The PSSA exists to enhance the overall work environment of the Brookhaven College professional support staff, assist the student body through scholarships and other endeavors, and work to uphold the image of Brookhaven College in general.
Maribel Pullen in student development completed her Associate in Science degree from Brookhaven last month. Congratulations, Maribel.
Casey Garrison Smith, daughter of Lee and Bob Smith was notified that she has once again been named to the Dean’s Honor Roll for the School of Journalism at Mizzou. This honor resulted from the 4.0 GPA she earned during the past semester.
Sidney Danforth, daughter of Meridith Danforth in marketing and public information, is currently ranked third in her age and belt-level for sparring in the North region for the Amateur Organization of Karate.
New Members:
New FOTP:
The PSSA welcomes each of you!
NOTE:
If you are not a PSSA member or a Friend of the PSSA, you are encouraged to join. Interested individuals should stop by Room S072 and, after paying the $5 dues, Mildred Kelley will add you to the membership roll.
This issue of the Courtyard Chatter recognizes another valued professional support staff and PSSA member, Charlie Isaksson, information systems/LAN Support Specialist in the Information Technology Department.
Charlie says he very much enjoys his work and the environment at Brookhaven. He likes the cooperative attitude of his coworkers and other employees. He also says the beautiful and well maintained campus is greatly appreciated and he is pleased to hear about the new environmental/recycling initiative being introduced.
Although Charlie has been at Brookhaven College only since 2006 he is well known in the Business Studies Division where he keeps the computers running in “tip top” condition.
One of the reasons he is so good at what he does is because of his education, which includes a masters degree in computer science from Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall, Sweden. He has also opted to study for a Ph.D. in computer science and has been admitted to the doctoral program at Southern Methodist University.
If you “google” Charlie you will find among other documents, an eight-page paper he and two colleagues authored which is titled “Risk-leveling of Network Traffic Anomalies.” The paper was published in the June 2006 edition of the IJCSNS International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security. The paper discusses computer intrusion detection and explains how to identify ongoing attacks on a computer system or network and shows how traffic anomalies are an important indication of attacks; all of this is made possible by utilizing a global spatiotemporal modeling approach. If you have not previously read the paper, you may want to do so and discuss the specifics with Charlie over a cup of coffee.
Charlie came to Brookhaven by way of Sweden (don’t let that black hair fool you), but he first stopped off in Hattiesburg, Miss. to study English at the University of Southern Mississippi. In addition to English, Charlie is also fluent in Swedish and Spanish.
In Hattiesburg, while earning an English Proficiency Designation, he met his wife-to-be Jahilyn Ching at a pool party. After four months Charlie and Jahilyn were married in her Venezuelan hometown and now, six years later, they have a baby girl named Julienne Margaret. Jahilyn, while caring for Julienne with the assistance of Charlie, will continue her studies to accomplish her dream of becoming a school teacher.
When Charlie lived in Sweden he would often ski cross country for recreation as well as for military purposes but because our geography is not particularly conducive to this activity, he has taken up golf, a new hobby he enjoys. He also is an avid fan of movies and has fond memories of meeting one of his movie heroes, Pat Morita, who, as we all know, played Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid.
When you see Charlie around campus introduce yourself and perhaps by then he will have a photo of Jahilyn and Julienne Margaret to show you. Also, don’t forget to peruse his publications; to read some of them it will be helpful if you can read Swedish.
Charlie, as with all professional support staff employees, we are glad you are here and appreciate your contributions to Brookhaven.
Some of our new members may not be aware of the PSSA sponsored “Employee of the Month” program that recognizes a professional support staff employee for outstanding contributions to Brookhaven. The EOM Committee, chaired by Stephanie Sarles, encourages nominations for this honor and invites you to participate in the monthly presentation. Although we hope that all PSS employees would be a PSSA member, membership is not a requirement for this award.
The PSSA survey has been completed with a 71 percent professional support staff response rate. It is not specifically known why the other 29 percent did not respond. Results of the survey will be compiled and presented.
Upcoming events include the monthly PSSA meetings scheduled for June 21, July 25, and Aug. 22. After June, because of accommodations being made for the ECHS classes, it may be necessary to move from our usual Room A203 meeting place; you will be notified of any changes. Hopefully you can attend the meetings, but if this is not possible please take the time to read the minutes which are distributed via e-mail and then archived on the intranet.
Although some months away the annual PSSA membership drive luncheon will be held and in December we will have our PSSA holiday event which will include food, entertainment and door prizes. We hope to make this Decembeṟs event the best ever and toward this end, if you have ideas and/or are willing to chair or assist in its organization, please contact a PSSA officer.
Our membership continues to grow and we encourage the membership and active involvement of all professional support staff. Our 2006-2007 membership, as a percent of eligible full-time employees, is now 64 percent and the objective for 2007-2008 is 90 percent.
If anyone has items for inclusion in this column relating to the PSSA, FOTP or members please let me know.
