Good afternoon,
Each month, we would like to highlight a campus partner who exemplifies and embraces the mission and vision of Operational Excellence. Maribel Carrion is this month’s partner spotlight. Maribel is the executive director of student administration and enterprise reporting for Information Technology Services at Carolina. This includes supporting key student-centered activities throughout the enrollment lifecycle. Maribel has gone above and beyond in her role supporting Carolina’s student body while being an advocate for continuous improvement. Below, Maribel talks about her time at the University and her involvement with OE.
Q: What is your current role and how long have you worked at UNC?
A: I am currently the executive director of student administration in ITS. In that role, my team and I provide support for the student systems dealing with admissions through graduation. I have worked at UNC Chapel Hill for 14 years.
Q: What has been your involvement with Operational Excellence?
A: I have been involved in several projects organized by Operational Excellence. My role has been to ensure identified issues and possible solutions include a systems perspective. The goal is to identify where ITS can support proposed processes to create more streamlined and efficient solutions.
Q: What do you see as Operational Excellence’s impact on your work and/or the operations of the University?
A: My experience so far has shown that we are able to identify and implement solutions to problems more quickly and effectively following the OE model – scoping a problem to ensure it is clearly defined, identifying the relevant parties impacted, looking at the key options for resolving the problem, and identifying a solution, timeline and the parties needed to implement the solution. So far, OE projects have streamlined processes for students, staff and faculty – all have been implemented more quickly than if we had attempted to do them without the OE team. One of the key success factors is their ability to bring together groups from across campus to work together to resolve an issue that impacts them all.
Q: When you are not working, how do you enjoy spending your time?
A: Outside of work, I spend my time in two main areas that mean a lot to me. First is time spent with my large and extended family (four family weddings in the past 18 months). And second is time spent as a member of several advisory boards at Carolina (I am a very proud alumna!), including the advisory boards for the Carolina Performing Arts and the Carolina Latinx Center.
Our campus partners are essential to the success of OE projects and the University as a whole. Thank you, Maribel, for being a champion of transformation and change.
Please feel free to share this email with your colleagues. You can also visit our website to learn more about Operational Excellence, read my previous updates and submit feedback. If you have any questions, please reach out to me at wernoski@email.unc.edu. I read every email.
Best,
Rick