Lynne Sheehan, network administrator for the Baskin School of Engineering and avid supporter of Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz, is retiring after 33 years of service to UC Santa Cruz.
Lynne began her career at UC Santa Cruz in April 1987, when computers were in their infancy, when there were only 7,000 undergrads and 700 graduate students on campus, and ten years before the Baskin School of Engineering was formed.
Her first position was as an assistant in the Computer & Information Sciences and Computer Engineering Board of Studies, where she advised undergraduate and graduate students and entered narrative evaluations on a vt100.
“My favorite role was advising students and helping them obtain funding for their research in the TA/RA positions,” said Lynne. “It was a time when everyone knew everyone else in the department and were treated as family.”
Lynne was encouraged to pursue a computing career, and two computer engineering professors, Glen Langdon and Patrick Mantey, provided her with a computer to do programming assignments from home while taking night classes. “I received a lot of encouragement from [colleagues] Heidi Sitton and Will Russell to stick with it, and in 1994 got my first technical job with the Humanities Division.”
She returned to engineering in 1997 and has been a part of the engineering community since.
A supporter of workers’ rights, Lynne has for years encouraged staff to understand their rights and responsibilities as UC employees, and to get involved in campus activities to ensure their voices were heard.
“Lynne has helped countless people in their academic and professional careers, providing sound advice and encouraging them to fight for their rights,” said colleague and ITS staff member Eric Shell.
In addition to her sound advice for employees, and an unwavering commitment to the research and educational mission of the Baskin School of Engineering, Lynne has been a long supporter of the Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz. Every year for the past 13 years, Lynne has led a holiday donation drive, which has raised more than $100,000 through contributions by faculty and staff of the Baskin School of Engineering.
