This month, the Office of Information Technology celebrates Nicola (Nick) Terzulli, Lead, Learning Space Design. Nick is the Learning Space Design Lead in the Emerging Educational Technologies & Learning Spaces Design team under Educational Technologies and Research Computing. He has been with Fordham for 9 years. Throughout his time within the newly developed emerging edtech unit, he has worked on many interesting projects and developed professionally and personally. We are sharing a little about his story to honor Nick’s contributions.
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How long have you been employed at Fordham, and what roles have you held?
I’ve been working at Fordham since February 2014, beginning as a contractor in the Media Services department. I was offered a full-time position in that department in November 2014, which I held until January 2021. I am the Learning Space Design Lead for the Emerging EdTech department in the Office of Information Technology.
What’s the day-to-day of your role like?
It changes depending on the time of year, but typically assisting with projects in the LITE center, managing the Makerspace and recording equipment in LITE, spec’ing A/V for classroom and meeting spaces, patching the classroom/lab PCs, writing software deployments, monitoring our Zoom Rooms, configuring A/V equipment, and more.
What is your proudest accomplishment in IT and/or life in general?
In IT: Bringing the 1000+ pieces of A/V equipment online and remotely managing them. Prior to them being online, guessing what an issue could be before arriving at a classroom was pretty nerve-wracking because you never knew what you were walking into. Now, 9/10 times, you can pinpoint the issue over the phone while looking at the management GUI, saving a ton of time troubleshooting for the clients.
Life in general: Cliché, but my daughter. I was so scared of becoming a dad, but I see her learning new things every day, and it gives me immense pride to see her developing so quickly. She was trying to stand at four months and told my wife ‘NO’ to a vegetable at seven months. It’s her favorite word.
What passion projects/hobbies/activities are you involved in when you are not working?
I try to challenge myself with new technology at home – I have a home lab that I frequently tinker with and update with new hardware. The latest iteration added an NVR called ‘Frigate,’ which records my security cameras, but the cool part is a very precise object detector running on a machine learning accelerator with a TPU designed by Google called Coral, so no more false alarms when the wind blows.
How have you grown professionally while on our team?
I consider myself the ‘swiss-army-knife’ of our department, always tackling unfamiliar territory (for me), and it continues here in Emerging EdTech and Learning Space Design. From the basics like active directory, endpoint policy, patching, and computer imaging on our classroom/lab endpoints to figuring out how to program and cut materials with a laser engraver, I’m constantly evolving here.
What is the most unique part about working at Fordham?
Aside from the people, the Rose Hill campus. Visiting other NYC universities puts into perspective how unique our city campus is, and it’s a beautiful place to work.
What is something fun or interesting that not many people know about you?
I used to be cool. I played guitar in bands for many years in my teens and twenties and owned a recording and rehearsal studio in the Bronx.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
Please remember I used to be cool.
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This interview was conducted as part of the Office of Information Technology’s SpotlITe series, in which we highlight staff members who have meaningfully contributed to IT, Fordham, and beyond.