Chad Gilbeck saves the day again

Room 306 in the Murphy Center is cluttered with computer cords, computer parts, cardboard boxes, and what appear to be printer cartridges, yet the room has been personalized with framed comic strips, paintings on the walls, and two plants.

Chad Gilbeck, in his eighth year at Viterbo, sits behind two 20-inch computer monitors, a phone close by, and a third computer in the background flashing a multicolored screensaver. Gilbeck is Viterbo's help desk service coordinator, and he does more than keep the computers running.

"I have my fingers in everything" Gilbeck told Lumen.    

There are over 1,000 computers on campus that the help desk department takes care of. Though Gilbeck takes many of the initial calls and fixes a few problems, he is directly involved with students, software purchasing, and students in the adult learning programs.

Gilbeck works with the students living in the residence halls, fixing laptops and getting them set up for internet access. Just this year he removed all the paperwork associated with setting up student laptops for internet access by putting the form online, which should be easier and less time consuming, Gilbeck said. He is currently working on setting up wireless internet in the residence halls, and he hopes to have it ready and working by Christmas.

Gilbeck also takes care of the software requests from administration and faculty as well as purchases computer equipment and supplies. As the software requests ramp up, the computers slow down and so a number of them are due for a RAM (random access memory) upgrade to make them run faster. It is cheaper to buy RAM in bulk than it is to purchase new computers, said Gilbeck.    

Gilbeck is heavily involved with the students in the adult learning program. He has a PowerPoint presentation for them that answers questions about Viterbo's computers and provides a step-by-step guide on how to access email and VitNet as well as navigate through the Viterbo website. He makes sure that the adult students' emails are working properly before they leave, as students in the adult learning programs are sometimes away from campus for long periods of time.    

"I can only help so much over the phone, and a one on one meeting offers reassurance," Gilbeck said.   

The Learning Center has received help from Gilbeck. Barb Schroedar, administrative assistant at the Learning Center, needed Gilbeck's help when they decided it would be easier and more cost effective to send D/F slips via email instead of postal mail. Gilbeck helped set up the system to send out one of nine different letters to students, saving paper, ink, time, and money.    

"He is a wonderful teacher, problem-solver, co-worker and friend.  Kudos to Chad...long may he remain here at Viterbo," Schroeder said. 

Students and faculty are more than just co-workers to Gilbeck; he feels that there is a deeper connection than that. He still keeps in touch with some students and faculty. Recently, he received a wedding invitation from a student who worked for him five years ago.

When he was given a Student Leadership Award for "servant-leader qualities and characteristics in interpersonal relations, performance, and achievement" in May 2007, Gilbeck said that he got a standing ovation by a crowd of mostly employees. He likes being known and knowing everybody.

"It's cool and funny. It's kind of an honor," he said.

Gilbeck grew up on a dairy farm in Coon Valley, Wis., and his interest with computers started when he was a freshman in high school. A friend of the family owned her own clothing shop, and whenever the computer had problems, usually inventory issues, she would call Gilbeck and ask him to fix it. If the problem wasn't easily fixed, he would call tech support and he retained the information. These experiences introduced him to fixing computers, and he continued "tinkering" with computers through high school.

While getting his degree in business and administration at UW—La Crosse, Gilbeck interned with the UW—La Crosse Protective Services department. He worked with their computer systems, learned their parking and ticketing program, and kept the handheld computers working and updated. He was hired and rehired for three terms, working 40 hour shifts. The calls he got were usually from angry individuals with parking tickets, and he said those calls helped him build the patience needed to work in the help desk field.