Whether it is MyGCC or campus kiosks, many students benefit from the services that are provided by the technology that helps run GCC. Two of the individuals that do behind-the-scenes work in the Information Technology Services (ITS) department recently received promotions.
Reed Anderson and Kevin Chan have both been promoted to ITS Department.
Anderson, previously a program analyst at GCC, has been promoted as the Director of IT Operations.
Anderson, who arrived at GCC in 1993, is credited with developing such key elements on campus such as the student kiosks and the online program for students, MyGCC.
Not only that, but much of GCC’s Web page programming was also formed by Anderson such as the schedule of classes, staff directory and cancelled classes sections.
Anderson received his bachelor’s degree from CSUN in Computer Science in 1990. He worked for the Glendale Unified School District, between 1984 and 1993 programming for attendance and the grading system.
He also worked for Magic Mountain between 1978 and 1998 on the weekends as a merchandise supervisor. Between Magic Mountain and the Glendale Unified School District, he was able to develop most of his management experiences.
In July of 2003, Anderson took on his latest endeavor as the Director of IT Operations at GCC. “It’s completely different for me,” he said. “There are a lot of different challenges.”
One example of the challenges Anderson faced early on with his new position was dealing with the worm virus that many faced in August, he said. This involved working with each computer on campus to help restore them.
Anderson explained that his new position requires a lot more contact with people from his previous title as a programmer analyst. “This is more visible,” he said. “It’s much more people oriented and definitely more people based.”
One of his most exciting experiences at GCC was “creating new things like MyGCC,” said Anderson. He is accompanied in his success with Chan.
Since September, the new Senior Systems Analyst in the ITS department on campus is the previous Systems Administrator, Kevin Chan.
Chan, who has been serving as the Systems Administrator since 1996, came to GCC in 1986 as a programmer after he received his B.S. degree in Management Information Systems. As a programmer, he did a lot of communications work and was involved with implementing the financial systems at GCC.
Currently, he is setting up the conversion and placement of GCC’s data with the new Enterprise Resource Planning ERP system. The ERP system involves things like Human Resources and financial aid.
Chan is also working on the development and implementation of GCC’s Oracle system, the largest data based program used.
The most exciting part of Chan’s work at GCC has been “working with people, ” he said. “One of reasons I have been working here this long is because of the people that I work with. I feel like I am working with friends instead of co-workers.”
Both Chan and Anderson agree that in their line of work, “there’s a lot of learning and training that needs to be done,” said Chan. “It is kind of challenging and interesting too,” he said.