right at 8 a.m. going person to person.”
The quality of his service was matched by the rest of his team. “The thing that has impressed me is the proactiveness of their service to help me with things we didn’t know we needed. They’re intuitive about what sort of help their customers need. That’s a level of customer service you don’t find anywhere else.”
She knows this level of service is not to be taken for granted. Cindy has heard from others who have left our division to take jobs elsewhere on campus who say, “I miss that support. Now, I have no IT support.” They talk about the poor service in their new setting. Cindy adds, “I never have to worry about that.”
In her nomination of Mark for an award, she wrote, “Mark has been an absolute ‘Shining Star’ in his exemplary service.”
He was not the only member of the Technology Services – Student Affairs Service Desk team to be nominated for this award. As a team they have been repeatedly commended for their excellence. Cindy Smith named multiple team members saying they never make you feel stupid as they clearly explain things.
Mark tells all his customers, “I don’t know how to do your job, so I don’t expect you to know how to do mine. There’s no need to feel inadequate about technology.”
He enjoys “just” doing his job, but he does it with the same resolve as his customers do their jobs—with excellence.
With the confidence that office operations will run smoothly having tech support just a call away, maybe his customers can take a break at night to also get out to enjoy gazing at the night sky.
Delivering value for our customers. That’s what we’re about. Ask how we can help you!
To learn more about Technology Services – Student Affairs awards and to nominate someone, go to https://doit.tamu.edu/departmental-awards/
