Employee of the Month - February 2023
Shenandoah Bennett - Systems Administrator, Server and Systems Group - Information Technology Services (ITS)
Awarded Thursday, February 16, 2023, via Zoom Virtual celebration. Shenandoah was joined by President Jane Close Conoley, Vice President and Chief Information Officer Min Yao, Associate Vice President of Information Technology Services (ITS) Janet Foster, Systems, Servers, and Web Services Director Jesse Santana, ITS Administrative Services Manager Cheryl Perkins, numerous ITS and campus colleagues, and his wife, Deanna.
Shenandoah Bennett has served the CSULB community for the past fourteen years and consistently provides excellent service to his campus colleagues.
Shenandoah shared, “I am Brazilian-American, born in Brazil. I have worked in IT almost my entire adult life, starting in computer repair just before graduating high school. After high school I moved to the US, initially to the East coast, and slowly made my way across the country to Southern California, where my dad’s side of the family lived. I started working at CSULB in 2009, in the ITS Desktop Support Group, and then moved to my current team, the Servers and Systems Group, in 2012. I graduated with a BA in Film and Electronic Arts from CSULB in 2013, as a non-traditional student. I am currently pursuing a second Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science online from an out of state University.”
Many of Shenandoah’s colleagues have sung his praises including Bryon Jackson, the Assistant Vice President of ITS Services Management and Operations. “Shenan is an extremely thorough, thoughtful, and dedicated employee. While there are many examples of his good work, the one that stands out to me is his work to onboard CSU Monterey Bay into the College of Education Titanium system. He was diligent and collaborative in working with both CSUMB and CSULB College of Education departments to prepare the environment in a very short window of time. Additionally, he recently discovered a problem with how Titanium works with Microsoft's Azure Virtual Desktop system, and independently worked to identify root cause. His findings were sent to Titanium, which prompted the manufacturer to release a new version to address the issue. Shenan received a personal thank you message from the Titanium Director of Development for his thorough work to research and identifying root cause. They would not have been able to replicate and resolve the problem without Shenan's good work. Shenan is truly a star in the Division of IT.”
“Shenandoah Bennett is a pleasure to work with,” said Shenandoah’s manager, Jesse Santana, the Director of Systems, Servers, and Web Services. “He has a can-do attitude and is always willing to help with any project or task. Even when a project is outside of Shenandoah’s wheelhouse, as was the case with the Centrify implementation, he is willing to get involved and follow the project through to a successful completion. Shenandoah is also always available to help others, something Team Dynamix users throughout the campus have all benefited from. I can think of no other person in my group more deserving of this honor. Congratulations Shenandoah – well deserved!”
Adam Litman, the Director of Human Resources Technology Support Services, provided another example of Shenandoah’s outstanding contributions to the campus, saying, “Shenandoah created a new custom process for the HR team. He worked well with the team, made thoughtful recommendations and timely responses, and was critical in completing the process.”
Isabel Banuelos, the Identity Management Specialist in ITS, recognized Shenandoah for his positive contributions to the ITS teams. She said, “Shenandoah provides a constant level of service which fosters relationships and helps improve the way work gets done by our teams.”
When Shenandoah is not providing excellent service to the campus, he enjoys various pastimes. “I like to spend my free time outside of work and school enjoying the company of my wife, family, and friends, as well as pursuing various creative hobbies.”