PA’s Growing Research and Education Network Expands Team to Meet Member Needs
Harrisburg, PA (Dec. 22) — The Keystone Initiative for Network Based Education and Research (KINBER) announced Jennifer Oxenford joined the staff of KINBER as director of community engagement and Ben Miller serves as network administrator.
“In their roles as consultants, Jennifer and Ben have contributed directly to services and programs that enrich Pennsylvania’s research and education community,” said Gwendolyn L. Huntoon, KINBER’s president & CEO. “Their work will help ensure that KINBER is able to provide greater value to our members and foster innovation and collaboration within the state.”
As a consultant, Oxenford began work with KINBER in August 2014 to establish and pilot the Community Services initiative. She identified and developed the programs KINBER should be offering as well as the business model for offering the services. As director of community engagement, Oxenford will build upon her prior work with KINBER, developing programming and partnerships to support KINBER’s needs and facilitating new opportunities for collaboration and engagement among the KINBER community.
Prior to joining KINBER, Oxenford was manager of Member Relations and Communications for MAGPI where she was responsible for engaging members in meaningful collaborations that utilize advanced networking. Jennifer also managed MAGPI’s online, print and social media communications. Previously, she was the associate director of MAGPI. Oxenford is a member of the Internet2 K20 Advisory Board and the US UCAN Advisory Council. She was previously Co-Chair of the Internet2 Teaching & Learning Special Interest Group and served on the Internet2 Commons Management Team. She also served on the management teams for both Megaconference Sr. and Jr. and sits on the board of the Pennsylvania Council for International Education (PaCIE). Oxenford was the recipient of several awards including the IDEA Award, Models of Excellence Award and received honorable mention for the Internet2 Richard Rose Award. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Saint Joseph’s University.
After an internship with KINBER this year, Miller is joining the team as a network administrator. During his internship, he performed the initial installation and configuration work on the Lock Haven University – Clearfield Campus and Fannett-Metal School District POPs (points-of-presence) and upgraded Franklin and Marshall College’s PennREN connection to 10Gbps. He also assisted with the implementation of the KINBER Lab test environment and installed cache servers.
In his new role, Miller will install and configure network equipment as well as perform software and code upgrades. He will also continue to work with customers in the turn-up of new services and the cut-over to new circuits and provide general technology support for the KINBER office. Miller earned his bachelor’s of science in Information Sciences and Technology with an integration and application option from The Pennsylvania State University. He also has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Penn State.