Staff Excellence: Purdue IT End User Experience

Every day, Purdue IT teams work behind the scenes to help the university operate smoothly. Whether they are troubleshooting technical issues, maintaining devices, supporting classroom technology or improving IT services, their efforts enable students, faculty and staff to focus on teaching, learning, research and collaboration.

With more than 600 full-time, part-time and student employees, Purdue IT is a large and complex organization made up of dozens of specialized teams. Four of those teams belong to the End User Experience (EUE) unit: Service Excellence, Client Support Services, Endpoint Management and Learning Spaces. While each EUE team has a distinct mission, they share a common goal: ensuring that technology supports teaching, learning, research and university operations without interruption.

“In many cases, our EUE staff are the front-line workers of Purdue IT. They’re often troubleshooting problems and providing support when technology isn’t working as expected,” said Dwight Snethen, senior director of EUE.

IT Service Excellence

At the most basic level, IT Service Excellence helps Purdue community members with everyday technology needs so they can stay connected and productive. Nearly 100 staff members and student employees support Purdue’s IT Service Excellence team. These are the individuals who provide user support for an array of technical issues, from accessing campus Wi-Fi, connecting to printers, logging into Purdue software and more.

“Our service desk serves as a central point of contact for Purdue IT, delivering technical support and troubleshooting, while our service delivery managers partner with campus units and regional campuses to understand their needs and improve their experience with Purdue IT,” said Daniel Bruhn, director of the Service Desk and IT Service Management. “Our IT Service Management Office develops and maintains many services, including the ticketing system (TDX), Knowledge Base/Service Portal, chatbot and other automations that make support faster and more consistent. Our Incident Operations Center team troubleshoots, communicates and monitors IT disruptions to ensure they are resolved quickly and with as little impact as possible. Finally, our Customer Experience team turns service metrics, key performance indicators and interaction data into actionable feedback to keep our IT operations efficient, high-quality and customer-focused.”

Client Support Services

The Client Support Services (CSS) team ensures that faculty, staff and graduate students can use their computers, software and devices smoothly and reliably. Support teams are located on-site and embedded within academic and administrative areas to provide local hands-on computer support.

“By keeping day-to-day technology running smoothly and supporting users across campus, CSS plays a critical role in the university’s daily operations,” said Jess Maynard, director of CSS. “Whether helping with a stalled laptop, setting up new equipment or answering routine IT questions, our team allows faculty, staff and students to stay focused on teaching, research and service.”

CSS is organized into nine support zones covering Purdue’s locations in West Lafayette and Indianapolis, as well as Purdue Fort Wayne and Purdue Northwest. More than just a support group, the team works behind the scenes to identify recurring issues, coordinate and set up equipment lifecycles, onboard new employees, tailor support to specific departmental needs, and drive initiatives that enhance efficiency and user experience at scale. They also serve as a strategic resource, collaborating to ensure success when major teaching or research projects require special IT setups.

Endpoint Management

Behind every managed computer and university-owned device is Purdue’s Endpoint Management team. Composed of about 50 staff members, the team works behind the scenes to keep the university’s technology reliable, secure and ready for everyday use. At the same time, they continually introduce modern tools and strategies that help Purdue stay ahead in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

The Endpoint Management team prepares new devices with the software and configurations needed for immediate use and deploys the latest features and security updates. Central to this lifecycle is the dedicated Asset Management group, which is responsible for purchasing and managing the inventory of every computer across the university, ensuring all hardware is meticulously tracked from acquisition to retirement.

“We’re more than a tech-support team,” said Deanna Shafer-Rater, director of Endpoint Management Services. “We’re partners in innovation and protectors of academic freedom and privacy. Our team is committed to building a more efficient, modern and agile technology environment that empowers the entire Purdue community to work, teach and discover without barriers.”

Learning Spaces

From smart classrooms to learning labs, the Learning Spaces team helps create seamless technology experiences that support teaching, learning and collaboration across Purdue. Supported by nearly 40 full-time staff and more than 100 student employees, the team works diligently to make classroom technology accessible, dependable and easy to use for all faculty and students, regardless of technical expertise.

“We’re more than just classroom tech support. We design and maintain the environments that make modern teaching and learning possible,” said Pankaj Chhetri, director of Learning Spaces. “From ensuring seamless hybrid classes to integrating cutting-edge tools for collaboration, our team works behind the scenes to create spaces that empower faculty innovation and student success. Every smart classroom, interactive display and learning lab is the result of careful planning, training and support from our team.”

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a research institution ranked among the top 10 public universities in the United States. More than 106,000 students study at Purdue across multiple campuses, including more than 57,000 at our main campus locations in West Lafayette and Indianapolis. As a land-grant university committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 14 years in a row, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free.