Programmer Allen bringing Coastal up-to-date
Mark Allen, programmer and Datatel administrator in Information Technology Services (ITS) at Coastal Carolina University, is being recognized by I Spy for his part in the recent changes in the online housing application for students.I Spy, a program created by the University’s Office of Human Resources and Equal Opportunity, provides employees with a communication tool to recognize outstanding actions and behaviors of their co-workers.
“I enjoy helping students, faculty, staff and parents, trying to make computers work for us,” says Allen, whose responsibilities include Datatel administration, WebAdvisor and MyCoastal.
Allen was nominated for I Spy by Kevin Thompson, the assistant director of residence life. “Mark is extremely attentive to detail, easy to communicate with and is the go-to guy,” says Thompson, “He is one of those people on campus a lot of people depend on. He gets pulled in many different directions, and he deserves recognition for all of his hard work.”
His co-workers describe him as “very knowledgeable” and his recent integration of the housing application into Datatel recreated the online housing application to better serve students and residence life staff alike.
“His work on the housing application has brought us up-to-date in terms of providing online housing services for students,” says Homer Schofield, programmer for housing and continuing education in ITS. “One small step for Mark, one giant step for Residence Life.”
“He is one of the nicest in the department and one of the finest coworkers,” says Ann White, administrative assistant in ITS, “He answers any question I have and is very helpful.”
Allen has been with the University for nine years. Previously, he was with Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J., and then Trident Technical College in Charleston. Allen is originally from Florence and earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Francis Marion University in 1996.
Allen is married to Vicki Allen, and they have 5-year-old twins, Kylie and Hayley, who are in kindergarten at Carolina Forest Elementary. In his spare time, Allen likes to spend time with his family, taking them to various athletic events at the University.
Allen played baseball while at FMU. He occasionally plays golf, and he plays in the faculty/staff lunch time basketball league that meets two to three times a week.
To recognize a CCU employee who goes beyond the job description and offers special service, or just someone who needs to be publicly recognized, nominate that person at:
https://www.coastal.edu/hreo/workplace/ispy_submit.html
