Staying Connected

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We are developing the alumni community connectivity via a "Ning" network.
Reconnect with your classmates and start leveraging the power of the GC community.

Erin Weisburger, MSIT '05, sent us the following:
Hello fellow GC people! I have WONDERFUL news!
As of this coming Tuesday, I will officially be THE web developer for the NYS Office of Courts Administration! (www.nycourts.gov)... The dept is very small: there's a graphics guy, a programmer and a designer... I'm the incoming developer! It's a grunt job; I'll be doing nothing but hand-coding content to add to the 30,000 + pages of the NY Courts website. Oh my god, I'm working for the government! I attribute everything to my experience at the GC, and if it wasn't for my awesome training in HTML, XHTML and CSS with Jen, I wouldn't be where I landed today. I'm sooooo happy and we'll be celebrating tonight! Thanks, guys, for everything! I'll keep you posted on the upcoming accomplishments! All the best.

Jennifer Darrow, MAT '00
Jenny is putting her GC education to good use "just over the Connecticut River." Keene State College is getting the benefit of her talents as she serves as their Team Leader for Instructional Technology. In this capacity she heads up faculty development, training and faculty technology grants.
"It's a challenge but I'm thoroughly enjoying it," says Jenny. "It's a juggling act between sustaining the technology that we currently support (technology enabled classrooms, Blackboard, Contribute, Dreamweaver, digital video, etc., etc.) and keeping abreast of new trends."
What are those trends? Jenny relates that the talk around the Keene State campus has been about electronic portfolios. According to Jenny, they're at the very beginning stages and have yet to examine how they could be used across campus but the interest is definitely there, especially in their education department.
As an alum of the Grad Center, all this will come as no surprise to Jenny. "E-Portfolios are a great example of the merging between curriculum, pedagogy and technology. My year at the GC will certainly come into play if KSC heads in this direction."

Jean Chute, MAT '05 recently updated us: I've finished my first semester as a high school technology teacher (yikes). I passed my IT Essentials I Cisco instructor certification yesterday and will begin the second half of the course next week...Network Operations.
My year of learning at the Grad Center was instrumental (Elaine Garofoli's influence and Pedagogy II) in a successful CAD class where students engaged in self-directed instruction and I provided the conditions for creative expression. Plus I went out to the community to bring in the expertise of subject matter experts. The presentations were awesome.
I totally changed the direction of a Fine Metals curriculum from a "summer camp" activity class to a challenging class with plenty of problem solving with success and failures; the greatest learning came from the failures. It was a blast but tons of work.
Other challenges include teaching Digital Photography I this upcoming semester; Network Ops, Research and Design (the RAD Lab) for which I've constructed a primarily online curriculum (Westpoint Bridge, Robotics ext).
So. I'm busy, but thanks to the Grad Center...I'm exited and confident I'll do a bang up job.
Say hello to all of my good friends!

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Ranjan Chari MSIE 2000
Ranjan is the CEO & Lead Architect of BigAppleDesigns.com, a full-service web design, software development and online communications company based in Manhattan. Their clients range from large advertising agencies and Fortune 100 companies to small businesses. BigAppleDesigns.com builds websites and provides internet software solutions and services for a wide range of clients. They also examine business processes at companies and tell them ways to save money by utilizing technology. Much of what they suggest is freely available and commonly known as "Open Source." BigAppleDesigns.com provides the services to apply this technology in a corporate environment, and their solutions typically deliver results in days. The result: Ranjan's company keeps growing year after year, and they now even have clients in countries typically known for outsourcing and low costs.

Ranjan is quick to credit his Grad Center education for some of this notable success. "Since I had a technology sales background, I was quite sure that I wanted a program with a very 'hands-on' and practical approach towards technology so that I could 'round-off' my skills. The MSIE program fit the bill. I became an entrepreneur. My life is very fulfilling as I get to wear a bunch of professional hats as a salesman, solutions architect, programmer, none of which is usually possible in the usual corporate environment. The workload is tremendous being an entrepreneur, but so are the experience and the professional rewards. The MSIE program gave me the skills necessary to sell and build internet solutions."

While the "workload is tremendous being an entrepreneur," don't get the false impression that Ranjan slows down any when he's not heading BigAppleDesigns.com. A quick review of what he does to relax will quickly show that, for Ranjan, there are not wasted moments. In his "free time," Ranjan enjoys like nature, photography, sci-fi, world history, international travel, and small budget/indie movies. In addition, he volunteers for several non-profit organizations and is very interested in environmental and human rights issues, worldwide. And, if all that weren't enough, he is working on improving his conversational German.

Kilana Butler, MSIT '04 passed along: For now I had a nice visit back home in Putney for the holidays. I'm working on my web design business called "Butler Web Design and Associates" hope to have a site up soon.
Best wishes for the new year all.

Matt Terenzio, MSIE '03 told us: Some of my work was recently featured in O'Reilly Media's "PHP Hacks. The hacks demonstrated how to send RSS feeds to your Instant Messenger and how to send cell phone SMS text messages from your Instant Messenger.
I'm currently still working for Tribune Interactive as Senior Web Producer and Blogger In Chief. I have a personal techie blog at http://everybuddy.org and am currently working on some great RSS and OPML side projects like http://skinnyfarm.com and coming very soon, http://glistn.com (with a very special partner to be announced later).

Diana Morrill, ISM '01 contributed: Working for UNFI out of Chesterfield, NH as a telecommunications analyst which involves running Avaya phone systems throughout the country as we have multiple warehouses. This work involves network, programming and customer service skills so I get a lot of technical work yet still keep my pulse on the user community which I love because I'm a people person. I am working on a big project where we're migrating from one voice mail system to another on the 28th of January and that's a big deal. Change for staff so I'm working not only technical side but getting training lined up as well as resources available on our intranet, etc.
My little side business, www.dianamorrill.com, is beginning to take off and keep me busy. I have five web clients with the most recent being a redesign and than creating templates for their use. I also am working on a lead so hope to gain another. While it doesn't pay the bills yet, it does keep me in the web world and I enjoy it as a hobby also.
Looking to take some refresher classes in some design areas to brush up my skills as well as maybe acquire some new techniques and ideas. I'm working with a professor at NHCTC who wants me to teach script programming classes next fall. I'm taking his class off line so I can learn the material. Should be interesting to say the least!

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Joe Johnson, MSIE '01
Joe Johnson has been named "Worldwide Services, Solutions Supervisor for the Northeast Region" at UPS Professional Services. Joe creates web applications for UPS's largest customers when a standard UPS application does not meet their needs. Often these solutions require collaboration across several functions of both UPS and the customer.
In his new role Joe's major focus has been on building a web services architecture that reduces paperwork and improves the speed and accuracy of the customs clearance process. Recently, he's found some very quick and economical solutions for mid-sized customers using PHP and mySQL and built a few web portals between top tier customer's intranets and UPS technology assets.
Joe credits his experience at the Grad Center for giving him a foundation for his success. "I learned the secrets of how to lead others into the frontiers of the Internet and met faculty and fascinating students that still inspire me. I was often bedazzled when material too new to be in any textbook was introduced into the curriculum. I came to see that the real lesson taught was how to evaluate and use the torrent of new information to accomplish objectives and solve problems.
When not helping lead UPS, Joe enjoys life with family and friends. He built a new home that was 5 years in the planning, and he and his wife Joanne, who works as a special needs consultant for several families, work at home. They enjoy entertaining friends and family who often stay with them for a day or two while attending events in the Worcester, Massachusetts, area. Joey, their older son, lives with them in his fully adapted space. He is deaf and blind and attends school at the Advanced Learning Laboratory in Worcester (Way to go, Joey). Matt, their younger son, is a freshman in high school.

Linda Donaghue, ITC '01
I recently completed an online course developing math webquests. I'm desperately seeking motivation to spend time on my site, upload the webquest and a ton of other stuff but my day job (special ed) keeps getting in the way. I need the mental equivalent of a personal trainer (work those flabby brain tissues!).
I am applying to go to China this summer with the Freeman Foundation. I don't know how competitive it is but I'm sure good wishes would help.
Also, trying to interest some of my students in interviewing their elderly relatives and neighbors and I would get them assembled in some kind of publication. I love oral histories - many people do - and we lose so much personal information, community perspectives, even important historical information ( I interviewed an elderly man years ago who was the first American to interview Hitler's secretary after his death) when we just don't ask the questions. If anybody wants to help (lend a tape recorder, lend a teenager, lend a relative), let me know.
Well, I think I've asked for more than I gave! Happy winter, folks!

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Adam Wenger, MAT '00 offered the following: Firstly, I miss everyone and hope things are going as well for them as they are here with me. Over the summer I bought a home in Montague MA. Outside of Amherst. It's been a real blast! I have really enjoyed getting the place set up. I've changed lighting, put in dimmers, painted, installed the dishwasher and done a host of other things. In the spring, I am going to put up a fence so that the hot-tub I am putting in will have some privacy. Anya my doggy is great; she loves her new friends in town and is getting along very well. Anyway come spring I would love some help turning the sandy soil into the fertile stuff. Much love hope everyone is well.

Rod Tulonen, ISM '00 has the right idea: I decided to retire at 58. (I worked as an English teacher and Principal from 1969 to 2005. I wasn't that good at math, but I finally figured out that I had worked thirty-six years without a break.) I am finally doing what I love to do--photography. I have a wonderful Canon EOS 10D digital camera, and in the past two years shot over 30,000 photos. I'm going professional this summer. I am very happy.

Sandeep Mahale, MSIE '04 emailed us: I am still at Hertz Corporation (& don't think I will change). There's no excitement of moving from one job to another, one city to another. But my work is full of excitement - have lots of fun with OO development. We have some really bright & wonderful people here, & I am constantly learning something new from them. Currently, I am working with EJBs on a multi-tier application that is porting mainframe work to OO world. Just recently we have begun introducing Spring & Hibernate into our project & there is lot of catching up to do for me.
So, tell all my classmates that I am alive & kicking.
Warm regards.

Sara Warner-Phillips, ISM '99 gave us this: I'm working full time now in Putney VT, running the web division of Offering Jewelry. Still part owner of OriginalHome.com as well as working with a small group of long term clients. All is well. Working in an e-commerce business is much different than any other work I've been involved in. It's a growing business and we plan to launch a redesign in late winter. Very fast-paced and much more customer service oriented than I would have guessed, but fun. We have regular email newsletters that are a big part of the bottom line, which is a whole new area for me. I enjoy the work tremendously.

Bruce Luhrs, MSIE '01 shared the following: My wife, Sue, and I became grandparents for the first time on Jan. 8, 2006! Dominic James Luhrs was born to our son and daughter-in-law in Boston. Everyone's doing fine and we're learning to spoil him already. Besides being a grandfather, I've taken a few winter hikes and am waiting for warmer weather so I can continue to improve my beginner unicyclist skills.
I still work for Ajilon Consulting, still assigned to HP in Nashua where I'm part of the HP Ed. Services Virtual Labs team. We're responsible for the 1,000+ computer systems and network devices used to support HP's world-wide customer training classes. The Linux, Apache, Perl, MySQL and Internet Technology skills from my MSIE classes are being used daily. I also develop Resource Management reports in PHP, with calls to the MySQL DB. If anyone knows of a good way to generate "resource connection diagrams," I'd really like some fresh ideas. Or what about 3-D diagramming with VRML, or X3D XML schemes?
Hello to the Grad Center students, faculty and alumni. Good luck to this year's students, have fun with your Capstone Projects! Maybe I'll be able to come over to the Capstone Fair in June and see their results.

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