Shirley Petras, Glendale Community College Faculty, Retired

A Few Professional Details

I was originally a history major at Knox College, Galesburg, IL, where I graduated in 1954. I have been heavily involved in computers since 1973. I spent ten years developing programming expertise, creating a variety of programs for use in education, and acting as liaison between faculty at various colleges and the computer facilities at the Maricopa Community Colleges District level. I was a member of the Glendale Community College faculty from August 1983 to May 2000.

Among my professional activities: I was half of the team which developed the TEACH instructional delivery system 1979-82. I designed and wrote the TESTER test delivery system in the mid-1980s. And, during a sabbatical leave in 1989, I designed and did some of the initial programming on the INFORM record-keeping system for faculty. In 1991, I was awarded the Paul Pair Endowed Chair at GCC for my efforts at integrating technology and instruction.  For several years, I developed all of the lab exercises for the CIS105 course and maintained the reviews and course files.

In 2000, I began working with a committee to replace the INFORM application with a web-based product.  That application was MIDAS, which was soon implemented throughout the Maricopa Community Colleges system.  In 2007, GCC moved to using Blackboard as their course management system. I now support Blackboard for GCC.

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