“[Teachers] get anxious,” he said, chuckling. “I’m the one they try to get a hold of.”

A computer resource technician with Harrisonburg City Public Schools, Shoemaker (’78) likens his job during the school year to firefighting, swooping in to sort things out whenever someone can’t log into their computer or get their projector to behave. Shoemaker is responsible for one high school and one middle school in the city – though these days, he’s able to fix lots of problems remotely without leaving his office.

During the summers and other calmer times, Shoemaker also keeps the schools’ computers and other devices, like iPads, up-to-date and in good working order.

In neighboring Rockingham County Public Schools,ĚýObe Hostetter ’00Ěýhas a slightly different role as an instructional technology resource teacher. Though he also gets involved in technological troubleshooting, he visits all the division’s 24 schools to train teachers on how to better use technology in their classrooms, and sometimes co-teaches technology-enhanced lessons with them. A recent example: teaching a kindergarten class how to scan QR codes with iPads.

“I enjoy the teaching part, seeing the kids getting excited [about technology],” said Hostetter, who spent his first five years after college teaching elementary and middle school before going down the technology path.

One of the tricky technology-related issues that comes up in school settings is the fact that after Hostetter’s lesson on QR codes, those kindergartners may well be more adept at using them than many of their teachers.

“They’re not as comfortable, because they have not grown up with it,” says Shoemaker, of teachers who began their careers before computers had so thoroughly infiltrated education.

While younger teachers, as a rule, don’t tend to be as intimidated by technology, there’s a flipside.ĚýDoug Moyer ’91, a systems technician for the Warren County (Virginia) Public Schools, tells of a young teacher whose Smart Board went out of service and was thrown into a tizzy by the prospect of resorting to primitive substitutes like the markerboard.

Moyer and Shoemaker both spent some time in the business world before getting into school technology, and both say they enjoy the general lower-pressure school atmosphere. Computer emergencies happen both places, but the stress and aggravation just usually aren’t as great in education.

“It has its moments of intensity, but it’s not nearly as great, and I appreciate that part of it,” said Shoemaker.

Mike Stoltzfus ’98Ěýalso began his IT career in private business, beginning with CMDS (now Jenzabar; see story p. 15) after graduating with a computer information systems degree. He then spent several years handling IT for Harman Construction, a company that has worked on numerous projects at EMU over the years, including the ongoing renovations of the Suter Science Center. While he worked for Harman, Stoltzfus also ran his own web hosting business on the side. One of his clients was Eastern Mennonite School (EMS), which created a full-time IT position and hired Stoltzfus to fill it inĚý2008.

With just under 400 students in grades K-12, the school’s IT needs are modest enough that Stoltzfus handles most technology-related issues (Andrew Gascho ’09Ěýassists him, and teaches digital communication classes at EMS). Those range from systems maintenance to troubleshooting to repairs to keeping up with the rapidly changing digital world by planning things like a Chromebook-for-every-student initiative that the school is exploring.

“That’s something that really attracts me about working at a place where there isn’t a huge technology infrastructure,” Stoltzfus said. “I can be involved in all those different things…. I enjoy seeing the whole picture.”

(Since starting at EMS, Stoltzfus’s job has expanded well beyond that whole IT picture; now the director of business affairs, he also oversees school finances and a few other operational matters.)

There’s never a time when there’s not something new to check out. With a relatively tight budget to be conscious of, for example, Stoltzfus has been exploring opportunities offered by open source software.

“I really enjoy learning new things. That’s one thing that I’ve always enjoyed about technology – it’s always changing,” said Stoltzfus, who majored in computer information systems. “As you learn about things, you realize more and more how much you don’t know.”

Like Stoltzfus,ĚýJon Harder ’82Ěýalso works as a technology generalist for a small school system, handling “pretty much anything to do with technology” for Mountain Lake (Minnesota) Public Schools.

In addition to all the usual school troubleshooting and software updating, Harder has been able to put his programming background to good use as the schools’ technology coordinator. When a need was identified for a computer-based method for staff to reserve rooms or vehicles to use, Harder couldn’t find existing software that fit the bill. Instead, he created his own web-based application that’s now in use. It’s the kind of thing that’s kept the job interesting for the past 14 years (prior to which, he was a software engineer in the Twin Cities).

“I guess I’m a real problem solver,” he said. “It’s always fulfilling to run into new challenges and figure out how to do something.”

When Harder was at EMU, tinkering with the mainframe computer that used to be in the old Administration Building or the few really early Apples that belonged to the Psychology Department, he had no clue that computers were going to become such a thing. The Internet as it exists now wasn’t something anyone could conceive of.

That makes it hard to hazard a guess as to what sorts of technologies people like him will be troubleshooting in schools in decades to come. Fewer keyboards and more spoken commands, he suspects.

Hostetter concurs on the voice-interfacing thing. 3-D printers are coming, too. Maybe “wearables” like Google Glass will make their way into classrooms eventually. Whatever it is, it’s bound to be something that seems hard to imagine right now.

“It is pretty amazing what all we can do now that just a couple years ago wasn’t possible,” he said.

Thanks to gifts from two sources, EMU’s demonstration laboratory has undergone a major upgrade with state-of-the-art equipment and computer software that will help students improve their patient care skills.

Recently, EMU’s nursing program was one of five universities in Virginia to receive a $135,000 grant from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Of the total, $90,000 is being used for technical equipment and additional nursing faculty training.

The Anthem funds have provided two computerized Laerdal manikins and other equipment that will provide "real life patient care scenarios" for students. Several computer workstations with interactive CD programs will help students gain skills with clinical situations they will face in actual health care settings.

Holly Smith, a third-year nursing student, applies oxygen via face mask to SimMan while EMU nursing professor Violet M. Horst observes the procedure in the new critical care area of the nursing laboratory.
Photo by Emily Huffman

Renovations to the nursing laboratory and other health care instruction upgrades – including video monitors and a "Virtual Intravenous" simulator for inserting catheters into patients – were made possible in part by the Lisa Haverstick Fund and Endowment created by Lisa’s family. Ms. Haverstick, a 1991 nursing graduate from Lancaster, Pa., died in May of 2003.

"Access to these new teaching tools calls for a philosophical shift in some of our teaching methodology, said Violet M. Horst, assistant professor of nursing at EMU. "Certain patient scenarios that we could only talk about in theory can now be simulated in the laboratory setting before students go on-site."

The computerized manikins, other equipment and interactive software programs "will help students gain experience for real-life health crisis situations, do hands-on assessment of patient problems and refine their decision-making and critical-thinking skills," Horst said.

EMU received the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield grant in partnership with the nursing program at Blue Ridge Community College, Weyers Cave, Va. Some of the equipment will be shared with BRCC, and BRCC students will be able to use EMU’s laboratory equipment.

A service of dedication for the laboratory will be held Saturday, Apr. 9. At that ceremony, the facility will be named the Lisa Haverstick Memorial Nursing Laboratory in her memory.

"EMU faculty and students are excited about the possibilities these new tools offer for us to better prepare nursing graduates for the technological world of health care," Horst said. "We are grateful to Anthem and to the Haverstick family for their support and appreciate their recognition of the importance of nurses in providing safe and effective care in hospital settings."

Like many other technologies, the printing industry was an evolving species when Mike Reno got involved in the business in 1976.

Back then, Reno serviced office equipment for A.B. Dick Company, including "Hildegard," an automated offset copier that occupied a large room on the north end of second floor of the old Eastern Mennonite College (now University) administration building. The behemoth piece of equipment was so unusual at the time that the local newspaper wrote a feature article extolling its/her reproductive capabilities.

Reno recalls when EMU purchased an A.B. Dick 901 copier capable of cranking out an amazing five letter- or legal-size copies a minute.

In the late 1980s, Reno started his own business of selling and servicing office equipment, with EMU among his regular clients. He sold that business to his former employer, A.B. Dick, in 1990, worked for other printers and eventually bought his own print shop in Waynesboro.

In April, 2003, Reno became a contract printer for printing and copying services on the EMU campus, meaning he owns the business and contracts his services to clients, with the university taking first priority. The shop, at the north end of the physical plant facilities, provides full-service printing and binding to EMU persons and departments and a number of off-campus clients.

"The university is strongly behind this operation, providing utilities, computer, phone and other support," Reno said. "In return, I’m able to give special pricing to EMU for its print needs, large and small jobs alike."

It’s now a fully digital shop that includes a digital platemaker. This means that Reno can receive a print piece like the faculty-staff monthly newsletter, "Campus Bulletin," in PDF format on his computer, make a plate in about three minutes and once on the press, 500 copies of the publication roll off the press in roughly 20 minutes.

He recently added a full-color printer capable of producing anything from business cards to 13" x 19" posters. The and office submit the biggest jobs on a regular basis, although the annual program is another major print piece.

Reno does most production work in the evening, freeing him during the day for consultations with clients and preparing jobs for printing.

Even though he feels the "press" of the moment, he welcomes queries from EMU faculty and staff anytime at 432-4543 or mike.reno.@emu.edu.

"I never thought I’d enjoy standing next to a printing press, but I find myself enjoying it – it’s a challenge," Reno said.