Staff Profile: Hans Wunsch on 30 Years at ICS

Hans Wunsch, interim director of computing support at UC Irvine Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS), celebrates 30 years of service. Here he shares his insights on his time at ICS.

When did you first arrive at UC Irvine and ICS?

I arrived at UC Irvine as an undergraduate in 1991, and have been part of the ICS community ever since. As a student, I took courses from Norm Jacobson, David Kay, Ray Klefstad, Dan Gajski, Mike Pazzani, Rick Lathrop, and Dan Hirschberg. Dan Hirschberg and Ray Klefstad had a particularly strong impact on my career. Dan H. has been a motivation, and Ray taught me what I needed to know to get my career started.

How would you describe your role at ICS?

I began working in ICS as a tutor in the undergraduate labs. That turned into a career, and over time, my work shifted from supporting systems to helping shape how technology is used across the school.

What has been meaningful to you at UC Irvine and ICS?

One of the strengths of our team is that while many of us have been here for a long time, we are constantly exposed to new ideas and challenges. We benefit from an ongoing influx of incredibly smart people who push us and raise the bar. We are always renewing, learning, upskilling, and sharing that knowledge back to the ICS community.

A big part of that comes through our student system administrator program. Working with student sysadmins, or what might now be called junior SREs or DevOps engineers, has been one of the most rewarding aspects of what we do. Roughly half of our current team started in student roles.

Do you have a favorite motto or inspiration?

“Let’s get dangerous.” – Darkwing Duck

– Tonya Becerra