DEBRA J. GONSKI / 10 Stonegate drive
silver spring md 20905

301-275-0794
EXPERIENCE
Senior Application Administrator January 2008 – Present
American University Washington, DC
·  Administering the ERP: Ellucian’s Product Suite of Colleague on Sun Solaris and Microsoft Windows.
·  Administering the content management systems for the myAU.american.edu portal: Ellucian Portal and Microsoft SharePoint and SQL.
·  Administering the functional portal: ColdFusion 10 on Linux with Apache front end and Axis web services.
·  Administering the content management system for the website www.american.edu: PaperThin’s CommonSpot and Adobe Coldfusion on Windows/IIS.
·  Researching settings and methods to improve performance based upon findings from load tests.
·  Installing software updates to applications and making configuration changes.
·  Authorizing access to applications, creating security models and resolving security conflicts.
·  Troubleshooting issues with the applications, software infrastructure and resolving the issues.
·  Maintaining applications to include currency and feature enhancements.
·  Managing projects and the on-boarding of new applications: planning, implementation, support and stability of applications and their infrastructures.
·  Directing team efforts, setting achievable deadlines, prioritizing tasks, developing test plans, managing testing, and project status reports.
·  Directing technical effort on larger projects to include: migration to new major versions of the applications, operating systems and databases.
·  Collaborating with project managers, users, system engineers and developers to achieve objectives.
·  Presenting ideas and projects to internal and external audiences: IT management, AU management, and professional organizations.
·  Co-chair of the Ellucian User Group IT Subcommittee and AU's Content Provider Committee.
·  Managing change as a member of the Change Advisory Board and a change agent.
·  Answering requests from internal auditors on open audit items with an IT component.
·  Documenting procedures, project progress and incident resolutions.
Database Administrator June 2001 – January 2008
Loyola University of Maryland Baltimore, MD
·  Administered the ERP: the Ellucian applications (Colleague, Benefactor, WebAdvisor), Envision development tool kit, and the underlying UniData database.
·  Managed programs/projects by building teams of programmers, system engineers and users.
·  Directed team efforts, set reasonable deadlines, prioritized tasks, developed test plans, managed feedback and formulated project review agendas.
·  Directed technical effort on larger projects: migrating to Colleague Versions 17 and 18 on new production servers and upgrades to the AIX operating system and the UniData database.
·  Researched software changes, installed software updates, tested with power users, identified impacted groups, assessed risk, developed contingency or rollback plans before production install.
·  Disseminated and gathered information in meetings with core group of power users and IT Management in regular meetings and written communications.
·  Performed data copies from production to test and development using Unix and UniData commands.
·  Reviewed, edited and approved vendors' statements of work for new projects and enhancements.
·  Set up and maintained both application and database level security.
·  Identified and resolved user problems with data issues and the application.
·  Wrote procedures for installing software upgrades, doing data refreshes, and user documentation.
CCS Administrator 1997 - 2001
Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County, Maryland Kensington, MD
·  Administered the ERP: the CCS application, development tools, underlying UniData database, and Sun Solaris UNIX operating system.
·  Set up and maintained application level security and printers using various software tools.
·  Directed the in-house programming team efforts; prioritized tasks; explained users’ needs; reviewed final products to include both reports and programs.
·  Tested upgrades and maintained both test and production servers.
·  Identified and resolved problems with CCS applications and UniData database.
·  Provided feedback on testing, new features, and bug fixes to programming staff and vendors.
·  Analyzed business requirements and proposed corrections to and enhancements of the application.
·  Developed and implemented project plan to upgrade the housing modules to SB+ (System Builder).
·  Wrote procedures for installing and managing upgrades to the application as well as user documentation.
·  Wrote RFP for and integrated imaging system, evaluated proposals, and made final selection.
·  Worked as a Budget Analyst from 1996 – 1997 where I analyzed financial statements, budget submissions and strategic plan documents.
Legal Research Associate 1991 - 1993
Court Express/Research Information Services Washington, DC
·  Communicated results of research in written documents and discussions.
·  Performed research using multiple database tools, on-line sources and personal interactions.
PRESENTATIONS
·  American University’s Colleague Finance Self-Service, Ellucian Live 2014
·  AU’s Colleague Student Finance Self-Service from A to Z, PADUG 2013
·  Between a Rock and a Hard Place: How to think Creatively When You are Under the Gun to Produce and Everyone Says “No” to the Vendor Solution, Ellucian Live 2013
·  Disaster Strikes! How Do We Get Our ERP Back Online?, Ellucian Live 2013 and Datatel User Group 2012
·  War of the Constituencies: Migrating to a New Institutional Portal, Datatel User Group 2012 and Educause Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference 2012
·  Evolution: Moving to a New Server, Datatel User Group 2011
·  Strategically Moving to Datatel Portal, Datatel User Group 2011
·  Managing Change in an Ever Changing Landscape, Datatel User Group 2006
·  Integrating Data from LiquidMatrix to Datatel and Back Again, Datatel User Group 2006
·  Double Action Marketing Power: The Combined Impact of Communications Management and Active Admissions, Datatel User Group 2006
·  Breaking the Silos - A Collaborative Approach to Active Admissions, Datatel User Group 2006
·  Exchanging Data: The Beta Client Story- Part 2, Datatel User Group 2003
EDUCATION
Master of Public Management 1995
University of Maryland, School of Public Policy, College Park, MD GPA 3.5/4.0
Specialization in Public Sector Financial Management and Environmental Policy. Masters Project: financing a wastewater treatment facility for Taneytown, Maryland. From 1994 through 1996, I worked as both a
Research Assistant and Graduate Assistant
Bachelor of Science 1990
Northeastern University, Boston, MA GPA 3.5/4.0
Majored in Political Science with a minor in Philosophy. Graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Cooperative Education program. I had two co-op assignments with a technology and research focus. In 1989, I worked as an IT Evaluator for the US GAO’s Boston Regional Office and in 1988, I worked as a Research Assistant for the Center for the History of Electrical Engineering at the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers in NYC. / General Skills
Results oriented IT professional
Experienced in Higher Education
Hard working and energetic
Works well with others to achieve common objectives.
Rapidly acquires technical knowledge and skills
Innovative problem solver
Intellectually curious
Grasps the business and technical sides of issues
Proven leadership and incident resolution abilities
Exceptional communicator
Technical Skills
Colleague
WebAdvisor
Ellucian Portal
SharePoint
CommonSpot
ColdFusion
Tomcat
UniData
AIX & Solaris
Windows Server
Windows
IIS
Informer
Technical Training
CommonSpot Fundamentals and Administration
Colleague Administrator
Communications Management for Financial Aid
Ellucian Technical Training Week
System Security for Computers
Rule Writing for Registration
Interviewing to Obtain Essential Data
Change and Project Management
Leading with Impact and Leadership
Customer Relationships in a Changing World