JOAN M. ARNFIELD
E-Mail: joanarnfield@gmail.com
Current Position
I am now retired.
Positions Held
Part-time consultant to faculty at the Ohio State University, working on main-frame programs and controls, data manipulation and storage, web pages and other computer related problems. 10/00 – 5/2004
Senior Systems Manager, Department of Sociology, The Ohio State University, 7/98 to 10/00
Working title: Lab and User Services Coordinator
I was the day-to-day manager of the Sociology Research Laboratory and I managed and developed the department’s computer/user interface. This included user-interface design and maintenance; procurement, installation and maintenance of software; training of and consultation with faculty, staff and students on the use of this interface and its software; management of graduate teaching associates who help with maintenance and consultation and maintenance of network functions which directly impact on users.
Computer Specialist/Systems Manager, Department of Sociology, The Ohio State University, 1/90 to 6/98
Job involved the provision of software (both micro and main-frame) and hardware consultation to faculty, staff and students; equipment installation, documentation, maintenance, repair and inventory; software installation, documentation, and maintenance; presentation of workshops on departmental and university computer equipment and software; and maintenance and administration of the Sociology Department Banyan Network.
Laboratory Supervisor, Department of Geography, The Ohio State University, 9/84 to 1/90
Position included most of the jobs listed above, in addition to work on cartographic and micro-meteorological instrumentation, the departmental equipment and space inventories, helping to plan the renovation of Derby Hall and providing assistance to the State Climatologist.
Partner, WCMH-TV Weather Service, 5/82 to 8/84
Providing weather forecasts and other meteorological services to agriculture, broadcasting and construction industries.
Temporary teaching and research positions at The Ohio State University and Ohio Wesleyan University, 9/74 to 9/94
These include full responsibility teaching of Physical Geography and Programming courses, research assistant to the State Climatologist and Coordinator of the First International Symposium on Acid Precipitation and the Forest Ecosystem.
Prior to immigration to the U.S. in 1972 I held full time positions as a teaching assistant at Brock University in St. Catherines, Ontario and as the Circulation Supervisor in the Science Library at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario.
Education
Atmospheric Sciences Program, The Ohio State University. Admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D., Spring 1979
Geography Department, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. M.A. degree awarded, November, 1971
Geography Department, University of Wales, University College of Swansea. B.Sc. Honours degree awarded, June 1967
South Hampstead High School for Girls (GPDST), London, England
Ecclesbourne Road Primary School, London, England
Awards Received
American Field Service Scholar to Bettendorf High School, Iowa, 1962-1963
Middlesex Major County Award, 1964-1967
Ontario Graduate Fellowship, 1967-1969
Community Activities
Numerous presentations to community organizations (Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, Sierra Club, Girl Scouts, Garden clubs, elementary, middle and high school classes) from 1963 to present.
1996/2000 Membership Chair, Columbus Audubon Society
1997/2000 Member of Board of Trustees, Columbus Audubon Society
2003/2005 Database and GIS Volunteer for Audubon Ohio
2007/present various volunteer positions at Scrappies including trustee, IT manager, managment committee secretary and counter assistant.
2008/2018 various volunteer postitions in the Church Stretton Arts Festival including Art Exhibition Organiser 2008/2015, web master, database manager.
Personal Activities
Nature study, hiking, travel, polymer clay modelling, painting and domestic crafts
Personal Statement
I have been very fortunate in my study and work opportunities. On the one hand, my year as an exchange student in Bettendorf, Iowa and my jobs as librarian, salesperson, teacher and weather forecaster have taught me how to deal with both academics and members of the general public. I used this experience to teach workshops and to help members of my department solve their micro and main-frame computer problems. I also coordinated a university wide mailing list of computer professionals (DISTCONS) and have served on the Provost’s Task Force for Implementation of the Computing Plan and the University Computer Guidelines Committee.
On the other hand, my experience as a graduate student along with my jobs in Geography and Sociology have given me a good background in computing. From the late ’60s till the late ’80s most of my computing experience was with main-frame FORTRAN programming and IBM JCL. Since then my attention has turned to micro-computing, networking and database management. In Sociology I was part of a team of three full-time professional staff, eight graduate students and six undergraduate lab monitors who maintained three labs, seven network servers and fifty faculty/staff desktop PCs. I think of myself as a team-player, but took responsibility for the day-to-day running of the labs and the installation of networked software. I developed a departmental database for administrative use in addition to the Sociology Web Pages and on-line help system. After “retiring” from Sociology I worked for some OSU faculty transferring data from main-frame tape to PC based systems, assisting with data cleaning and manipulation and developing data bases. This came to an end when I returned to the UK in 2005.
Since retirement I have also worked on volunteer projects. These included development of web pages for the Columbus Polymer Clay Guild and work on an Important Bird Areas Database and GIS for Audubon Ohio, prior to our move. After settling in Church Stretton I continued to volunteer for a variety of charities in the town, while developing my interest in arts and crafts by holding weekly crafting sessions in my home and taking a weekly painting class. In the past few months, however, I have cut down on a lot of my volunteering activities as well as the classes, and I’m now concentrating on work for Scrappies, gardening, decluttering our house and travel!
Updated 01/2019