ITS proudly recognizes Systems Engineer Stephen Hock as the May 2025 Employee of the Month. He was nominated by Julie Slusser and Nan Jiang for the excellent support he provided during the LAX3 server farm and firewall migrations and for consistently lending timely and effective assistance. 

Stephen is an invaluable asset to the team, known for his exceptional responsiveness and proactive communication. Nan Jiang, one of ITS’  senior application developers who relies on his support, shared that Stephen’s readiness to assist with application deployments “directly contributes to her ability to deliver functional software to production.” Furthermore, she expressed appreciation for Stephen’s meticulous approach: 

His rigorous process of double-checking all configuration details before proceeding with deployments reduces risk and ensures that deployments are completed successfully the first time, leading to stable and effective outcomes. This diligence is critical to maintaining a stable infrastructure, which in turn provides a solid platform upon which technical innovation can be built by others.

Stephen also played a crucial role in the LAX3 server farm and firewall migrations. Network Engineer Julie Slusser described him as an “invaluable resource” and a "fantastic partner and sounding board.” 

Stephen handled multiple complex tasks, including SSO bypass, polling and alerting suppression during multiple maintenance windows, and on-site re-cabling. He demonstrated his technical expertise with  his logging tools and reporting, which significantly helped in troubleshooting during the firewall platform changeover. Julie shared: 

Not only was [Stephen] able to provide graphs comparing legacy log volume and the intermittent drops after the migration, [but] he was [also] able to show the WebLogic session resets pre- and post-change. He also built a correlation database to show the comparison of the Palo Alto logs pre-change versus the Cisco FTD log post-change which we referenced to identify and resolve multiple issues.

With his steady and  skillful support, proactiveness, and diligence, Stephen has not only made a positive impact on his colleagues, but he has also made significant contributions in strengthening the university's IT infrastructure. His dedication to delivering effective solutions and his willingness to go above and beyond make him a truly deserving recipient of this recognition. Congratulations, Stephen! 

Do you have colleagues who deserve recognition for their hard work and dedication? Nominate them for one of ITS’ Employee Recognition Programs!

Staff members can be nominated for Employee of the Month or Team of the Quarter. Use our form to submit your nomination for the next Employee of the Month.