Author: Nicole Cervantes

Nicole Cervantes joined ICIT as an Office Operations Associate in January 2019. Her key responsibilities were coordinating the recruitment and hiring process, on-boarding new employees, assisting with travel arrangements, payroll approval, and administrative support to the CIO. Over the past 4 years, Nicole has become an integral part of the ICIT by accepting additional responsibilities and new roles of which the most recent is Administrative Manager.

Nicole main responsibilities as Administrative Manager include:

• Management of ICIT budget and finance
• Management of ICIT staffing, recruitment, on-boarding, and payroll processes
• ICIT front office business management
• Support to the CIO

Most importantly however, Nicole was always there to help everyone and with everything. She was our main problem-solver, information-finder and action-facilitator.  

Unfortunately, Nicole will be leaving us to take a position in the UW-W Budget Office. Her last day with ICIT will be on Friday, March 3, 2023. On behalf of the entire ICIT organization, we would like to thank Nicole for her contributions and to wish her the very best in her next opportunity. We will miss her greatly.

From Nicole:

It has been my absolute pleasure to work with each and everyone one of you! I have learned so much, in great part to your patience in training me and answering my many questions. I truly appreciate it! I will miss being a part of this wonderful team, but it does help a little that I’m not going far. Thank you!

Bobbi Yach joined ICIT as an IT Business Analyst in October 2022. Her key responsibilities were:

to  Support Document Management (ImageNow) System; and to assist Human Resources department in documenting their existing processes and engage in process mapping with the new Workday functionality to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement.     

In a very short period of time Bobby mastered these areas and created  multiple process  flows to use in the next phase of ATP initiative.

Unfortunately Bobbi will be leaving us to take on another business opportunity. Bobbi Yach’s last day with ICIT will be on Thursday, February 2, 2023. On behalf of the entire ICIT organization, we would like to thank Bobbi for her contributions and to wish her the very best in her next opportunity.

Kathryn Freidel joined ICIT in May 2022 on a 9-month contract as an IT Business Analyst to assist Student Affairs units with their business software needs and guide them to follow established IT processes and procedures.  

During her tenure with ICIT Kathryn took an active part in the  Ancillary Systems discovery phase of the UWSA Administrative Transformation Program (ATP). Her key responsibilities were to document process flows and identify ways in which ICIT and Student Affairs units use Employee and UDDS data.

Kathryn’s contract has ended, her last day with ICIT was on Tuesday, January 24, 2023.

Both ICIT and Student Affairs are very grateful to Kathryn, and tremendously appreciated her contribution to our organizations.

We wish Kathryn much success in all of her future endeavors!

On behalf of the entire ICIT organization, we would like to welcome James Wong as the new Manager of Administrative Information Systems.

James responsibilities include providing leadership, management and guidance to the application development, BA/PMO and the middleware teams; managing large, complex projects, and fostering project management methodology and culture on campus. He will work with a variety of faculty, staff and business units to launch new student success and operational efficiency initiatives. 

James is an alumnus of UW Whitewater. He and his family have made Wisconsin their home for over 30 years.  He has been involved in various roles in the IT field and is excited to bring his skills to the team.

We are thrilled to have James join our team, please take some time to welcome him when you can!

On behalf of the entire ICIT team, we would like to welcome Katie Kowalkiewicz as our new Administrative Assistant.  Katie will provide support for ICIT HR and Finance. Her main responsibilities will include:

• Coordinating the recruitment and hiring process, including requesting approval for new recruitments and ensuring each step of this process is tracked and completed accurately
• Supporting our student employee recruitment process, including posting positions on Handshake, submitting new-hire requests, and ensuring new-hire paperwork is submitted timely and accurately
• On-boarding new employees
• Assisting with travel arrangements and e-reimbursements
• Assisting with monitoring of ICIT GPR and PR financial accounts
• Processing chargebacks for purchases equipment, software, and technology
• Provide administrative support to the CIO

From Katie: “Hi! I am very excited to join the ICIT team. I am originally from Savannah, GA and moved to the Madison area about 8 years ago. I moved to Delavan last summer with my husband, Andy, and our 2 boys, Logan (11) and Owen (6). In my free time, I enjoy reading, camping with my family, and learning how to ski – which absolutely terrifies me!”