Josh Ward, Network Services Security Engineer

Who's Who at the Computing Center

Meet our new security engineer

Joyce Winslow
jwins@uoregon.edu

Josh Ward always said he wanted to move to one of his vacation spots, and now that he's accepted a job with the Computing Center's Network Services, he has.

To Josh, who visited relatives here nearly every summer when he was growing up, Eugene was always associated with summer fun. So leaving his hometown of Chico, California, to work at the University of Oregon was a move he could eagerly embrace.

Before joining the Network Services security team in July, Josh was a network analyst at California State University Chico and had additional experience as a network specialist at Intelenet, a large online managed hosting and Internet service in Irvine, California.

Josh's tech talent was evident early in life, and Chico State hired him to do contract programming for an academic department website while he was still a senior in high school. But Josh's first love was music. He began piano lessons at age five, and played string base in the Chico symphony, Chico State symphonic band, and the university rock band for years. So Josh began his college career as a music major, even taking a little detour into French before finally setting his sights on a degree in computer and information science.

Energetic, amiable Josh has adapted easily to his new responsibilities as a network security engineer, and he finds the fast pace and multiple responsibilities of his new job invigorating. He is currently managing firewall services for UO departments who lack their own tech staff, as well as providing security consulting help and monitoring the campus network to detect intrusion. In the future he may also hold seminars on network security issues for the campus community.

Despite the demands of his job and the chaos of moving, Josh still finds time for family fun. He and his wife April and baby Miles (named for Miles Davis) are already settling into their new home, which is conveniently located within biking distance of campus. Josh's aunt, uncle, and cousins all live nearby, guaranteeing a steady stream of visitors and willing babysitters. They are also undoubtedly willing dinner guests, as Josh is an inspired vegetarian cook with a particular flair for Mexican and Thai dishes. A frequent host of impromptu dinner parties over the past decade, Josh is renowned for his black bean enchiladas and Thai green curry potatoes.