Richard Croft

I have lived in La Grande, OR since August 2000, when I moved here to take an assistant professorship in Computer Science. From 1996 to 2000 I was an assistant professor in Western Illinois University's department of Instructional Technology and Telecommunications. I have worked as a high school math teacher, computer programmer, and systems analyst. I have also worked as an armed guard, a horse groom, and a roller-coaster operator--and many other quaint vocations which have left me with something of an identity crisis (and, I hope, a very broad perspective on things). Before moving to the flat mid-west and then to the rugged high desert, I lived for close to twenty years in Blacksburg, Virginia, which is nestled in the Appalachian Mountains. I spent many of my adult years as a student at Virginia Tech, studying a variety of subject areas including forestry and wildlife, geology, anthropology and computer science. My varied interests coupled with the pleasure I derive from figuring out how to use new technology have led me to my current niche.When I am not involved in technological concerns, I spend some time examining psychological and biological information in the hope of constructing a better understanding of how individuals learn. For recreation, I enjoy photography, hiking, and (once upon a time) caving and scuba diving. Like some men approaching middle age I have developed an inexplicable attraction to fly-fishing, which occupies more hours of the summer months than I can account for. I have been an avid photographer since I was seven, occasionally free-lancing weddings and portraits.