My Resume

JOAN M. ARNFIELD

E-Mail: joanarnfield@gmail.com

Current Position

I am now retired, although I sometimes take part-time consulting jobs helping people with the Ohio State University main-frame, web pages and other computer related problems.

Positions Held

Senior Systems Manager, Department of Sociology, The Ohio State University, 7/98 to 10/00
Working title: Lab and User Services Coordinator

I was the day-to-day manager of the Sociology Research Laboratory and I managed and developed the department's computer/user interface. This included user-interface design and maintenance; procurement, installation and maintenance of software; training of and consultation with faculty, staff and students on the use of this interface and its software; management of graduate teaching associates who help with maintenance and consultation and maintenance of network functions which directly impact on users.

Computer Specialist/Systems Manager, Department of Sociology, The Ohio State University, 1/90 to 6/98

Job involved the provision of software (both micro and main-frame) and hardware consultation to faculty, staff and students; equipment installation, documentation, maintenance, repair and inventory; software installation, documentation, and maintenance; presentation of workshops on departmental and university computer equipment and software; and maintenance and administration of the Sociology Department Banyan Network.

Laboratory Supervisor, Department of Geography, The Ohio State University, 9/84 to 1/90

Position included most of the jobs listed above, in addition to work on cartographic and micro-meteorological instrumentation, the departmental equipment and space inventories, helping to plan the renovation of Derby Hall and providing assistance to the State Climatologist.

Partner, WCMH-TV Weather Service, 5/82 to 8/84

Providing weather forecasts and other meteorological services to agriculture, broadcasting and construction industries.

Temporary teaching and research positions at The Ohio State University and Ohio Wesleyan University, 9/74 to 9/94

These include full responsibility teaching of Physical Geography and Programming courses, research assistant to the State Climatologist and Coordinator of the First International Symposium on Acid Precipitation and the Forest Ecosystem.

Prior to immigration to the U.S. in 1972 I held full time positions as a teaching assistant at Brock University in St. Catherines, Ontario and as the Circulation Supervisor in the Science Library at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario.

Education

Atmospheric Sciences Program, The Ohio State University. Admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D., Spring 1979

Geography Department, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. M.A. degree awarded, November, 1971

Geography Department, University of Wales, University College of Swansea. B.Sc. Honours degree awarded, June 1967

South Hampstead High Schools for Girls (GPDST), London, England

Ecclesbourne Road Primary School, London, England

Awards Received

American Field Service Scholar to Bettendorf High School, Iowa, 1962-1963

Middlesex Major County Award, 1964-1967

Ontario Graduate Fellowship, 1967-1969

Community Activities

Numerous presentations to community organizations (Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, Sierra Club, Girl Scouts, Garden clubs, elementary, middle and high school classes) from 1963 to present.

1996/2000 Membership Chair, Columbus Audubon Society

1997/2000 Member of Board of Trustees, Columbus Audubon Society

2003/present Database and GIS Volunteer for Audubon Ohio

Personal Activities

Nature study, hiking, travel, polymer clay modelling and domestic crafts

Personal Statement

I have been very fortunate in my study and work opportunities. On the one hand, my year as an exchange student in Bettendorf, Iowa and my jobs as librarian, salesperson, teacher and weather forecaster have taught me how to deal with both academics and members of the general public. I used this experience to teach workshops and to help members of my department solve their micro and main-frame computer problems. I also coordinated a university wide mailing list of computer professionals (DISTCONS) and have served on the Provost's Task Force for Implementation of the Computing Plan and the University Computer Guidelines Committee.

On the other hand, my experience as a graduate student along with my jobs in Geography and Sociology have given me a good background in computing. From the late '60s till the late '80s most of my computing experience was with main-frame FORTRAN programming. Since then my attention has turned to micro-computing, networking and database management, although I still help faculty and students with JCL and other main-frame computer problems. In Sociology I was part of a team of three full-time professional staff, eight graduate students and six undergraduate lab monitors who maintained three labs, seven network servers and fifty faculty/staff desktop PCs. I think of myself as a team-player, but took responsibility for the day-to-day running of the labs and the installation of networked software. I developed a departmental database for administrative use in addition to the Sociology Web Pages and on-line help system. Since "retiring" from Sociology I have done some work for OSU faculty transferring data from main-frame tape to PC based systems, assisting with data cleaning and manipulation and developing data bases.

Since retirement I have been working on volunteer projects. These included development of web pages for the Columbus Polymer Clay Guild and work on an Important Bird Areas Database and GIS for Audubon Ohio.