Nick Carino-Marek's path to a leadership role within ITS was not a conventional one. He came to Iowa as an undergraduate in the early 2000s, left the university to join the U.S. Air Force during the height of the Iraq War, then returned several years later to pursue a degree in informatics.
"It's the work-life balance. That was the biggest reason I got out of the military," says Carino-Marek, associate director of Extended Technical Support in Enterprise Services. "Working at the University of Iowa, I've been able to keep my family the top priority."
Now a "full-fledged Hawkeye fan," Carino-Marek grew up cheering for the Northwestern University Wildcats in Chicago. He fell in love with Iowa City while in high school on a campus visit, met his wife as an undergrad, and together they are raising two kids in a town where he says the "opportunities are endless."
"There's pride in working for the University of Iowa, and I wouldn't trade my life here for anything."
"Iowa City is not like other college towns," he says. "The university is so engrained in the community unlike in other places." Whether it's Big Ten athletics, a Broadway show at Hancher Auditorium, or university-sponsored camps for kids, Carino-Marek says he has no desire to return to life in a big city.
But before he was able to settle down, Carino-Marek lived in South Korea, Arizona, and Qatar while serving in the Air Force. Leaving for South Korea five days after getting married and finding out his wife was pregnant four days after landing in the Middle East tested his resilience, but he made the most of his service and learned valuable lessons on leadership.
"What I learned that really stuck with me is you take care of the folks that are below you on the org chart," he says. "I was really fortunate with my first supervisor here at the university. She embodied the approach of doing what's best for the employee and became a mentor to me over the years."
After deciding not to reenlist, Carino-Marek returned to Iowa City to grow the skills he learned in the military and earn a college degree. Thanks to a mentor who saw his potential, in 2013 he was hired into a newly created position in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences—an early vote of confidence that set the tone for his career.
Over the years, Carino-Marek steadily advanced through the ranks, taking on leadership roles and looking for ways to affect change within his department. He became a team lead in 2017 and later stepped into his current role, overseeing a team of about 65 IT professionals who provide desktop support for nearly every college and administrative unit on campus.
"One of the great things about working here is that the learning never stops," Carino-Marek says. "I always tell potential hires that no two days are the same. Back when I was providing support in the field, there was a day when I went from working on a $100,000 piece of equipment to holding an 800-year-old piece of pottery an hour later. To this day, the variety of people that we get to work with blows my mind.
"There's pride in working for the University of Iowa, and I wouldn't trade my life here for anything."