Joseph L Gelinas

For a while, I worked for Information Technology Central Services, which serves students, faculty, staff, alumni, and others in The University of Michigan community. My last assignment was with the Distributed Directory Services project, which provides and supports the University of Michigan Online Directory.

I also used to be an IT User Advocate. As User Advocate, I was responsible for, among other things, interpreting and enforcing the University's information technology policies. Since I am no longer doing this, please send any reports or questions to itd.user.advocate@umich.edu; they will handle your report or refer it to the appropriate person. You may want to look at their web page first, though.

I earned a BA in Ancient and Biblical Studies (New Testament) from the University of Michigan in 1991.
The University of Chicago, in cooperation with ETANA, has some interesting information on the Ancient Near East on their ABZU page.
While working toward my BA, I worked for and joined The American Oriental Society.

We used to live on the southeast side of Ann Arbor, where the kids went to Pittsfield Elementary. We now have a house on the west side; the kids attend Pioneer High School and Community High School. Their mother used to volunteer at their old school, helping out in the Media Center, but now she spends most days working at the Maple Village K-Mart.

The photograph was taken by Bob Moustakas, and then scanned by Erik Olsen.

Languages and Linquistics, especially the English Language:
I like playing with words: exploring meanings and usages, and generally making people think about how language works. I'm particularly fond of alternative and archaic spellings and formulations. Noah Webster was an effective reformer, but I don't think his reforms were all for the better. For example, while I don't often see the need to reverse the "e" and the "r" in words like "center" ('centre'), I do prefer to use 's' in "/iz/" endings ("recognise"/ "recognize"), and I believe that 'honour' would be less noble without its 'u'. As Andrew Jackson said, "'Tis a poor mind that can think of only one way to spell a word."

The Ann Arbor Board of Education:
Although Phyllis M. Krutsch is writing about a public university governing board, I found in her paper "The Passive Culture of Public Boards" an accurate statement of what I think the Ann Arbor Board of Education should be doing: "(1) to be responsive to the public interest by bringing the perspective of informed citizens to the heart of the university by setting missions, policies, and budgets and by selecting and evaluating institutional leaders; and (2) to be thoughtful and knowledgeable advocates for the needs of the university to elected officials and the public." Substitute "Ann Arbor Public Schools" for "university," and you have the statement I have not been able to adequately formulate, although it is exactly what I have been trying to do in my years of involvement with the Ann Arbor Board of Education.

Over the past few years (1999-2001, although some were talking about the problem as early as 1997), the Board has been considering what to do about overcrowding at Pioneer and Huron High (when they can agree that there *is* overcrowding or that it is a problem). So after a few years of thought on the matter (I was one of those suggesting that the redistricting in 1997-1998, discussed below, should *also* address the problems at the high schools), I wrote an essay describing a plan for an additional campus in the Ann Arbor school district. The Ann Arbor News published it as an "Other Voices" in late May or early June, 2000.

During the 1997-1998 school year, the Ann Arbor Board of Education redrew the boundaries around the elementary schools, which took effect in August, 1998. The school district administration published some official information. Others published more information obtained from and about the school district. Additionally, I have a few comments on part of the process, originally written for publication elsewhere. The Ann Arbor News published my essay on the reasons for redistricting.

One of the questions considered was how much growth in the student-aged population can and should be expected over the next five years. The United States Department of Education has published a Special Report on the Baby Boom Echo. An interesting tidbit is that the public school enrollment in Michigan is expected to decrease between 1997 and 2007, as shown on the map on Page 7 of the report, even though enrollment nationwide is projected to increase by four percent. While overall public school enrollment is dropping, though, they expect Michigan to see an increase (of less than ten percent) of secondary school enrollment, as shown on the map on Page 15. The text describes high school enrollment, and subsequent pages show the numbers for grades 9 through 12.

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards has certified some of our teachers. (The site now requires javascript, which I prefer not to allow on my machines, so I no longer know how it is arranged.)

Networking:
Merit Network, Inc.
MichNet Statistics Home Page

Miscellaneous Trivia:
PCS Survey-Net
The Amazing Fish Cam!