Computer Technology Faculty
Department Chair: Julie Schneider
Faculty Program Lead | BAS, CIS, CWB: Candace Garrod
Faculty Program Lead | CNG & Cyber: Eric Vahling
Faculty Program Lead | CSC: Julie Schneider
Dylan Avery
Adjunct Instructor
Dylan moved to Boulder when he was 2 years old and has since then lived in Arvada, Denver, and Honolulu. He spent most of his 20s DJing, doing a radio show at RADIO 1190am at CU Boulder, and making music on his Akai MPC1000.
For the last 4 years he has been doing web development. He graduated from Turing School of Software and Design in Denver, and afterwards he went to work for a blockchain agency called Ideas By Nature. He loves discovering new restaurants, getting his passport stamped, long bicycle rides, creek trails, hiking, dogs, and stand up comedy.
Christie Burton
Adjunct Instructor
MCSE, MCDBA, Security+
Christie teaches cyber security, networking, and database administration at Red Rocks Community College. She holds MCSE, MCDBA & Security+ certifications. Christie is a certified instructor for CompTIA, Microsoft and Oracle. She has an extensive background in business administration. As the Executive Director of a nonprofit organization, she developed, implemented and supported an integrated electronic business system. Christie pioneered the first Cyber Security Program within the Colorado Community College System. Christie is especially interested in helping individuals and businesses employ basic cyber security principles that will ensure their safety while increasing productivity.
Bill Cherrington
RRCC IT Director
Adjunct Instructor
MBA, CCNP
Bill is a Colorado native and has been in various IT positions and is currently the IT director for RRCC. Bill earned his Master's degree from Colorado Christian University and his Bachelor's degree from Metro State. Bill enjoys coaching little league football in his free time.
David DeMott
Jesse DeMott
Candace Garrod
Professor
Computer Science / Computer Technology
Program Lead: BAS (Secure Software Development), CIS, and CWB
Candace's 37, plus, years of experience in business/industry and academia include computer architecture, engineering, systems analysis, web development, and the software side of Cybersecurity. At Red Rocks, she facilitates a variety of classes including: Introduction to Secure Coding, Secure Software Development, Computer Architecture, Introduction to Software Engineering, JavaScript, Systems Analysis and Design, and Introduction to Programming.
303.914.6445
candace.garrod@rrcc.edu
Todd Hawkins
Adjunct Instructor
CCNA
Todd is a network professional with more than 20 years of progressive experience in Information Technology. He has a BS in Computer Information Systems and Business Administration, and a Cisco CCNA. His work experience has been with large, complex enterprise/telecom networks. Currently he is the Manager of IT Infrastructure Services for Littleton Public Schools. He manages the district’s network infrastructure including wired and wireless networks, network security, VoIP systems and data center operations.
Jon Johnson
Director of eLearning/Instructional Technology at RRCC
Adjunct Instructor
Jon Johnson is the Director of eLearning/Instructional Technology at Red Rocks Community College and has an M.S in Educational Technology. In his position of Director, Jon assists students, instructors, faculty and staff by offering training opportunities in D2L (Desire2Learn) and other learning technologies. Jon has extensive experience developing online classes, designing and maintaining websites, and providing technical support services to faculty, staff, and students in a higher education setting. At the University of Kansas Jon had the opportunity to be an instructional designer and LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL, PHP) programmer. Mr. Johnson also setup and maintained several WordPress sites, at the University of Kansas. In his spare time he enjoys hiking, gardening, home improvement, spending time with his family, and climbing 14rs.
Natalie Lynch
Adjunct Instructor
Natalie started her college career at Red Rocks Community College, moving on to obtain a Bachelor of Arts in Behavioral Science from Metro State University and Master of Science in Software Engineering from Regis University. For the last seven years she has been working as a .Net developer and more recently, an Angular developer with an e-commerce company located in Denver, Colorado. The everyday challenges presented by the ever-growing field of technology is what inspires Natalie to keep learning and focused on the next generation of the tech industry. In addition to technology, Natalie is passionate about animals, reading, travel and education.
Helena Martellaro
Adjunct Instructor
Ph.D
Helena has an undergraduate degree in Physics plus a Ph.D. in Educational Management from New Mexico State University. She has spent most of her career working for aerospace companies, NASA, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, as a contractor for the National Science Foundation in Antarctica, and teaching. After starting out in Operations Research, she transitioned into computer analysis and computer simulation. Her computer language specialties are: Java, C++, Python and Perl. Operating Systems specialties include: UNIX, Linux, macOS and Windows. Database specialties include: theory, design and development.
303.914.6921
helena.martellaro@rrcc.edu
Adjunct Instructor
Mike Murray is the Enterprise PMO Director at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, a national chain of casual dining restaurants based in Colorado. He has over 15 years’ experience in project and portfolio management. He is a highly respected thought leader for helping to build and mature PMO organizations. Mike has worked for companies such as Molson Coors, Boeing, & DISH Network. Mike graduated from Regis University with a BA in Organization Development and holds a variety of professional certifications. Outside of his professional duties Mike volunteers his time for non-profits benefitting education and special education research.
Dave Nielsen
Adjunct Instructor
CCNP, Security+
Dave is an experienced computer professional specializing in Network and Mainframe Security. He has been involved in just about every aspect of Information Technology since 1977. His education includes a BS degree in Business Management with an emphasis in Systems Analysis and Design. He also has done graduate work in Computer Science and, over the years has held 14 industry certifications. Currently, with active involvement with cybersecurity in the finance and banking industries, Dave attends and participates regularly with cybersecurity conferences and panels, including RSA and SHARE.
Rafael Ramirez
Adjunct Instructor
GIAC-GSEC, CEH
Rafael was born in Lima, Peru. He earned his BS in Telecommunications and Business Education from Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. Rafael has been working in Cybersecurity for since 2013. First at EMC/RSA in the securID project, then as a senior support engineer at FireEye, and now with Fidelis CyberSecurity.
Julie Schneider
Department Chair
Professor
Computer Science / Computer Technology
Program Lead: CSC
.NET Certified
Julie is the chair of the Computer Technology Department and has been a full-time faculty member in the department since 2000. She holds Microsoft Professional Certifications in .NET Development and specializes her teaching instruction in the Computer Science area and programming languages; C, C++, C#.NET, Java, Python, Objective-C and Swift for iOS Mobile App Development.
303.914.6247
julie.schneider@rrcc.edu
Dan Stern
Adjunct Instructor
CNG / Cyber Program Lead
CISSP, ITIL
Dan is a 16-year IT professional having owned a small IT business in Maryland, led fast paced IT teams at Chipotle, Molson Coors and now driving Blaze Pizza's tech adventure as their Vice President of IT. Having an undergraduate degree specialty in journalism from Colorado State University and a Masters concentration in Information Systems Security from the University of Denver, Dan uses his experience with communications to help teach sometimes intimidating technology to office workers and college students. In his free time, Dan likes to power down all of the tech toys and simply get lost in the mountains.
Eric Vahling
Faculty
Eric is a full-time faculty member in the department starting in 2020 and is a community college alumni having completed an Associate's degree from Hutchinson Community College in Hutchinson, KS. He has taught courses ranging from Intro to Programming, A+, Security+, Web Design, and Operating Systems. Prior to joining Red Rocks, he has spent nine years as computer faculty at the Community College of Aurora and Hutchinson Community College including five years as department chair/coordinator. His educational background includes a Bachelor’s from Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kan. in Business Administration and a Master’s degree from the University of Westminster in London, UK in Information Technology Security. Eric has been blessed with a wonderful wife and two little girl (that will put him in an early grave).
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