Micah Sardell, Systems Administrator Administrative Services and Computing Facilities

Who's Who at the Computing Center

Meet Micah Sardell

Joyce Winslow
jwins@uoregon.edu

Micah Sardell's introduction to the world of computers was through gaming. As an adolescent, he monopolized the family computer to such an extent that his parents finally insisted he buy his own. By the time he was in college, Micah was helping to organize and set up large-scale LAN (local area network) gaming parties like the "Million Man LAN" (2001) and "The Promised LAN" (2002) in Portland, which attracted hundreds of participants.

Despite his passion for computer games and a facility that soon pressed him into duty as the primary technical consultant for his mother's small retail business in Corvallis, Micah's serious interests originally had little to do with the world of computer technology. In fact, when he enrolled at the UO in 1999, it was with the intention of majoring in music. A versatile musician, Micah trained on the clarinet but segued to both saxophone and tuba while playing in the UO Marching Band.

Although his interest in music never waned, Micah switched to political science early in his undergraduate career, and in 2003 he earned a B.A. in political science with a minor in planning, policy, and development. This seemingly radical shift reflects Micah's long-standing interest in community service, which dates back to the days when he volunteered at the state capitol for high school academic credit and got a firsthand look at representative government in action.

Service is a constant theme in Micah's life, and he brings an attitude of service to every endeavor. You may recognize him from his days as one of the friendly faces at the Microcomputer Services Help Desk, where he worked as a student technical consultant for three years. He also assisted the UO College of Education as a student departmental tech consultant, and most recently he worked in the Computer and Information Science Department assisting Dr. Allen Maloney with his parallel and distributed computer networks research on neuroinformatics. Micah's new job as a systems administrator at the Computing Center also gives him the satisfaction of providing a valuable service: monitoring our evolving administrative computing systems and keeping them running smoothly for the UO community.

So how did a tuba-playing political scientist from Corvallis come to be hired in a demanding job requiring expertise in server management? As it turns out, all that early computer gaming had a serious educational component. "When you run a LAN party, you have to provide all of the network infrastructure, as well as set up and maintain game servers," Micah explains, and because at that time the only free game server versions were Linux, "this drove me to learn how to use free open source tools to accomplish service goals." So without really intending to, Micah prepared himself very well for a career in server administration.

Micah has little spare time these days, but when he can he likes to hit the road on his Felt F1X Cyclocross bike for a long-distance workout, or enjoy a hike or backpacking trip with his wife Rachel. And when it comes time to relax after returning home from their respective jobs, the Sardells always have the option of curling up on the sofa with their cats Jeeves and Simba.