Kudos to Anand Vangipuram on being nominated for the 2014-2015 Service Excellence Award for Academic Staff! With nine deserving nominees (including Anand) in the category, the competition will be stiff – so keep your fingers crossed for Anand. The winner will be announced on April 16th.
Uptimes Spotlight – Kevin Behringer
Kevin Behringer
behringk@uww.edu
(262) 472-5010
Spotlight
What do you do? – explain how you fit into ICIT
- I am the Web Content Specialist. My role is to act as a resource to help people create the best possible content for the various UWW websites.
Something people don’t know about you?
- Probably a lot because I’ve only been here a month. I guess the fact that I drive a car with over 400,000 miles on it.
Favorite hobby?
- With two small kids, things like “hobbies” are but fuzzy memories. I seem to remember enjoying golf at one point, though.
What was your first job?
- I was a dishwasher at a lakeside restaurant near Slinger when I was 15.
What’s your favorite piece of technology?
- Probably my iPhone. It’s the one piece of tech that I use every day in some fashion. Plus, on more than one occasion, bringing up an Elmo video on it has helped entertain an impatient child while waiting at a doctor’s office.
Tell me something interesting about yourself.
- I delivered my second son (I guess my wife had something to do with it) in our bathroom. It was by no means intentional or desired, but it ended up working out in the end. Even so, I’d recommend a more traditional route – or at least having someone who knows what they’re doing there with you.
What are you passionate about?
- I’m most passionate about my family and my faith. There are other things that catch my interest from time to time, but those are the two constants.
Do you have a special talent?
- I don’t know if they’re special, but I play guitar and (foreshadowing my next answer) roast my own coffee.
What is your guilty pleasure?
- I am a total coffee nut.
Favorite TV Show?
- That’s a tough one because my wife and I have a running joke that whenever we really get into a show it ends up getting cancelled. But, I do enjoy re-watching some of my favorites from the past like Seinfeld and The West Wing.
Music genre?
- Very wide-ranging, tough to nail down to just one.
Do you have a famous look-a-like?
- I’ve had people tell me that I look like Kiefer Sutherland. I don’t necessarily see it and I’m certainly no Jack Bauer, but that’s the closest I’ve come to having a look-a-like.
What is your theme song?
- I don’t know that I’d say I have one, but a song that has stuck with me since high school is Eye of the Tiger. It was my hockey team’s theme song, so I guess it’s always held a special place with me.
Favorite vacation?
- That’s a toss up for me. Until this past June it would have been Washington D.C. about five years ago. It really was an amazing trip to see the rich history of our country. But, this past June we went to Disney World with our two sons and watching them enjoy themselves so much and experience it for the first time quickly elevated that trip to the top of the list.
Favorite food?
- No run-away winners, but high on the list is a steak from Coerper’s 5 O’Clock Club in Milwaukee.
Least favorite food?
- I don’t have one specific least favorite, but cauliflower is up there.
Biggest fear?
- Something happening to one of my kids – followed closely by heights.
One place you must visit at least once?
- It’s tough to narrow to just one. I’d really like to see Hawaii, as well as Italy.
State of Web Development
Since February 2005, all new UWW web applications have been developed using ASP.NET. Beginning in April of this year, these applications were upgraded to use the new .NET 2.0 framework. This represents a significant change of strategic direction for web development at UWW. In the past web applications were created independently and in a variety of programming languages (ColdFusion, PHP, ASP.NET, etc.). Barry Henrichs is leading an initiative to standardize web applications across campus, providing greater stability and security. As the project moves forward, many applications that were previously using ColdFusion will either be deleted, replaced by Collage functionality, or redeveloped in .NET 2.0. This strategic move also prepares the way for creating a campus web portal. More information will be available as the project proceeds.