{"id":23235,"date":"2015-01-01T11:02:07","date_gmt":"2015-01-01T16:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=23235"},"modified":"2015-02-13T11:29:21","modified_gmt":"2015-02-13T16:29:21","slug":"emus-own-techies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2015\/emus-own-techies\/","title":{"rendered":"EMU’s Own Techies"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a work-study student<\/span>\u00a0on EMU\u2019s helpdesk in 1999, these were\u00a0Jason Alderfer<\/b>\u2019s tools: \u201cA telephone and a legal pad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0A couple times a day, Alderfer or another work-study student would check the phone and write down the messages \u2013 who had called and what their problem was \u2013 and then either go fix the problem or relay the question to someone else.<\/p>\n

Since then EMU has almost doubled its information systems personnel to 17 full-time employees who operate on three teams \u2013 \u201ctechnology systems\u201d headed by Alderfer \u201900, \u201cuser services\u201d headed by\u00a0Jenni Piper \u201992<\/b>, and \u201cstudent information systems,\u201d which functions collaboratively.<\/p>\n

Alderfer and Piper describe these teams as dealing with \u201ceverything from the network jack back,\u201d \u201cresponsible for anything that plugs in,\u201d and managing programs like myEMU and student records through EMU\u2019s vendor-supplied software system, Jenzabar EX. EMU also has eight or so work-study students and a part-time evening helpdesk manager,\u00a0Krysta Nyce \u201914<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Remarkably, considering EMU’s\u00a0 liberal arts focus, all but two of the 17 full-time employees are alumni. Like Alderfer, most came to IT through their work-study position. \u201cYou come on and basically it\u2019s like an apprenticeship where you learn by getting out there and solving problems that you haven\u2019t seen before,\u201d he said. \u201cFor people who enjoy learning that way it\u2019s a great place.\u201d<\/p>\n

EMU\u2019s diverse set of needs makes it a great place to learn, say several who have risen through the system. IS director\u00a0Ben Beachy \u201902<\/b>\u00a0explained that the staff and administrators operate closest to IT corporate work, while students use the system much like one would use a home system, and faculty rely on technology as an important pedagogical tool. Each of these groups has different ways of using the networks and different requirements for smooth functioning.<\/p>\n

One of the most challenging aspects of the EMU system is linking all the components so that one part of the system communicates well with another. There isn\u2019t really a user manual about how to do this; solving IS problems often takes creativity, collaboration, and trial and error. \u201cIt\u2019s an ongoing process,\u201d Alderfer said. \u201cThings are always in flux and require us to revisit or reinvent solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

A recent priority for IS has been improving Internet speed, Beachy said. In a concentrated effort over the summer of 2014, IS tripled the amount of wireless access points in the dorms in order to increase bandwidth. \u201cEight years ago we just wanted to make sure everyone could get on with their one or two devices,\u201d Beachy said. With students bringing up to seven devices each, though, the service in the dorms was no longer adequate.<\/p>\n

When Jenni Piper was a freshman in 1988 there were only hall phones in the dormitories and no Internet connection. In fact, EMU had no personal computer technology at all until the year before, when the business computer lab received 18 \u201cIBM type\u201d computers with 2-5.25 inch disk drives. The dorms didn\u2019t begin to become wired until 1995.<\/p>\n

Almost 20 years later, IS has been heavily involved with the recent renovation of Roselawn and ongoing renovation of the Suter Science Center by overseeing and facilitating the installation of the wires, technology and resources necessary to provide an efficient technology system to the EMU community. IS staffers troubleshoot problems that may arise, install new technology into classrooms, and fix devices that suddenly don\u2019t work the way they are supposed to. Despite the inevitable frustrations that accompany relying on and upgrading technology, IS staffers find that folks at EMU are understanding and patient as the IS teams work to fix things. \u201cBy and large people are very kind, supportive and appreciative of what we do here,\u201d said Beachy.<\/p>\n

That may be one reason why EMU IS employees stay so long. Beachy, Alderfer and Piper have been with IS for 13, 14 and 19 years respectively (Piper worked in other capacities at EMU for five years before joining the IS team in 1995). Others like Dan Marple and\u00a0Marty King \u201985\u00a0<\/b>have been at EMU for similarly long tenures. \u201cEveryone has made a choice to work here,\u201d said Piper.<\/p>\n

Alderfer agreed. \u201cThe reality in technology is that people who have good IT skills can make a lot of money in some places\u201d (and no one pretends that EMU employees make the big bucks). \u201cBut,” added Alderfer, “for people who are motivated by service, who want to see their work go toward something larger, and have good technical skills, those kind of people enjoy working here and are successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other alumni who work in IS at EMU include\u00a0Sam Sauder \u201993<\/b>,\u00a0Michael Stauffer \u201976<\/b>,\u00a0Andrew Crorken \u201911<\/b>,\u00a0Holden Byler \u201906<\/b>,\u00a0Alison D\u2019Silva \u201901<\/b>,\u00a0Steve Gibbs \u201904<\/b>,\u00a0Dan Risser \u201905<\/b>,\u00a0Austin Showalter \u201913<\/b>,\u00a0Justin Hershey \u201912<\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0HB Belay \u201906.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a work-study student\u00a0on EMU\u2019s helpdesk in 1999, these were\u00a0Jason Alderfer\u2019s tools: \u201cA telephone and a legal pad.\u201d \u00a0A couple times a day, Alderfer or another work-study student would check ... read more about EMU’s Own Techies<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":23236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4515,13808,5598,5730],"tags":[16367,16402,16408,16411,16405],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-23235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-computer-science","category-mathematical-sciences","category-undergraduate-programs","tag-ben-beachy","tag-dan-marple","tag-dan-risser","tag-hb-belay","tag-holden-byler"],"yoast_head":"\nEMU's Own Techies - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2015\/emus-own-techies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EMU's Own Techies - 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