Eric Collins Receives 2025 CoS Award of Excellence

Today
Eric Collins stands in front of a College of Science logo displaying his Excellence Award certificate

Last Wednesday, April 16, 2025, the College of Science Staff Advisory Council (CoSSAC) hosted the annual College of Science (CoS) Staff Excellence Awards Luncheon/Bruncheon on behalf of the CoS Dean’s office. The event is an opportunity to thank the CoS staff for all of their work throughout the year. This year, the M/C of the event was Computer Science's own Coordinator for Career Development, V Alonso.

CoSSAC serves as a liaison and advisor to the Dean of CoS on staff issues with a goal of empowering employees within CoS, enhancing their quality of life, and building a sense of community. Each year, CoS Department Heads nominate a staff member for the CoS Excellence Awards. Each department is responsible for having their own own set of criteria for this awards. Eric Collins, the Principal Information Technology Support Analyst for the Department of Computer Science, joined the CS department in 2019, and received a College of Science Excellence Award in 2020. Other past Computer Science staff CoS Excellence Award Winners include Tina Mendoza (2024), Martin Marquez II (2023), and Arthur Jordan (2022) for their diverse contributions to the department. 

This year (2025), Collins was again nominated, this time by CS department head Ellen Riloff. In her letter of recommendation, Riloff describes Collins as "a master of the technology realm" with "an incredible breadth of technical knowledge and is always eager to learn new things."

His primary role in the department is to support all IT related systems. These systems include many student accessible servers and desktops, along with providing support to faculty and research computing. He also maintains computing/teaching facilities in our classrooms and the student computer labs. Collins' dedication and responsiveness are  exemplary, from day to day maintenance to getting things up and running promptly whenever unexpected outages occur - rain or shine (in truth, mostly in the rain, when such things tend to happen). 

There is not a person in the CS department who has not at some point had a need that became a part of Collins' to-do list. This role would be significant in any University department, but in CS it is an especially critical position, and Eric is known for his skill, patience, pleasant and gracious interactions, and a willingness to answer any question. 

Congratulations, Eric, and thank you for all you do!