By Gabby Benedict, CEC Student Intern

Jeff Gutowski has worked at Miami University’s College of Engineering and Computing for over nine years as a Network Support Specialist and was recently presented with the CEC Outstanding Staff Award for his dedicated work at the CEC.

The CEC Outstanding Staff Award is meant to recognize a staff member in the College of Engineering and Computing who has demonstrated outstanding performance and has gone beyond the call of duty.

Gutowski has worked with Miami for more than 21 years, having previously served in multiple positions across Miami’s campus as a maintenance and hardware technician and a support specialist. He has lived in Oxford since his freshman year of high school.

“What impresses me about Jeff is his overall work ethic and creativity in solving problems and the way that he treats people. In short, he treats you like a person, not an IT ticket. In a college full of engineers and computer scientists, Jeff stands out as being both personable and self-starting,” said Miami professor Andrew Sommers.

Gutowski’s main job is fixing technical issues, classroom issues, and building issues, as well as helping manage the 900+ computers located within Miami’s CEC. Gutowski is very dedicated to his work, with his favorite part being when he gets to fix something and get it working again.

Gutowski was surprised to hear he won the award after going to what seemed to be a typical staff meeting.

“I didn't hear a thing about it, but Scott told me ‘you got to be at this meeting’ and it’s one we usually attend, so I was like, ‘I’ve got work to do, nope!’, but he insisted I had to be at the meeting, so it was a nice surprise,” Gutowski said.