Professors Who Make A Difference
By Bryan Ashburn '06
When I transferred to Concordia as a sophomore, I was ready for a smaller school with professors who could get to know me and take an interest in my future. I decided on a business major in management information systems with an emphasis on computer science. I graduated just two years later, something I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to do at another college. It wasn't easy studying at Concordia - the classes are challenging - but everyone is there to help you succeed.
Computer science instructor Vijayakumar Shanmugasundaram made the biggest impression on my college education. He encouraged me to get involved in many activities, including the Concordia chapter of Association of Computer Machinery, in which our team built a robot that we took to the a midwest technology conference. Vijay also hired me as a grader for his classes and supervised my classmates and I as we designed a software package to help beginner computer science students learn Java. He served as one of my faculty coordinators for my cooperative education experience at the Renville County West School District in Renville, Minn., as a network specialist. And right after graduation, I was hired by the Renville County Court System in Olivia, Minn., as an information technology/network specialist.
Vijay really opened doors for me and encouraged me to document my experiences in order to present them at technology conferences. He stressed that no matter how basic an experience may seem, someone else may not know about it. And someday, one of my experiences will be unique and could be introduced to the technology world and impact society.
