Explore UAB

Colleges & Schools

News Information Technology

UAB IT Communications wins awards

UAB IT’s communications team has received two more awards from the SIGUCCS organization, bringing their total to nine over four years.

The SIGUCCS, Special Interest Group for University Computing Centers, was founded in 1963 and over time morphed into a multi-conference event aimed to support information technology professionals in higher education.

The communication awards recognize outstanding publications developed at college and university levels. They recognize excellence in the creation of programs and publications, which in turn provides SIGUCCS conference participants with an opportunity to review publications that may help them develop or enhance work of their own.

This year, the team won two awards:

Kerry Bean, director of communications for UAB IT, and her team work closely with other departments to communicate the services provided by the department and find fun ways to showcase important issues within the technology field. Overall, the department has earned nine awards.

“Our team works hard to find creative ways to share information about technology,” Bean said. “We’re happy to spread awareness of phishing with a boat float in the homecoming parade or film a video to give you tips on using Microsoft Teams.

“But most important, we’re here to tell the story of how IT helps our campus, because our campus community helps change the world.”

In 2018, the teams won two awards:

  • Short Promotional Video, Dissecting a Phish
  • Student-created materials, IT Annual Report Website.

In 2019, IT won three awards:

  • How-to-Guide, Don’t Get Hooked on Phishing,
  • Quick reference guide, VoIP brochure
  • General Service Guide, the VoIP Project

Even in the pandemic year of 2020, the team managed to grab two more awards:

Each year, an institution may enter up to three entries per category. Winning a category means that the next year, your department judges the new entries.

Receiving an award is a huge deal. This conference is held internationally, meaning that UAB IT’s work is being shown worldwide and has won in almost every category since 2018.