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Jon Shannon Named Chief Information Officer at GSSM
April 18, 2006
After eight years as the Director of Information Technology at Northfield Mount Hermon School in Northfield, Mass., Jon Shannon returns to Hartsville to join the staff of the Governor's School for Science and Mathematics (GSSM) as Chief Information Officer.
Aside from being thrilled to sell his snow blower, Shannon is energetic about the opportunity to contribute to GSSM.
Shannon, who used to work at Coker College, says his previous experience with GSSM is what originally prompted him to consider moving from higher education to secondary education.
"Having worked closely with the Governor's School in the 1990s, I have long been impressed with the energy, intelligence and dedication that the faculty and staff here bring to their work with some of South Carolina's most talented students," Shannon said.
Shannon has big plans for the Governor's School. He hopes to make students and teachers use information technology in ways that cause them to think differently about what they learn.
"Technology's ability to help students visualize, organize, manipulate and communicate ideas and information gives us this capacity," Shannon said. "Many GSSM teachers do this quite well now and my role will be to support and enrich that work."
Shannon will make sure GSSM is using the best possible technology to support education and administration. He also intends to create an integrated database for all administrators, teachers and other stakeholders in the organization that will aid in planning, assessing and decision-making.
Shannon knows that he has set a broad agenda for the school and says his first steps will involve assessment and prioritization.
Shannon's wife, Jasna, will join Coker's faculty this fall as director of writing programs and assistant professor of English. She currently serves as the director of writing programs at The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. Their son, Nicholas, is six and will enter the second grade in the fall.
