Jeannette Okinczyc helps keep UA safe online
You may know Jeannette Okinczyc as the Senior Information Security Officer for the
Office of Information Technology's Security Administration. Jazz aficionados know her as host of KUAC’s 'Round Midnight's jazz edition, which airs every Tuesday night 10-midnight.
Okinczyc has worked in higher education almost all of her career.
“I love the academic cycle; there's just something about it that makes me hopeful,” said Okinczyc. “One thing I love about UAF in particular is that I always have the opportunity to better myself, which also improves the work I do for the university.”
Okinczyc started at UAF in January 2012 where she worked as a system administrator and digital preservation professional. She moved to OIT three years later to work for OIT Security Administration. In this position she oversees firewall management, incident response and security awareness. Earlier this year, Okinczyc and her colleagues at OIT Security Administration team were named 2018 Outstanding University of Alaska Statewide Department.
“The environment in Security has always been one of support and encouragement,” said Okinczyc. “This support goes a long way in creating a collegial and comfortable partnership between Security and our customers.”
Okinczyc grew up in Washington state and attended high school years in Southern California. She first came to Alaska when she worked in Ketchikan during the summer of 1994. Almost 20 years later she and her family moved to Fairbanks so she could work for UAF in January 2012. She describes that spring as exciting, because she had only seen Fairbanks covered in snow.
Okinczyc says that her husband is a middle school teacher and she thinks his job is a lot scarier than hers. The couple have kids at Lathrop and Hutchison. When she is not helping to keep UA networks and computers safe, she loves riding her bike, baseball, books, public radio, sewing, gardening, and living in Fairbanks.
Okinczyc earned her bachelor’s of fine arts degree in digital imaging and ceramics from Washington State University. She also earned professional certifications in Certified Information Systems Security Professional, GIAC Python Coder, and Certified Incident Handler.