As stated in one of our core values, our primary asset is the people working within the organization. As an organization we are comprised of individuals with diverse backgrounds, skills, and knowledge to build a collaborative and productive work environment. That strong sense of teamwork is displayed in every project.
Lets meet our teams!
Richard has been working with the Center for almost twenty years. He has worked in a variety of roles within the Center: video producer, graphic artist, animator, multimedia developer, web coordinator, trainer, instructional designer, and project manager. His understanding of every facet of the Center's operations provides a jumping-off point for understanding how to meet the diverse needs of those utilizing information technology.
Working within the University environment has added a standards and research-based approach in his understanding of appropriate uses of information technologies. In addition to his role as Director, Richard works on University projects related to web development, user support, and web accessibility. Also, Richard served on the statewide committee that defined web accessibility standards as part of the Illinois Information Technology Accessibility Act – 2007.
In addition to his almost twenty year experience working in higher education, Richard has the experience of working as a small business entrepreneur. He has owned and been involved in a variety of business and continues to understand the needs of businesses. He was co-owner of a multimedia production company in Chicago, worked in multimedia development and staging productions for corporate clients in Chicago, worked as a free-lance photographer and videographer in Chicago, and worked as a digital audio recording specialist working with some of the very first digital audio mixing boards in the U.S. Additionally, he is currently registered as an Apple iPhone developer.
Richard has a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy, and a Master's degree in Instructional Technology and Telecommunications.
Kim has a Masters of Science in Instructional Technology and Telecommunications. She began her career at WIU 19 years ago as a researcher for the use of technology with children with disabilities. Kim has worked in the field of adult education and has also directed several online training projects involving training K-12 teachers in the uses of technology in the classroom and online professional development for state agencies and businesses. She has taken, taught and designed online courses since 1995. Kim currently oversees the instructional design team at CAIT and assists in strategic planning and outreach. Kim serves as a client liaison, grant/proposal writer, and directs many large-scale projects within the organization.
Kim has been working at CAIT for nearly ten years. As Associate Director, she is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the production team, including staff in animation, graphics, web development, and application development. Kim also oversees CAIT's technology infrastructure, IT staff, and Help Desk operations.
In addition to her other responsibilities, Kim serves as a Project Director and Project Manager on several key projects. The project manager role enables her to stay close to the inner workings of the organization and its associated technology as well as work closely with various staff members, a task which she very much enjoys.
Her twelve year background is technology-focused and ranges from starting her career as a software engineer working on paging, voice mail and cellular network systems to an internet developer leveraging database technology to support online training registrations. Kim later moved into coordinating people and leading highly technical data system projects. More recently, Kim is leading a team of mobile technology developers to create mobile websites and native applications. Kim has a Master's degree in Instructional Design and Technology as well as a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Accounting.
Margaret has almost 10 years experience overseeing the business operations and personnel functions of the Center. As part of the senior administrative team, she also participates in short and long-term strategic planning for the Center. Business operations at the Center includes two distinct functions: coordination with the University offices responsible for business operations, purchasing, human relations, and sponsored projects; and working with external clients supporting contracts and business operations in service of client projects. Because of her background in business administration, she can speak the language of business and provide our clients with the support they need to ensure a trouble-free business relationship with CAIT. Prior to coming to the Center, Margaret worked as an Auditor for Clifton Gunderson, LLP.
In addition to her responsibilities at CAIT, Margaret also provides business operation supervision for the uTech Computer Store on campus. The uTech Computer Store is an Apple™ Authorized Campus Store and carries the full line of Apple products available for purchase by the students, faculty and staff at WIU. She maintains the business relationship with Apple and is responsible for all product inventory and sales promotions.
Margaret has a Bachelor's of Business degree in Accounting and also a Master's degree in Business Administration.
CAIT support staff maintains a dedicated Help Desk days, evenings and weekends as well as answering phones for our front desk. They are friendly, patient, and professional and strive to resolve inquires and issues in a timely manner.
The staff provides direct access to personal assistance for our clients and end users. They field approximately 2300 inquiries annually with 98% of requests resolved within 8 hours, most within 4 hours. The Help Desk staff is passionate about assisting our end users and ensuring their visits to our projects are positive and productive.
The teams' educational background ranges from degrees in audiology, teaching, history, and biology. All have experience ranging from one to 15 years. Outside of CAIT, they are parents, animal activists, sculptors, videographers and photographers. The team prides itself on being the front line for all CAIT project support and putting the end user at ease while solving their technology issues.
CAIT's graphics and animation division is skilled in the creation and production of web-based graphics and animation using Flash. This capacity is crucial to dynamic and interactive web interfaces and instruction. In addition, CAIT can customize client videos to be viewed in Flash, streaming video, or MP3 files providing flexible alternatives depending on the audience needs.
The teams' educational background ranges from Bachelor's degrees in graphic design, advertising design, graphics communication to biology and forensic chemistry. All have experience in graphic design and/or animation ranging from nine to 15 years. Outside of CAIT they are parents, volunteers, and musicians. The team has a diverse skill set and are exceptional at producing creative designs that meet or exceed our clients expectations.
CAIT programming skills includes AJAX, CSS, HTML, Java, JavaScript, JSP, Web Services and XML. The use of these technologies is critical in providing dynamic, interactive online environments. CAIT provides interactive online websites while conforming to the Illinois Information Technology Accessibility Act (IITAA) standards which mandate development standards to ensure the website is accessible to individuals with disabilities. CAIT builds dynamic applications for the web using MySQL databases and leverages several open-source frameworks with Java to create a high-performance system. CAIT's experienced application developers can create truly dynamic and interactive web-based reporting and registration systems that use backend database engines for record keeping and reporting. This group is also active in mobile technology development, both from a mobile website perspective as well as developing native applications for the iPhone and Android operating systems.
The teams' educational background ranges from Bachelor's and Master's degrees in technology, computer science, business administration, law enforcement and health science management and many have dual degrees.
All have experience ranging from one to ten years. Outside of CAIT, they are parents, video game developers, veterans, stamp collectors, and open source developers. The team has a breadth of experience in advanced programming and problem solving skills.
A critical component for any web delivered training or system application is instructional design, system design, and/or project management. CAIT's design/project management team has worked on a wide variety of projects and is experienced in managing multiple client needs, conducting a thorough analysis, working with subject matter experts/stakeholders, designing custom solutions, and assisting in an easy transition as the project is implemented. Our designers and project managers are the point of contact for the client and serve as the liaison to our production staff.
The teams' educational background ranges from Bachelor's and Master's degrees in computer science, instructional design, and education. All have experience in system design and online training ranging from five to 18 years. While some staff have worked in the education field (k-12 and adult) and some with state agency training programs, others have come from the business arena, owning and operating their own business.
Outside of CAIT, they are parents, coaches, community leaders, writers, mentors, and volunteers. The team has a diverse background, diverse interests and all bring different and unique skills to each project.
CAIT IT staff oversees the implementation and maintenance of multiple data centers containing 160+ high powered servers utilizing the latest server virtualization technology. Clustered technology between our data centers ensures maximum uptime and reliability, while maintaining multiple layers of security and nightly backups of all data. IT solutions focus on security, reliability, scalability, and innovation. Our IT staff is on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to prevent major disruptions in service for our clients and projects.
The team holds Master's degrees in computer science and their undergraduate degrees range from art, music, computer science, to psychology.
All have experience ranging from five to 17 years. Outside of CAIT, they are parents, artists, writers, musicians, web comic developers, and fly radio-controlled airplanes. The team has a great balance of staying current with the latest in IT technology and being creative and innovative in the solutions that are the back bone of all that CAIT does.
Our Mission / How We Evolved / Our Teams / Who We Have Worked With