After Twelve Years, ITCats Gavel is Silenced

In 2009, the ITCats Toastmasters Club was chartered in UITS. Since then, more than 100 IT professionals, mostly UITS employees, have come together on a weekly basis to improve their public speaking and leadership skills, as well as form strong relationships with coworkers.

Founded by former employee Deborah Andrysiak, with the support of former Deputy CIO Liz Taylor, UITS committed to paying membership dues to Toastmasters International for each employee who wished to join this internationally recognized professional development organization. That commitment has remained throughout the life of the club.

Over the last 12 years, the club has won numerous individual and club awards. Despite the pandemic, the club won an astounding six awards in 2020: Online Trailblazers, Membership Consistency, Membership Resiliency, Online New Member Excellence, Online Ovation / Education, and Select Distinguished Toastmaster.

ITCats members gave back to UITS in myriad ways, such as serving as session facilitators at the IT Summit, assisting coworkers in improving presentations prior to conferences, and hosting G3 (Geeks Gather & Gab) celebrations [link requires VPN].

While ITCats has been a proven professional development resource, the club has also fostered relationships among employees who otherwise may have never met. These relationships continue to contribute a sense of belonging and camaraderie in the UITS organization.

As the club disbands, the final contribution to UITS is to donate our remaining membership dues (approximately $900) to the Employee Engagement Council (EEC) to use for UITS events.

ITCats thanks UITS for the many years of support.