Systems Analyst
Anna Ruiz makes things better.
After graduating from PLU in 2002, Anna and husband Jason worked as
AmeriCorps volunteers, teaching computer skills to school children in
the Chelan area. Now they are training for marathon running on behalf
of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Even Anna’s work as a systems
programmer in Administrative Computing, she says, involves “a desire to
solve a puzzle and make something work better for the people who use it.”
A native of Twin Falls, Idaho, Anna grew up in what she describes as a
large, close family heavily engaged with a relatively small community.
After touring four colleges in the Puget Sound region, including PLU,
Anna decided to attend Cottey College in Missouri, a two-year private
women’s college of 300 students. The president of Cottey had attended
college with her father, and the college was intimate and friendly to
the extent that the president personally greeted all prospective
students. Following Cottey, Anna turned to PLU, the school that
resonated with her most on her tour of Pacific Northwest colleges.
While at PLU, Anna majored in computer science and met her future
husband Jason, a native of Olympia. Jason also entered PLU as a junior.
He now is engaged in a career in networking and network security for
Sound Credit Union in Tacoma.
After their AmeriCorps experience, Anna and Jason moved to Twin Falls,
where Anna took up work as the technology team leader for a small
manufacturing company. Last Winter PLU contacted her about returning to
the fold to fill a vacancy in Administrative Computing, and both she and
Jason jumped at the opportunity to do so. Anna began work here at her
alma mater this past February.
Still committed to giving back to their community, Anna and Jason arise
early each morning and go for a run, then take longer runs on weekends.
They work with a trainer supplied by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society,
and in January expect to run on the society’s behalf in a marathon in
Phoenix.
“I like to make messy things neat, to make things better,” Anna says
with confidence and commitment. And so she does, as a programmer on the
Banner administrative information system, as a former AmeriCorps
volunteer, and as a runner who improves the quality of life for others
in need.