Information — collection, processing, and analysis — has been the primary focus of my professional life. Just out of college I joined the U.S. Navy as an intelligence officer. Maritime and naval information was my primary focus in positions like a squadron intelligence officer and maritime analyst in the U.S. Pacific Fleet Headquarters in Hawaii. After completing 7 years of active duty in the Navy I studied management information systems (MIS) at American University in Washington, D.C. The next phase of my career was spent collecting, processing, and analyzing information about space-related events and activities in the countries of the former Soviet Union. Later I expanded my “portfolio” to other countries of the world looking primarily at satellite operations that support human information needs. In my many jobs at various levels, I gained quite a bit of knowledge about the history of humans in space and about the role that space systems play in our daily lives. My knowledge and expertise were also utilized in the support of information warfare. I also continued working in the U.S. Naval Reserves as an intelligence officer where I worked as a watch officer in the Pentagon as well as other space-related positions in Naval Space Command and the Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR). More recently I have applied my energy to academic work, first in the doctoral program at Syracuse University, later as a professor in the iSchool at the University of North Texas, and now as an adjunct professor at the iSchool at Syracuse.
Personal
Dallas is my current area of operations. I have lived at least 6 months of my life in each of the following places: Norfolk, VA (3 different times); Charleston, SC (twice); Panama City Beach, FL; West Monroe, LA (3 times); San Diego, CA; Pensacola, FL; Denver, CO; Sunnyvale, CA; Adak, AL; Mountain View, CA; Misawa, Japan; Pearl Harbor, HI; Washington, D.C.; Syracuse, NY; and Dallas. So, I guess you could say I’ve been around the block a few times. When people asked about moving from Syracuse to Dallas, I always say that I traded the Syracuse winters for the Dallas summers. The only difference is I don’t have to shovel the sunshine off the driveway in Dallas. I think you can probably guess which of those places I would like to live if I had the money to live anywhere. I semi-love to work around the house, recently completing upgrades to the kitchen and master bathroom. I don’t particularly like to work out, but I do it anyway. I enjoy time on the farm over in Louisiana as my personal “grounding” spot.
Research
My research has been in the area of human judgements about sensitive information.
My dissertation title pretty much says it all:
Sensitive Information: An Inquiry into the Interpretation of Information in the Workplace from an Individual’s Perspective using Qualitative Methods
That title is okay, but I liked my working title better: Beyond This Room: Sensitive Information in the Workplace. The “beyond this room” proscription is a one that I have heard many times in my work experience, and it was spoken in the first informant that I interviewed for my dissertation.
More recently in early 2015 I worked with Dr. Michelle Kaarst-Brown, Associate Professor at SU’s School of Information Studies, on a conference paper for the Special Interest Group (SIG) for the Association of Computing Machines (ACM) related to “cracks in the foundation” related to the securing of information in organizations suggested by my research.
Teaching
Most of my teaching has been in online classes for iSchools at Syracuse University and the University of North Texas.
Syracuse University – School of Information Studies
- IST 625 – Risk Management
- IST 659 – Data Administration Concepts and Database Management
University of North Texas – College of Information
- SLIS 5200 – Organization of Information
- SLIS 5713 – Telecommunications and Networking for Information Professionals
- SLIS 6500 – Information Security
- SLIS 6925-010 – Information Risk Management
- SLIS 6925-020 – Information Security
