Mason keeps students online with computer courses
By LARRY MEYER
ARGUS OBSERVER
Monday, August 25, 2008 11:01 AM PDT
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| Dustin Mason, computer information systems instructor at Treasure Valley Community College, prefers riding his bike to campus and around town. |
ONTARIO — Students entering Treasure Valley Community College’s new computer information systems programs this fall will learn from a person who has been in the business for several years.
Dustin Mason, instructor for the computer information systems and the associate of applied science degree program, is an Ontario native and has been worked in the area on computer systems for local hospitals.
Mason graduated from Ontario High School, where he took second place at state wrestling, in 1991.
After his church mission, Mason came back and attended TVCC and Boise State University and obtained a bachelor’s degree in education.
When he was in college, Mason was offered a job with a computer company, after which he came to work at Holy Rosary Medical Center as a consultant, eventually fulltime.
“I was network administrator and network engineer,” he said.
Mason also worked at Weiser Memorial Hospital, and for a time, worked for both hospitals simultaneously.
He worked on a system allowing hospitals to exchange information on patients with their permission. Besides Holy Rosary and Weiser Memorial, other hospitals involved in the project were the McCall hospital and St. Luke’s in Boise.
Mason worked as a consultant at Holy Rosary one year and was employed there for eight years before moving on to TVCC.
Students completing the one-year computer information system certificate program will be prepared for entry level desk support positions in a variety of business settings.
If students choose, they can continue into the second year, as all certificate courses are a part of the two-year degree.
The associate degree prepares students for work as support specialists involved in application development, troubleshooting, network administration and technical and end user support.
“All classes will be online,” Mason said.
Married for 15 years with three children, Mason is involved in the community, having served on the city’s budget committee.
He is also involved in a mentoring program for his church.
Dustin N Zoila wrote on Aug 30, 2008 12:50 PM: