This month’s staff member in the spotlight is Danielle Moran, the Student Services Coordinator in the Well’s Library office. We asked her a few questions and here’s what she had to say:

What is your name and what do you do; how long have you worked here in OVPUE?

My name is Danielle Moran, and I am a Student Services Coordinator in our Well’s Library office. I have been working with OVPUE since August 2021.

What three traits define you?

• Loyal
• Ambitious
• Adventurous

What would you do (for a career) if you weren’t doing this?

If I were not working for OVPUE, I would love to be working as an Interior Designer! While having the ability to be aesthetically pleasing, buildings impact the well-being, safety, and health of its users and environment. There is both an art and science that an Interior Designer must focus on.

If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?

I would learn how to speak Spanish fluently.

What challenging thing has happened (to) for you, and what did you gain from it?

Losing multiple loved ones in a short period of time changed my perspective on life. It’s important to follow your dreams and achieve your goals. You never know how long you have to chase them.

How do you define success?

For me success is being happy with your achievements in both your personal and work life.

What do you do in your spare time?

I enjoy traveling to new places and enjoying the outdoors. New adventures always bring great memories!

What is a favorite book, movie, and/or tv show that had an impact on you?

“Hacksaw Ridge” Based on a true story, it showed me how truly amazing someone could be. Life may throw many obstacles at you, but never give up on yourself and who you are.

Where would you like to go on a dream vacation?

I would love to travel through Europe and see as many countries as I can!

What is your favorite thing about working at OVPUE?

The people. Everybody in the office is super friendly and want to see each other succeed!

This month’s staff member in the spotlight is Kyle Fechtman, a data analyst in OVPUE IT. We asked him a few questions and here’s what he had to say:

What is your name and what do you do; how long have you worked here in OVPUE?

My name is Kyle James Fechtman. I am a Data Analyst and the Data Services Lead for OVPUE. I have worked with OVPUE since 2017 and started the Data Analyst position this past summer.

What three traits define you?

I would like to think I am inquisitive, thorough, and passionate.

What would you do (for a career) if you weren’t doing this?

I would like to work on becoming a certified electrician. I have worked with electronics and circuits of my own design. This seems like the next step.

If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?

I would like to learn how to play a real guitar. I say real guitar because I spent a lot of time playing Rock Band and Guitar Hero when those video games first came out. If I can read music and play a video game with a plastic guitar, I should be able to learn real guitar.

What challenging thing has happened (to) for you, and what did you gain from it?

Being a parent is the most challenging thing I have ever done in my life. My wife and I just had our 3^rd kid and first daughter on 10-15-2021. I can already see some of the challenges that lie ahead after raising my two boys. However, I hear from many testimonies that raising a girl will be a whole different experience. Being a dad has also been the most rewarding experience. Being a parent has taught me how to be patient. I have learned to slow down and see things from a new perspective. I also have a newfound appreciation and gratitude to my own parents for raising me. I am also lucky and grateful that I will get to watch my kids learn, discover and grow into their own personalities.

How do you define success?

I believe success is a combination of different levels of personal fulfillment and satisfaction with those levels. If you are happy with where you are in an area of your life, or at least on your way there, you are successful.

What do you do in your spare time?

My hobby of choice has always been video games. I’ve had almost every Nintendo system from the NES to the Switch as well as PlayStation and Xbox Systems. I play FPS games like Overwatch and Halo with my wife. We like to have our Xbox consoles set up on two TVs in the same room when we play together. I also play a lot of different Pokémon games and collect Pokémon Cards. I have been collecting Pokémon Cards for over 25 years. My kids are at the perfect age when they are starting to like watching Pokémon too. It is no surprise to my wife when the kids (as well as myself) ask “Can we watch one more episode please?!”

What is a favorite book, movie, and/or tv show that had an impact on you?

One of my favorite movies is The Iron Giant. I think this movie is about expectations someone can have about you and the affect those expectations can have on yourself and others. You have the choice to either follow those expectations or not, negative or positive. It may be hard sometimes, but you have the choice to be the person you want to be. Or maybe it is just a movie about a giant laser shooting robot.

Where would you like to go on a dream vacation?

When my kids get older, I want to go on a family vacation to Disneyland. I will 100% be the dad with the map that has marked out the perfect plan/order to walk around the park.

What is your favorite thing about working at OVPUE?

I enjoy working with a variety of departments. Every day brings something new along with new things to learn and challenges to overcome.

This month’s staff member in the spotlight is Drew Koke, a coordinator with the Student Academic Center. We asked him a few questions and here’s what he had to say:

What is your name and what do you do; how long have you worked here in OVPUE?

I’m Andrew Koke, and I go by “Drew,” a decision I made at the age of 4 and I’m sticking with it! My last name pronounces both the long “o” and the long “e” (so, ko-key, rhyming with hokey pokey). I’ve been with the OVPUE and the Student Academic Center since 2014. My main job is to identify problematic and difficult courses on our campus and create programs to help more students get through those courses on the first try. So I manage the tutoring website, run the PASS program, and coordinate several help classes. I also manage much of the academic coaching program at the SAC.

What three traits define you?

Well, I love teaching, both formally and informally, and that is a huge trait of mine. Secondly, I’m contemplative, thinking slowly and laboriously about all manner of things, from which ice cream flavor I want right now to epistemology. No quick decisions here! Third, I’m blessed each day with a song in my head as soon as I wake. I don’t get to pick the song; it just sort of happens. I’ll have a song running through my head about 2-3 seconds after waking and it is my first thought. Sometimes it is a song I heard in the past few weeks. Sometimes it’s just something that pops in my head that I haven’t heard recently. This morning I woke up with Fleetwood Mac’s “The Dance” and it plays in my head even as I type this.

What would you do (for a career) if you weren’t doing this?

I love outer space. I read astrophysics and science fiction in my spare time, and keep up on all the different space missions from private enterprise as well as national activities across the globe. If I could work for an organization that was either building towards a lunar colony or a Mars mission, I would. I may still. Every now and then I’ll proclaim to my wife, Catherine, “I need to work for Space X” or “I need to work for NASA.” She says, “You should.” Then I say, “maybe so…” and think about it slowly and laboriously again.

If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?

I love engineering. I like how humans build things, move things, plan things, and such. But I don’t understand the math. If could learn anything, it would be engineering, probably astrophysical or mechanical.

What challenging thing has happened (to) for you, and what did you gain from it?

In 2016 I suddenly became very dizzy. Over the next eight months I learned that the balance nerve cluster in my left ear had died, probably from a virus. I learned that it would never grow back. I learned that I had a new normal, that I would have this neurological disability for the remainder of my life. On the one hand, I’m so very happy that my dizziness wasn’t caused by a tumor, a stroke, or an aneurysm. On the other hand, my balance is unreliable, my short-term memory is much weaker than it used to be, I get confused easily, I’ve forgotten hordes of lyrics and no longer sing on key, and can have migraines. I feel like this experience made me much more sensitive and supportive of those who have other disabilities. And it humbled me, which is good for my character.

How do you define success?

I struggle with this. When I was a younger adult, I defined it as “having other people notice you” and worked towards that goal. Now, in part due to the student success work we do at the SAC, in part due to my disability, in part due to growing up, I think of it as, “helping someone improve something they decided should be improved.” But that first bottomless definition lurks instinctively still, and I must think my way past it sometimes.

What do you do in your spare time?

My main hobbies are gaming (card games, board games, word and number puzzles, video games), cycling, reading sci fi, and flower gardening.

What is a favorite book, movie, and/or tv show that had an impact on you?

I don’t like to watch/read things more than once. I mean, I consider myself a proper Star Wars geek yet have only watched the Star Wars original trilogy three times. But I’ve watched Lin Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton 22 times so far. I can’t explain it. I’m absolutely riveted by the production, like a magic spell. I have a total crush on Leslie Odom, Jr. I love the history, the art, the music, the verse. And I think, it’s not an accident that this production focused on non-white leadership found inspiration during the Obama presidency; we should seek such inspiration again. And then the soundtrack gets stuck in my head and I awake every day to a song from the production for the next three weeks straight. It’s a bit much.

Where would you like to go on a dream vacation?

The Moon. Seriously. I want to go there for a short visit and see Earthrise. Barring that, I’d like to go to Machu Picchu in Peru.

What is your favorite thing about working at OVPUE?

I like how dedicated everyone is to student success. We have so many different sections within the OVPUE, and each is dedicated to helping students succeed, whether that is planning towards a career, or figuring out a better class schedule, or helping someone navigate finite mathematics. I like that when I present something to another unit in the OVPUE, I can mention student success and it resonates as a prime mission, not an afterthought. And I like the synergy of so many different highly skilled professionals who are working towards the same goal.

This month’s staff member in the spotlight is Kristie Fernow, Administrative Generalist Coordinator with Indiana University High School. We asked her a few questions and here’s what she had to say:

What is your name and what do you do; how long have you worked here in OVPUE?

Kristie Fernow, Administrative Generalist Coordinator. I have worked for the IU High School Program through the OVPUE Department since 2012.

What three traits define you?

• Compassion
• Loyal
• Unselfish

What would you do (for a career) if you weren’t doing this?

If I were not working my current job, I believe, I would like to be self-employed and own an RV Campground or an Outfitters store in the Rocky Mountains.

If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?

I would love to learn how to play the saxophone or the keyboard.

What challenging thing has happened (to) for you, and what did you gain from it?

Losing a loved one at a young age from suicide. Gaining insight to how life can be so fragile and yet, how it can be so finite. Learning to live life to it’s fullest and never regretting a moment. One of my favorite quotes written by Rachel Bermingham – “Life is short, fragile and does not wait for anyone. There will never be a perfect time to pursue your dreams and goals other than right now.”

How do you define success?

For me success is a combination and measure of many things such as, respect, integrity, loyalty, honesty, willfulness, inner growth and simply being happy. I also believe success can be defined by meeting personal goals in one’s life.

What do you do in your spare time?

I enjoy the great outdoors, hiking, kayaking, scuba diving, camping, bird watching, travel to new and different sights.

What is a favorite book, movie, and/or tv show that had an impact on you?

“To Kill a Mockingbird” Loved both the book and movie!

Where would you like to go on a dream vacation?

I would love to go on a safari in Africa or Australia!

What is your favorite thing about working at OVPUE?

The staff, faculty and administration to whom have a great passion for helping students succeed. I also, admire the many programs offered through OVPUE especially the programs that support the pre-college and undergraduate students.

This month’s staff member in the spotlight is Stefano Fiorini, Lead Research Management Analyst with Bloomington Assessment and Research (BAR). We asked him a few questions and here’s what he had to say:

What is your name and what do you do; how long have you worked here in OVPUE?

My name is Stefano Fiorini and I am a Research Data Analyst with Bloomington Assessment and Research. I work with our IU community (students, faculty and staff), and collaborate with other universities, to answer questions that help our students realize their educational goals. I have been working in this area for twelve years now, with OVPUE for about eight years.

What three traits define you?

I strive to look at things from all sides, without jumping to conclusions and staying open to changing my mind based on evidence and experiences. I am creative and like to find solutions to complex problems to streamline work and life – and I like to have a plan B ready in case things don’t work out the way I imagined them. Finally, I love learning new things, it expands my mind and nurtures my curiosity.

What would you do (for a career) if you weren’t doing this?

Not sure…maybe I would go back to my previous career and apply my research skills to help address the challenges posed by our impacts on the environment and the climate. I also liked sharing and exchanging ideas in the classroom when I was teaching for the international studies program – a lot of learning occurs while teaching!

If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?

I would like to be able to take a bicycle apart and put it together…in a way that it works, of course.

What challenging thing has happened (to) for you, and what did you gain from it?

The Pandemic is the freshest challenge I, and perhaps most of us, have experienced. During this hard time I gained the realization that hard challenges can bring out the best in people. And I have also got proof that I have been gifted the opportunity to work with exceptional people every day (apologies if this can sound a bit cheesy, but it is the truth).

How do you define success?

Having been your best.

What do you do in your spare time?

I like to run trails around Bloomington, go on bicycle rides and read mystery books.

What is a favorite book, movie, and/or tv show that had an impact on you?

I am not sure I can pick one, we are in constant evolution and at different times movies or books impacted me. I like foreign tv shows and movies, they give insights into other cultures and ways of life.

Where would you like to go on a dream vacation?

My dream vacation would be to go see and sit among the great sequoias.

What is your favorite thing about working at OVPUE?

My colleagues!

Fun Fact: The most people to fit in an original Fiat 500 is 14!