If you have contacted the NC State Help Desk for support, you most likely have been helped by David Wagner. Last year, he resolved nearly a fourth of all help desk support tickets, providing support and expertise to users in the campus community and beyond. 

For answering the call, Wagner received the University’s Awards for Excellence — the most prestigious honor bestowed upon an NC State non-faculty member during an awards ceremony held June 14 in the James B. Hunt Jr. Library. 

The University Awards for Excellence recognizes contributions that are above and beyond an employee’s normal job responsibilities in customer service, efficiency and innovation, human relations, outstanding state government service, public service, safety and heroism, and the spirit of North Carolina. 

Nominated in the category Customer Service, Wagner, an IT Integrations and solutions professional in OIT Technology Support Services, was instrumental in ensuring that the NC State Help Desk provided expert support to users. When the help desk began in 2022, there was a concern that response time metrics might be negatively impacted by a multitude of projects and events. However, these were nonissues due to Wagner’s performance. Wagner resolved 1,800 questions from the 6,500 incidents generated from the alumni transfer project. He also resolved an impressive 9,500 tickets, which is nearly one-fourth of all tickets for the year. That number does not include the countless incidents he helped other help desk staff resolve or the incidents he preempted by documenting much-needed knowledge for the alumni transfer project and other IT processes. 

Wagner and 11 other award recipients received a plaque, $1,000 and eight hours of paid leave. They also will vie for the Governor’s Awards for Excellence.  There were 55 nominees across campus units and divisions.