The end of 2021 and the beginning of the new year have seen SHSU Online embark on a new phase of expansion, with the creation of several new positions and the promotion of several members of the department’s leadership team to new roles reflecting this growth.
Dr. Ruth Chisum, long responsible for management of SHSU Online’s operations activities, is now Assistant Vice President for Online Operations. Media team leader Charles Henson has been promoted to Executive Director for Online Media Innovation, while John Holder, multimedia editorial coordinator for the last five years, has assumed the title of Project Director. Graphic designer Dane Classen, meanwhile, has been named Associate Director II in Creative Services & Online Innovation.
Two new graphic designer positions have been created and will be filled soon. One new assistant director, three new research associates and one new instructional designer will also be hired in the near future.
SHSU Online Support Desk would like to welcome Cristian Calvo, who joined the Support Desk as a Technology Support Analyst I in late November 2021. Cristian will work directly with the faculty and students at Sam Houston State University solving technology support requests with Blackboard or any of our supported academic software.
Daniel Walker, Assistant Director for Online Support Services, says: “Cristian will be invaluable to our team as our technology support services continue to expand and the number of support requests continue to increase each semester. Welcome to the team Cristian! We are very excited to have you here!”
Cristian is graduating this semester with his bachelor’s degree at Sam Houston State University with hopes to continue his education with additional degree programs and technological certificates in the future. He enjoys new challenges and learning new skills. In his spare time, Cristian enjoys video games and keeping up with the latest news with computer software and hardware advances.
Cristian notes, “I am excited to be able to use the wealth of knowledge given to me during my experiences as a student and student employee of the Online Support Desk. I hope to expand upon the already great services we provide and leave my mark upon this great team, department, and institution.”
“Cristian was one of our most promising student employees in the Support Desk and we could not be more excited to have him be a part of the team as a full-time staff member," adds DJ Modisette, Online Support Desk Manager.