Chad Harper began his IT career in 1997 as a contract programmer, where he worked while completing his undergraduate degree in Information Science with a concentration in Database Management from SUNY Oswego.
Though successful in industry as both a manager and individual contributor, Chad’s real passion lies in research and technology education. In 2013, he began his graduate career at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies. In May 2015, he graduated with a Master’s of Science in Library and Information Science as well as a Certificate of Advanced Study in Data Science. Chad is the 2015 recipient of the Master’s Prize in Library & Information Science Award for Scholarship and Research.
During his time at Syracuse, Chad worked as Graduate Research Assistant for the Veterans Career Transition Program, a program designed to provide IT and Project Management certification training to post-9/11 US military personnel who have transitioned or were transitioning from military to civilian life. He was responsible for administering the learning management system, working with Syracuse University iSchool faculty to design and deploy coursework, and building key indicators of performance.
While working toward a graduate degree, Chad founded two companies. The first, HarperAMH, LLC, is a technology and business advisory firm with clients in industries ranging from public schools to medical device manufacturers. It is under this banner that he is also continuing his research, currently exploring the efficacy of social media participation in professional conversations and identifying the network sensitivities therein.
Chad is also co-founder of Lithic Digitization and Archive Services, providing a full range of digitization, archive, and project management services to organizations such as libraries, archives, museums, and other organizations in the public and private sectors. Chad’s IT and project management background, coupled with his experiences gained while earning his MSLIS, have positioned Lithic to fill an apparent void in the technical space in digital archive projects. As part of Lithic, the Emerging Nations Preservation project is a budding initiative to provide services to governments in emerging nations to develop an online presence for their historical treasures. It is through digitization initiatives that technology can be brought to places where it might otherwise not thrive, and provide an opportunity for the peoples of emerging nations to learn about technology in a way that connects them to the local and global communities.
