About Me
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| Daniel Stewart, Technical Support Specialist, Claremont Graduate University |
My name is Dan Stewart, I was born in San Francisco and lived in the west Bay Area, attending a few different private pre and elementary schools. My family then spent a few years in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon from second to halfway through eighth grade. We then moved south to Ventura County, where I attended Rio Mesa High School, a struggling public school in the strawberry fields of Oxnard. Students came from an interesting blend of economic backgrounds, ethnicities, and social values making the school a diverse and overall fun experience. I graduated form high school in 2006 and was accepted to Sonoma State University (SSU) where I graduated with a BA in Geography in 201. Since then I have been working as a Technical Support Specialist at Claremont Graduate University (CGU).
I consider myself toward the advanced end of the technology continuum, but with plenty of room to hone and perfect my skill set. I have a lot of experience in Information Technology, especially in higher education environments. My entire working career thus far has been in the technology industry, since my days selling iPods as a teenager for Circuit City to my multiple IT jobs within the CSU campus system, from SSU to CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI). Some of my responsibilities include administering, maintaining, upgrading and configuring CGU information technology infrastructure, computer work stations and electronic devices in a Microsoft Exchange Server 2008 RC2 domain environment. Most of my work centers on providing technical support and creating forms and documentation to the CGU computing community. I pride myself in taking customer service to the next level; I not only troubleshoot, but try to teach the user by using common language and easy to understand analogies to improve their understanding. On occasion I will assist the Media Technology Coordinator distribute telecommunication, audio/video and presentation technologies for administration meetings, campus events and conferences. The summer before my first semester at SSU I applied and was hired for a job with the IT department as the Media Production Coordinator’s assistant. The job was a class in itself and I loved it. I helped film school productions, events, graduations and lectures using Live-to-Web digital video and audio switching technology. I also was instrumental in updating the campus television studio to modern standards. Above and beyond my favorite class was Sonoma State Television (SSU-TV), which is an advanced class for the Communication’s department. I was one of three student instructors responsible for a group of ten students. The leadership position at SSU-TV gave me a chance to hone and advance my skills in management, leadership and communication. As the Entertainment Team Leader for 2 semesters (one of which I volunteered and received no course credit), I was responsible for the students assigned to my group. Much of the work was to be done outside of class time, and as the group leader I was responsible for coordinating these events. These outside class events included production and content research meetings, filming, renting equipment, editing sessions. Throughout the semester, I was responsible for assigning homework and individual grades based on set guidelines from professor. As you can probably tell, I love technology and I see infinite applications for its use in the technology field.
The Masters of Educational Multimedia (EMM) program was introduced to me by two Alumni and fellow employees at CGU, both of whom recommended it as a great place to enhance my professional skills. My personal goal for this class is to reaffirm my basic knowledge of HTML/CSS, basic internal workings of the internet and the current and future possible roles of the web in education. I think the EMM program fits me perfectly, not only because of the outstanding campus, labs and facilities, but the focus on gathering relevant experience toward my preferred professional career and furthering my knowledge of multi-media, web and educational technologies from an advanced to expert level.
Daniel Stewart
Technical Support Specialist – Office of Information Technology (OIT)
Claremont Graduate University
