Tanya Denison Systems Analyst and Database Administrator Administrative Services and Computing Facilities

Who's Who at the Computing Center

Meet Tanya Denison

Joyce Winslow
jwins@uoregon.edu

Last March marked the first anniversary of Tanya Denison's debut as a systems analyst and database administrator at the Computing Center.

Tanya's arrival here was the culmination of a casual inquiry about employment prospects in Eugene that unexpectedly led to a whirlwind uprooting from her longtime home in Moscow, Idaho. In the space of five short months, she interviewed with and was hired by UO Administrative Services, left her job as part of the database administration team at the University of Idaho, packed up, and started a new life in Eugene with her husband Ken.

Tanya and Ken first became acquainted with Eugene while touring the Oregon coast, and they were favorably impressed with its college town atmosphere. Among other things, Ken liked the kayaking opportunities and the prospect of doing post-graduate work at the UO, and Tanya appreciated the nearly seamless transition in moving from one university work setting to another.

Aside from occasional travels, neither Tanya nor Ken has strayed very long from their Idaho home. Tanya grew up in the tiny rural community of Deary (sometimes humorously referred to as "Dreary" by its residents), where her hardworking parents juggled academic careers with running a small farm. Tanya and her brother grew up helping with a myriad of chores--shearing sheep, cleaning out the barn, lambing, bringing in hay, tending the large vegetable garden, milking the goats, and even butchering ("Ugh! That's why I'm vegetarian now," she exclaims).

Tanya's rugged upbringing gave her an appreciation for outdoor pursuits such as horseback riding, rafting, and hiking, but it also engendered a longing for something completely different--which explains her initial choice of Northwestern University in Chicago, where she enrolled right out of high school. Chicago was more culture shock than she'd bargained for, however, so after a year she returned to Idaho and eventually finished her math degree at the University of Idaho.

Being someone who loves intellectual challenges for their own sake, Tanya chose to major in math without a clear career path in view. Her interest was in theoretical math and theory of computation, but along the way she took some programming classes and programming job opportunities naturally followed.

Tanya's responsibilities at the Computing Center include managing the database for Blackboard, checking new technologies for compatibility with UO administrative computing systems, and closely monitoring systems performance. Her extensive Banner experience from her work at the University of Idaho has been a plus in adapting the demands of her new job, which requires adjusting to frequent Banner updates and gearing up for big changes when the UO migrates away from OpenVMS in 2007.

Away from the job, Tanya has plenty to do helping Ken fix up the house they bought last year, caring for their dogs Shadow and Cricket, and indulging her "addiction" to knitting. And, as many of her Computing Center colleagues can attest, she's also been known to bake some pretty wicked lemon bars.