After graduating in 1971, Hugi joined the Computing Center user support staff and taught a variety of computer science courses. In 1974 she was appointed Director of User Services, and over the next two decades she rapidly moved up the management ladder to become Director of University Computing and ultimately, Associate Vice President for Information Services.

Over the years, Hugi guided the university's vital information systems through many technological changes and advancements with a clear vision for future computing and networking needs. Her dedication to finding opportunities for the university to enhance its position with respect to telecommunications and networking led to several fruitful partnerships in both public and private sectors, and she never lost sight of her goal of providing superior computing and networking support for the UO's instruction, research, and administrative programs.

Under her leadership, the UO won first place in the annual CAUSE competition for "Excellence in Campus Networking" in December 1996, surpassing its peers in the classification of institutions with operating budgets of over $100 million.

That same year, the Computing Center was a semifinalist in the National Information Infrastructure's annual competition for networking in the "Public Access" category, and in 1997 Yahoo Internet Life cited the UO as the "most-wired" public university in the U.S., ranking sixth among all U.S. universities.

In December 1997, Governor Kitzhaber appointed Hugi to the 12-member Oregon Telecommunications Forum Council, and she has also served on a number of other committees in the local, regional, and national computing and networking communities, including the Network Planning and Policy Advisory Council for Internet2, the Northwest Academic Computing Consortium (which she chaired for five years), the UO's Educational Technology Committee, and the EDUCAUSE board.

Looking back on her career, Hugi is most proud of her contribution to making major Banner administrative software transitions (particularly the move from a mainframe-based to a web-based user interface) as painless as possible, overseeing the growth of the UO's network infrastructure, and guiding the OWEN/NERO network project, which provides high-speed connectivity to state government and K-12 institutions in Oregon. She is also quite proud of her staff. "I'm pleased to have served with such a talented and dedicated staff," she says. "Over the years they have consistently met the challenge of providing superior user services on a shoestring budget."

Hugi's immediate future is filled with travel plans, and she is looking forward to an extended period of globe trotting. First stop: Tuscany in October.