Sometime in late 1993 and early 1994, I walked into a small computer lab at Keene State College in NH and passed through a room of about 12 Mac LC computers and sat down at one of the 8 "IBM clones", opened up Mosaic, and started "surfing" using the Archie "search engine", the Veronica application to download documents, and started emailing on my green-screen Pine account (? C I L A S Q!).

Thus began my fascination with this "new" communication tool.

I had just started a BS program at that College, entering as a freshman in 1990 at the tender age of 40.

In 1997, a small College in southern Vermont had just opened a brand new Graduate Center and was offering cutting edge technology programs for working adults- one of 12 students in its inaugural class, I graduated with a Master's Degree in Strategic Technology Management in December of 1998.

At that time, few people really knew exactly what a "Webmaster" was supposed to do, but I was hired as their first, and was asked to maintain an Appletalk network, design and code new Web pages, update the news stories daily, and distribute the stories to UPI and other newswire services.

Seeking to use this knowledge and experience in a higher education setting, I applied to and was hired as Salve Regina University in Newport, RI's first Webmaster.

I stayed on in that position at Salve's beautiful seaside campus for 5 years, designing and developing nearly 100 component sites for all academic and professional departments and affiliated external organizations of the University, and took on many side projects developing Web sites and database-integrated content management systems for businesses, both large and small. I also served as adjunct faculty and taught Web development at both the University and the New England Institute of Technology.

During my tenure as Webmaster for the University, a colleague brought to my attention a Doctoral program they had heard about being offered at Nova Southeastern University which prepared technology and education professionals to become leaders in the fairly new discipline of Instructional Technology and Distance Education.

I was accepted into that program (Cluster 22) in 2001. As a component of my applied dissertation, I polled the faculty at Salve Regina to get their reaction to learning at a distance, something the University was not offering at the time. Since that time, circumstances dictated that I discontinue the EdD program, and was conferred a Master's degree in ITDE last year, at the tender age of 58.

I left Salve Regina in 2004 and began working on my own as a contractor producing Web-based Training for a diverse client base, including modules to train 180+ sales personnel in 25 remote sites, transforming class room- based training programs into stand alone e-learning modules to train new employees, and developing interactive "personal tutor" concept modules, blending several multimedia instructional technologies to deliver product training to 500+ employees in multiple locations.

Presently, after recently fulfilling a short-term contract with Pfizer Pharmaceutical as a Web designer and trainer, I developed, re-designed and maintain the City of Newport, RI's municipal Website and intranet, and continues to develop online training programs for a top ten Insurance and Financial Services Corporation.

I also maintain and hosts several Web sites, including testandlearn.net, a Web site devoted to serving multimedia training modules and testing applications which I have developed.

I currently live in Tiverton, RI with 3 small rescued mutts.

I have strong ties with family and friends in Western Massachusetts, where I was born and spent my formative years.