The Acorn Accolade Technology Award of Excellence recognizes one IT employee each month for exemplary work.
Nick Hood, Elon’s network communications technician, is the newest recipient of the Acorn Accolade Technology Award. The Acorn Accolade is awarded each month to an exceptional member of Elon’s Instructional and Campus Technologies team and the individual must be nominated by his or her department head to the assistant vice president of technology.
Constantly working to keep things running smoothly behind the scenes, Hood’s responsibilities range from managing IP phone and wireless issues to maintaining security infrastructure to repairing network switches and door/voice gateways. Most recently, Hood was integral in managing and upgrading the electronic door access systems and working alongside Campus Safety and Police to maintain high levels of security campus-wide. Hood also successfully completed the Cisco Certified Network Associate certification in recent months and gained extensive knowledge and training into modern network systems.
Aside from his primary duties, Hood is known for the strong relationships he has developed with teams such as Campus Technology Support, Application Technologies, Campus Safety and Police and Physical Plant, with whom he frequently collaborates on projects. Throughout his 10 years at Elon, Hood has continued to invent creative solutions that have earned him respect from colleagues, supervisors and students alike.
“Nick jumps on a problem down to the atomic level and that’s what drives him. Professionally and personally it makes him want to become the best at whatever he’s doing,” says Rob Readling, operations manager and Hood’s direct supervisor. “He likes to research the odd issue and stay on something until it’s fixed. He’s great with our users too. We’re not just a fix-and-run outfit and Nick exemplifies that by staying in contact with students or staff/faculty until an issue is fixed to their satisfaction,” Readling adds.
Readling points out that Hood “takes pride in what he does and we don’t often have time to stop and enjoy the moment. You won’t see him most of the time, but if you do say ‘Thanks!’ Feeling like he makes a difference is what makes Nick happy. Happy people do good work!”