Lending technical expertise to UNMC is a family thing for Patrick Rejda, an instructional technologist in the College of Nursing.
His father, Ed Rejda was UNMC’s first director of Informational Technology Services (ITS) and his younger brother, John Rejda, is an ITS workstation specialist.
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Patrick Rejda |
Patrick Rejda received the award for his outstanding efforts to help the college efficiently blend technology into its educational efforts.
“I have gone to Patrick numerous times to help me make a course good for students here on campus and online around the U.S. and at distant sites,” said Joyce Black, Ph.D., an associate professor in the College of Nursing and one of Rejda’s many nominators. “He has a superb understanding of how to mesh my teaching needs with their learning needs and make it come alive on the computer.”
Below Rejda comments on his work at UNMC and his brother’s reaction to the Gold ‘U’ news.
What is the most rewarding part of your job at UNMC?
Almost every day is exciting and brings an opportunity to learn something new. I really enjoy when something I’ve done helps people who are confused or frustrated become enlightened or enthusiastic.
What is the most challenging?
Keeping up with the rapidly changing technologies used in distance education at UNMC and beyond while helping faculty and students with greatly varying technical expertise do the same. One thing that hasn’t changed since I first started working here, though, is the great caliber of people I work with at UNMC. They make much of what I do possible.
What has the banter between you and John been like since it was announced that you were June’s Gold U recipient?
We only briefly discussed the award and John was very congratulatory, as you would expect of a younger brother. Actually, most of the good-natured banter has occurred with fellow tech staff personnel here at the College of Nursing who can always be counted on to help keep things in perspective.