Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I was born and raised in Lethbridge. I am also an alum of the University having received a Bachelor of Fine Arts (New Media) in 2012. This program appealed to me because it provided a breadth of experiences and learning opportunities to flex my creative muscles. The New Media program was pivotal for success in my current role at the University Library. More recently, I received certification as a Digital Marketing Professional from the uLethbridge Calgary campus’s Digital Marketing course.
How long have you been at the U of L and what do you do here?
I received my first contract job at the University in 2010 as a video editor assistant for the Faculty of Fine Arts. Since then, I have been a student assistant in New Media and website support for the then Faculty of Management. I have been working in my current role as an Instructional Design Specialist at the University Library since September of 2017. I have a variety of responsibilities in this position, but the one that I am most passionate about is my role in Project Sandbox. In this role, I work with my Library colleagues to offer technology-based workshops, resources, equipment, and support to our University community.
What’s the best part of your job?
Although there are many aspects that I love about my job, the best part is supporting our community in learning how to use equipment, applications and coding languages. I am always striving to hone Project Sandbox’s offerings to provide the most palatable, fun, and useful content. If you want to see something that we are not already doing through Project Sandbox, let me know!
How has the pandemic affected your work? Have you had to make major adjustments to your workshops?
The pandemic has had a significant impact on the workshops that I offer in the Library. Prior to the pandemic, we were offering workshops on several Adobe programs and the equipment that we provide access to in the Library. With these options temporarily unavailable, I had to re-think our services for an entirely online environment. To accommodate this, I created workshops which utilized either open source or freely available alternatives. I went this route so our community would be able to continue expanding their knowledge without an associated price tag. Although this was challenging, I am happy to have found online solutions that I will be able to add to our in-person offerings when the campus returns to normal operations.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
In my spare time I enjoy cooking, travelling, playing video games, and watching movies with my partner, dog, family, and friends. I also like to invest a portion of my time learning new skills. Currently, I am trying to deepen my understanding of JavaScript, post-processing 3D prints, and of course, gardening. If you are interested in talking about the care of garden vegetables or the enjoyment of pulling weeds on a beautiful summer morning, you now know who to talk to.