Elaine Robbins

I am the Assistant Director for Instructional Services for Engineering IT at Grainger College of Engineering at Illinois. I have served in this role since February of 2023. Within this unit we have two teams, the Instructional Labs team and the ELearning team. As technology and instructional styles evolve, these teams are crossing over more and more, as well as intersecting with AV support within the IT Operations. Our team consists of 11 full-time professional staff and approximately 15 student staff. My career at the University of Illinois began in 1998. I have worked in higher education IT shops since 2011 focusing on operations management and online instructional support. Prior to that, my focus was on the business services side of academia.

I completed the Manager Dev program in 2015, the HR Series for Managers in 2016, and ITLW in 2016. My passion as a manger has been and continues to be aligning people and their strengths with the mission of the institution. I firmly believe that everyone brings a skillset that is valuable, and it is up to us to work together to find the right environment to harness that skillset. This will be my first time officially serving as a coach, but as I reflect on my history, I can identify numerous unofficial coaching relationships both within academia and externally. I am passionate about people, supporting their growth, and encouraging their creativity. I look forward to relearning alongside you in our Manager Dev sessions, as well as getting to know each of you on a deeper level.