Employee Spotlight: Camilla Shumaker
When Camilla Shumaker graduated from the U of A with a master’s degree in creative writing, she wasn’t entirely sure what career she wanted to pursue.
“I knew I didn’t want to work in an industry that was driven by making money. I wanted a job with a mission that was bigger than that,” Shumaker said. “I wanted to be a part of something that was contributing to good in the world.”
Since starting her career on campus, Shumaker has worked in a variety of roles. She started as the communications director for the College of Engineering, did a stint in University Relations and worked her way up to her current role in IT Services as the director of business application services.
She manages a team of 12 people who support applications like WordPress, Omni CMS and various Microsoft products across campus. Shumaker said she loves working with the intelligent, ambitious members of her team.
“The best part of my job is getting to know the people on my team, figuring out how to support them and seeing how hard they work and how dedicated they are to their jobs,” Shumaker said. “The people who work here are all so motivated, so you just nudge them in the right direction, and they do amazing things.”
According to Shumaker, the motivated nature of her team is consistent across campus. She got to spend a lot of time getting to know students, faculty and staff members in different departments in her previous roles.
“As a communications person, you get to be familiar with the best parts of campus. Your job is to seek out the coolest people and projects so you can learn about them.”
Shumaker is proud of her career trajectory and has used her skills and experience to improve her department and the university.
“Getting to my current position is one of the things I’m proud of because I earned this job without an IT background. I proved myself with the skills I collected along the way,” Shumaker said. “I’ve gotten to advocate for the little team that I manage to be more of a central part of the organization.”
As a manager, Shumaker emphasizes the importance of employee well-being. She checks in to make sure the members of her team are taking care of themselves and using the benefits they receive.
“I am a big believer, and I tell my team this too, that you need to use your vacation time because you need that break to be at your top performance.”
Shumaker also appreciates how the university’s health benefits support her family. Her daughter has a disability, and Shumaker’s supervisors have always gone the extra mile to make sure that her leave is covered when she needs to be there for her. She has also taken advantage of tuition benefits to take computer science courses and professional development opportunities to complete a project management certificate.
For incoming employees, Shumaker gives this advice: “Take advantage of the freedom to take the job in the direction that you want it to go. If you get your tasks done and you still have time, you can get involved in cool projects across campus. You can really expand your world, build your career and get to know great people if you look beyond the boundaries of your day-to-day basic duties.”
About the Employee Spotlight Series: The employee spotlight series highlights U of A faculty and staff members, the impact they have on campus and the community more broadly and what makes the university an employer of choice for them individually. Each U of A employee plays a critical role in advancing the 150 Forward strategic priorities: advancing student success, achieving research excellence and enhancing the university’s status as an employer of choice. If you have a recommendation of an employee to interview, contact Rachel Gerner at rgerner@uark.edu.
This story also appeared in the University of Arkansas News publication.