Each year as the holidays approach, our campus becomes quieter. Students head home, faculty and staff enjoy a well-earned break, and the hallways of our buildings are momentarily still. But behind the scenes, something else is happening—our teams are hard at work.

Holiday breaks are a critical time for IT across campus. While many of us take time off to recharge, these dedicated professionals are upgrading systems, performing maintenance, deploying new features, and addressing the work that can’t be done during the busier semesters. They use the quiet of these breaks to carry out essential tasks that keep our digital infrastructure secure, up-to-date, and ready for the return of students, staff, and faculty.

Think about all the technology we rely on every day—the networks that connect us, the systems that enable our research, the learning platforms that bring classes to life. During the semester, these systems must be always on, always accessible. There’s no room for downtime when thousands of people depend on them. That makes holiday breaks the perfect opportunity for IT to do the behind-the-scenes work that ensures everything runs smoothly.

I was invited to the Winter Break IT Maintenance Coordination meeting today and was happy to see that it was a much broader group than just our teams in Enterprise Technology. On the call were many of the College IT directors whose buildings and customers will be directly impacted by all the planned work. At other places I have worked, we did meetings like this each year, but they were mainly for us to coordinate internally. It was a very nice surprise to see our campus-wide colleagues in the meeting giving feedback, taking notes, and sharing ideas.

The team shared dozens of projects that they will be engaged in over the break, giving our campus partners the time and space to ask questions and provide feedback. One of the things I like about this meeting is that it levels the playing field in a way that gives all the critical information we need to do our jobs well.

To our IT colleagues: thank you. Thank you for your dedication, for working when others are resting, and for making sure the technology we depend on is reliable and ready. The holiday season may be a time of rest for many, but it’s also a time of incredible effort and teamwork for you. And for that, we are deeply grateful.

So, as you enjoy your break, spare a thought for the people working behind the scenes to make it all possible. Here’s to the IT teams—working through the quiet to support the future.