Manjit Trehan

Registration for classes was a daunting task of walking a piece of paper through that line and to the registration desk. After attending classes mostly at the 38th Street campus and graduation, he left the university to find financial freedom. Little did he know that his bond with the higher education institution was stronger than he realized.

In 1989, he returned to IUPUI as an employee in the Computing Services department, where he had worked part-time as a student. Over the next 30 years, he learned, he grew, and he applied his skills and knowledge, finally turning into "me." I have seen the campus grow more closely than most people. During my years at UITS (formerly Integrated Technologies and the Computing Services), I have had the pleasure of working on projects that took me places.

My original office was in the basement of the ET building, and then I moved to the University Library, and of course, I'm now in ICTC. One of my projects was to devise a method of capturing building construction photos over the lifetime of the construction projects. This meant that I was on the roofs of many buildings while my team decided on a camera location. In the 1990's, University Library was home to two (then state-of-the-art) robotic systems that loaded VHS tapes in VCRs and routed the video signal to the requesting user's computer. It was known as the Interactive Multimedia Distribution System (IMDS) system. This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that finally stepped aside as digital media emerged.

Over the years, UITS has been my mentor, as colleagues, IU faculty and staff, and affiliates helped shape my future and together we shaped technology at IU. For the last 20 years, I have also been adjunct faculty in the Kelley School of Business and faculty advisor for a student organization. I am grateful for the opportunity to help shape growing minds. IUPUI is an integral part of my life; my older son, Kevin, graduated from here and my younger son, Vince, is a freshman working at the UITS Support Center. I am proud to have been at IUPUI for more than half of their 50 years.