Raymond G. Harder

Personal

Brief Professional Biography for Raymond G. Harder

June 7, 2005

I have most recently been involved with the Technology and Media Academy program in the Pomona Unified School District where, as Director of the Academy programs, I planned and even personally installed and maintained most of the technical infrastructure of the Village Academy High School. For 3 years I designed, planned, installed and configured Macintosh and Windows NT based File, Web, Video, and Audio servers. My staff and I installed all clients, and wireless devices. I hired and trained all staff and lead the development team that designed the entire technical curriculum and integrated technology into the regular A-G curriculum.

Prior to this I was at the Covina-Valley Unified School District office where I served as the Director of Management Information Systems. At CVUSD I managed a large computer staff with responsibility for 3000 interconnected computers at 22 different school sites. During my tenure there I oversaw a complete replacement of the entire mainframe infrastructure that housed all district records. This cutover was so successful that most end users were not even aware that it happened except that their systems suddenly began to run faster! I also designed and oversaw the successful replacement of the entire wide area network infrastructure and connected all classrooms to the district office and the Internet.

Before my time at CVUSD, I was self employed as an educational technology consultant. While working as a consultant, I designed and then oversaw the building and configuration of the entire networking and technical infrastructure at Harry S Truman and Almeria Middle Schools in Fontana, the Abraham Joshua Heschel Day School in Northridge, and the Campbell Hall-Argyle Academy in North Hollywood. While overseeing these multi-year projects, I was responsible for the design and oversight of everything from the architectural plans for the original networks to training the staffs to use these exciting new technologies. In some of these cases, I personally did the installation and configuration of servers and networking equipment. All of these projects were completed on time and within budget. I created all the staff training plans and personally trained those who trained the staffs in implementing these new technologies. I also did many of the trainings myself. I have consulted with over 100 different public schools and several county offices of education.

Prior to my time consulting, I spent several years teaching in a broad range of positions including Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Lecturer in Philosophy, Professor of Hebrew Language and Literature, Instructor of Advanced Greek Grammar, High School Librarian, and even teaching 5th grade at Alcott Elementary School in Pomona.

Although I have made most of my living installing, configuring, and teaching computers for nearly 20 years, my formal education was actually in the Humanities. I hold a B.A. in Biblical and Theological Studies and an M.A. in Ancient Near Eastern Languages and Literature. I have taken graduate examinations in 13 languages including Sumerian, Ugartic, Syriac, and Phoenician. I have translated hundreds of ancient texts ranging from Plato and the Rosetta Stone to the Dead Sea Scrolls. My interest in computers began in the early 1980's when I began to experiment with the application of microcomputers to the study of ancient texts while in graduate school at UCLA. I have lectured on the subject of computers and ancient texts at the University of Toronto, the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Vrije Universitat of Amsterdam, and Centre for Computing in the Humanities at Oxford University.  My work in this area has been published in a variety of places ranging from the Proceedings of the Association International Bible et Informatique to the Computers in the Humanities Journal.

I have extensive experience with the Macintosh, Windows, and Unix operating systems and have owned Macintosh and Windows machines since the first year they were introduced to the public (1984 & 1985 respectively). The Laptops I have carried for the last 5 years have all had the Unix, Windows, and Macintosh operating systems installed.

I have designed and implemented many unique and interesting academic computing projects over the years including computerized Aramaic tutorials (UCLA) as well as concordances and study tools for Coptic and Syriac texts (UCR, U of Chicago). I have also done a fair amount of programming and graphics work ranging from catalogs and reports to newsletters and websites. I know enough about the major new technologies to either make intelligent decisions about their use and implementation or to implement them myself where necessary.

Although I have made my living in the computer sciences for nearly three decades, I am still a humanist at heart. I love literature and especially poetry and I am currently attempting to read the major works of all the authors who have won the Nobel Prize for Literature during my lifetime. My personal library consists of over 5,000 volumes. I secretly aspire to be a serious writer of fiction, satire, and social commentary.

I work well with academicians and have a broad education that allows me to relate to their particular interests. I am especially good at empowering others and take great pride and find deep satisfaction at having been thanked in numerous prologs and acknowledged in many footnotes.

E-Mail: rharder@raymondharder.com