Chad Foreman: Tech Support Gone Beast Mode

Chad on a romantic beach voyage with wonderful wife, Courtney

Chad Foreman is one of those guys that, despite having an incredible workload, remains extremely pleasant to be around day-to-day.  He's in possession of an excellent sense of humor, and if you're around him long enough, you'll eventually be laughing at a sly remark or two. Sure, he is somewhat physically imposing, but Chad is an easy going giant that is always looking to help others. Oh, and if he makes a slight error, you'll likely receive an expedient apology because Chad is extremely well mannered.

What I am trying to convey to you is simple, Chad is a stand-up guy, and he makes work better, more entertaining, and efficient for those around him.  

Between work orders, Chad found a few minutes to stop by my office so that I could interview him. Now that I have the info, I'm typing it up for you to enjoy. Here's what he said:

Q: Chad, would you mind telling me a little about yourself?
A: My name is Chad Foreman, obviously. I was raised in Winchester, and I've lived here my entire life. I went to John Handley High School. I didn't finish college, and I regret it. I'm here today though, and that's what matters.

Q: How did you get to SU?
A: I heard about the available IC position from a friend. At the time, I was jobless after being laid-off by my previous employer. I applied for three positions in IC, and I finally landed one of them, and I've been here ever since.

Q: Do you have any hobbies?
A: Football and video games. I played [football] back in the day. I ended up changing positions a lot because I was small, but eventually grew enough to play as an o
ffensive and defensive lineman. Actually, the sport I used to like the most was basketball, but then I got to hit people in football, and that changed everything.

Q: Do you have a favorite type of music?
A: I listen to just about anything except for classical. Surprisingly, I recently got into modern country. I would have to say that my favorite music comes from the 70's, 80's, and 90's.

I forgot to ask about Chad's stance on animals so he sent me a pic of his pups! Baww

Q: Would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses or 1 horse-sized duck?
A: Definitely, I would prefer to fight a duck that is the size of a horse. 100 small horses might be too much to handle. I think with the giant duck, I could at least keep it in front of me. Don't get me wrong, ducks can be vicious.  When they protect their young, you better watch out.  It'd be a hard fight.

Q: Do you have a celebrity look alike?
A: Not that I'm aware of, but lots of people say I look like Jeremiah Shifflet (Jeremiah is an IC member, but his blog has yet to be published). Many people have made mistakenly called me Jeremiah, and multiple people have asked if we are related.

Q: What is your most memorable experience at SU thus far?
A: There have been a lot of good memories. I love working with my coworkers. They're great. If I had to talk about one specific thing, I would have to say the iMLearning distributions. It's nice to meet the students and the parents on the day that they are most excited to be working with IC.

Q: What does a typical work day in your life consist of?
A: Honestly, there are no typical days here in the Help Desk. Really, it is never typical, you have no idea. Work orders, inventory, and helping student workers keeps me busy, and then there are always things that just seem to pop-up just to make sure that your day is never too planned out.

Q: What do you do that directly impacts end users at SU?
A: With my current job responsibilities, I have to make sure that every end user has an up-to-date computer. All computers are in a four year rotation. PCs are no different, so if you are working here, after four years, you will get a new PC.

Q: If you disappeared into an extra-dimensional pocket for an extended period of time, and nobody took over your job responsibilities, what would happen after six months?
A: That's a good question. I would say that the group we have now would be able to pick up the slack, but if nobody picked up my job responsibilities, inventory could get out of hand because no new fixed-asset inventory (monitors, computers) would be distributed to the campus community.  Keep in mind that each technician in the Help Desk has buildings that are assigned to them so that each building has their own dedicated tech.  Personally, I have eleven buildings assigned to me, including the Wilkins building.  That means that if nobody took over my job responsibilities, the president's building might not receive tech help in a timely fashion, and that would not be good at all!

Q: If you could give end users one quick pro-tip regarding the technology that you work with on a day-to-day basis, what would it be?
A: I've always said, "no question is a dumb question, if you don't already know the answer." Just ask, you can always call 5555 and we'll do our best to help.  Oh yeah, and don't click on those suspicious links!

Chad is a model IC employee, and a pillar of our Help Desk, but beyond all of his labor, he's a good dude. If you need to get in touch with Chad, feel free to email him at Cforeman@su.edu or call 540.665.5555 and ask for him.