Roberta Markevitch

Hi, I'm Roberta Markevitch.

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I went back to school to get my bachelors degree in history from Augusta State University. History has always been fascinating to me, because I believe the study of historical events, more than any other academic discipline, lends insight into every aspect of human civilization. Also, the skills necessary to research and write good history papers translate into many practical business skills. My "first career" was in IT as a Microsoft Systems Engineer in Atlanta, GA. The best thing about those network admin jobs were the times I got to create and teach technical content to my co-workers or, in the case of my first ever IT job, our online students at Epic Learning. So I am graduating from ASU in summer 2013 and in the mean time, I am teaching myself e-learning authoring tools such as Adobe Captivate, Lectora and Articulate Storyline. In the mix with all of that, I am also trying to get some Dreamweaver, Acrobat, Camtasia, Flash and Illustrator under my belt. Shouldn't be too tough!

Historical Guide at Augusta Canal Authority

January 2012 - Present | Augusta, GA

The Augusta Canal was built in 1845 and has played a major part in the history of the town, through the Civil War up to present day. When I got the chance to apply to be a part time tour guide on the canal, I was thrilled! I mean, I'm a history nerd... what could be better than this? I grew up in Augusta, but I learned things working at the canal that I never knew, such as the history of the old Confederate powder works and the crucial role it played in the course of the war. Riding boats up and down the canal, talking with kids from school field trips and adults visiting from out of town as well as the locals... how great is that?

Sales Manager at Aaron Sales and Rentals

January 2009 - January 2011 | Augusta, GA

I moved back to Augusta, GA for personal reasons in 2004 and there just aren't that many great jobs here. I knew I was interested in going back to school, but I have always worked. I wanted to try my hand at sales, because I believe you should try stuff that you might not be that good at... it builds character. As it turned out, I was actually not too bad at sales. I revamped the delivery system, saving the store a lot of man hours and customer service frustrations and I was also the SM when our store ranked highest in the region in sales for 3 months in a row. Alas, the life of a saleswoman is not for me, but now I know I am at least adept at it.

Teacher at Bricks4Kidz

January 2010 - January 2011 | Augusta, GA

The Legos Bricks4Kidz program is an awesome way to teach young children a whole host of important skills. They learn basic engineering concepts and how to follow directions and diagrams while having fun putting Legos models together. I did this part time because I love kids and I thought this was a terrific concept for teaching them not only the above mentioned skills, but also patience, cooperation and teamwork.

Applications Training and Support at Bekaert Corporation

January 2000 - January 2002 | Atlanta, GA

One of the North American data hubs for a Belgian steel manufacturing company. I supported mainly sales people and their support staff on both the standard MS Office stuff as well as proprietary sales forecasting software. A big part of our job was getting people connected to the old school Shiva network so they could check email, etc. from various points around the world. That and Exchange Server administration.

Help Desk Support at King and Spalding

January 1999 - January 2000 | Atlanta, GA

Support for MS Office power users (legal secretaries and attorneys) at one of the the country's largest law firms. This was only a temporary contract gig, but it was a very interesting place to work. While I was there, I installed their intranet project, saving them the $30k the 3rd party contractor had quoted them for doing the job. Probably a dumb idea from a personal financial viewpoint, but it made me look like a rock star.

Network Engineer at Epic Learning

January 1998 - January 1999 | Atlanta, GA

Online IT training company, waaaay ahead of its time! The delivery technology was not ready for what we were trying to do... too bad for our stock options!

Augusta State University

2009 – 2013

Bachelors

Concentration: History

Activities: President of Model Arab League (2010-2011), member of Phi Alpha Theta (History honor society), Golden Key (national honor society), Sigma Tau Delta (English honor society), winner of the Edward Cashin Award (2012) for best history paper, published in Literary Undergraduate Research e-Journal (English) and Sandhills (poetry).

Oglethorpe University

1998 – 1998

Microsoft Certified Professional

Concentration: Target training in Microsoft networking

I'm interested in e-learning, training and teaching English as a second language; I volunteer with Learn English for Living. This summer, I will graduate with my bachelors and In Fall 2013, I will begin a Masters Degree program in Instructional Technology at San Diego State University (completely online). I like to work out, do crossword puzzles and I just finished reading the Game of Thrones series. I play drums, but I'm not in a band right now. My favorite music is modern and classic rock, good dance music and jazz.