Lenoir Community College Computer Information Technology Program Chair Shaneir Faison is pictured with LCC graduate and LIT Graduate Award recipient Timothy Ford and with LCC graduate and LIT Professional Award recipient Blanca Faasii. Submitted photo.

Lenoir Community College graduates Blanca Faasii and Tim Ford recently received the first LCC Lancer Information Technology (LIT) awards during a special program celebrating IT Professionals who keep the flame burning in their organizations. The event was led by LCC IT Program Chair Shaneir Faison. 

Nominations for the first-time awards were submitted through three-minute or less Flipgrid videos. The planning committee selected the finalists based on certain predetermined criteria. 

Faasii was recognized as the IT Professional of the Year and Timothy Ford was recognized as the IT Graduate of the Year.

A mother of three, she has worked with Lenoir County for 25 years, 21 of those years with the IT Department. She began her career as a translator and worked her way up to director of the department, a position she has held since July 2016. 

Faasii was nominated by her daughter, Jennifer Faasii Smith, who said her mother is the first Hispanic Certified Government Chief Information Officer by the North Carolina School of Government in Chapel Hill. “As far as I know, she is the only female Hispanic IT Director in the State of North Carolina,” she proudly said. She attended LCC part-time from 1998-2011 and completed her Associate in Applied Science in Information Systems.

She is an active member at Gordon Street Christian Church, where she is a volunteer Sunday School teacher, choir member, and an active member in the Christian Women Fellowship. She’s a volunteer with the North Carolina Disciples Women Ministry Board of the Christian Church Disciples of Christ in North Carolina and is currently Vice President, President Elect.

She has served on the LCC Information Technology Advisory Committee for seven years. Faasii serves on the United Way Board and is a part of the North Carolina Local Government Information Systems Association volunteers as a part of a strike team where they go and work with other counties when they need assistance.

A US Marine Corps veteran and family man, Ford is a graduate of the LCC Networking Technology Program. He was a volunteer work study student at LCC. LCC Network Administrator Brian May in nominating Ford said he possesses the passion and drive it takes to be successful in this industry.

After LCC, Ford attended East Carolina University and obtained his Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (BSIT) in Information and Computer Technology. While at ECU, he was able to secure an internship at Cisco Systems. During this time at Cisco, Ford would work his way from Lab Assistant to Network Engineer to Cybersecurity Analyst all while obtain professional certification in Cisco Certified Network Associate Routing and Switching, Security+, and Splunk. As of May 2019, he has taken over the role of Security Engineer with Verizon Business Government and is working on his Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP). 

Approximately 80 area high school students and their teachers attended and were able to network with IT professionals as well as attend demonstrations on Networking Technology by LCC’s Brian May, Virtual Reality and Coding by Jose Garcia, STEM Director GCPS, Tech Teardown and Smart Ring Technology by IT students. Dr. Michael Dixon, Chief Technology Officer from Greene County Schools presented a 10-minute tech talk. Lunch was prepared by the LCC Culinary Arts students.