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aul is originally from East Prairie, Missouri. He
now lives in Cape Girardeau, with his wife,
Theresa, a Southeast professor for the History
Department, and son, Isaac. With his family,
aul enjoys fly-fishing, rafting/canoeing, traveling,
camping, photography, woodworking, and building Star
Wars Lego sets with his son. Paul earned both his B.S.B.A.
in Finance and M.A. in Higher Education Administration
from Southeast Missouri State University. Before settling in
to his position as the Information Technology Computer
Labs Supervisor, Paul worked in the field of banking both
in Chicago and Cape Girardeau. Paul received his 10 year
service pin in spring 2016.
What originally sparked your interest in an IT field?
As a young child, I had a strong interest and enjoyed
anything to do with electronics. Home electronics were
becoming more readily available and affordable.
I grew up playing Atari 2600 games, traveling with Mattel handheld
electronic games, and programming a
Radio Shack Tandy
color
computer. I never considered myself a ‘techie,’ but looking back, I
always had technology around.
While in college, I was lucky enough to have my own
McIntosh
computer, with an external CD-ROM drive and an external dial-up
modem. It’s tough to get excited about dial-up connections in this
day and age, but this technology afforded me the opportunity to
explore and learn online, way before
and
became so popular.
What do you love most about working in IT?
The one thing that I believe I wouldn’t find in other positions is that
my days are never duplicated, boring, or routine. Each day is
different somehow. This could be the result of a new issue to
address, a new technology to investigate, a new service to offer or
the offer of an existing service to someone new to the University,
or simply learning something new about a member of my student
staff.
Why did you decide to apply for this position?
The main factor for applying was based on my experiences at
Southeast as a student. I enjoyed my time in the higher education
environment and as a student employee. Based on my experience
and knowledge that I gained while working in the field of business,
my interest in technology, and my positive experiences as a
student/student worker, I felt I would be in a position to provide
positive real life experiences to Southeast students.
“The one thing that I believe I wouldn’t
find in other positions is that my days are
never duplicated, boring, or routine. Each
day is different somehow.”
PAUL BELVIN