While many people fear major technology implementations, Charlene Blevens, the new director of finance and administration in the College of Business at Florida International University (FIU), sees the process differently.

“Whenever you go live, it’s extremely exciting,” she said. “And the university is doing a lot quickly, so it is always exciting.”

An FIU employee since 2006, Blevens has been an assistant vice president in several university-level offices and has been able to apply her interest and experience in research throughout her career. She has found her role in the college very enjoyable, especially the opportunity to work for an “entrepreneurial, visionary dean” in the person of Joyce J. Elam and to get to know professors.

“The academic side is new for me, a piece of the university I hadn’t seen before,” she said. “The job is giving me the chance to bring in my background in the university’s Division of Finance and create a bridge between that knowledge and the academic side of the college.”

Recognizing that many of her colleagues need help during technology transitions, particularly when financial processes are affected, Blevens plans various communications to ease the experience.

“The Office of Finance and Administration is a service unit,” she said. “To help our internal customers understand the ‘why’s behind what we are doing, we will send out ‘tips and tricks’ and a newsletter for everyone who deals with financial systems.”

A certified public accountant, certified research administrator and certified fraud examiner, Blevens holds a Bachelor of Science from Ball State University, where she majored in marketing and minored in labor economics, and an MBA with a concentration in accounting from the University of Houston.