2007

2003

2002

2001

2000

The AT web site has had is share of changes. It was originally designed by hand every week. The webmaster had to copy and paste stories into HTML pages from Quark. This was a very tedious process. But times have changed. With the help of the Management Information Office (MIO), a fully dynamic, database driven, webpage was created.

The reason this project was started is because the University wanted to set up a portal. The Director of Information Technology, Dr. Berens, set up a meeting with Victor Alatorre, the MIO Coordinator. They both agreed that there is a lot that needs to happen before a portal for the whole University can be created. One thing that Victor thought should happen: create a source of news for the students. The AT currently had a webpage, but all the pages were static and there was no way to get the data out of the AT web site. Since Victor has always been a supporter of the AT, he approached the current AT webmaster, John Gildenzoph, and set up a meeting to discuss creating a dynamic, database driven webpage.

John was definitly excited; this was exactly what he was looking to do to get some experience. After a bunch more meetings with the current Editor-in-Chief, and Victor offering the MIO server and human resources, the Editor decided to let John create the new database driven web site.

The AT web site was created during the summer of 2002, by John with the help of an MIO employee, Eric Stephani. John was new to web programming and ASP but Eric has plenty of experience. Eric showed John the ins and outs of ASP and SQL server programming. John quickly picked it up and was on his way to creating the web site. Eric kept a close eye on John’s progress and made sure things were going smoothly. After hours of programming and designing the pages, a functional web site emerged from the dust.

After John and Eric were done creating the webpage, John graduated and moved onto bigger and better things. However, Eric still had 2 semesters left. Logically, he was the one to take over the management and maintenance of it.

But this is not the end of the story. A semester later, Eric decided to re-write the administration portion of the web site. The pages that John created worked, but they were kind of awkward in the way the interfaced with the user. So, Eric spent 2 weeks during the winter interim of 2003 re-writing the administration pages and making improvements to the web site. So, the web site stands, serving the campus and community today and for many years to come.

Written by Eric Stephani, Jan 2003

And the saga continues...