This is an archived UW-P news item,
originally posted: 5/9/2007.
John Von Ogden
Graduated: 1985
Job: Vice President Building Automation
Company: Harrington Engineering, Inc.
John Von Ogden says that he still applies some of the basic things he learned as an engineering student at UW-Parkside in his professional life as vice president of building automation for Harrington Engineering, Inc., in Connecticut. "Computer programming (Basic and FORTRAN) -- which is a format for the programming used in the building automation field -- and mechanical and electrical engineering classes helped me get a very good understanding of the systems we control today," he said.
Von Ogden grew up in Kenosha County and attended Wilmot High School until his senior year when his family moved to Wyoming. He started his senior year at Cheyenne East High School, didn't like it, quit school and joined the U.S. Coast Guard.
"After four years in the Coast Guard doing search and rescue in Long Island Sound and spending a year on lighthouse duty stationed on Faulkner's Island off Guilford, Conn., I decided to go to college on the GI Bill," Von Ogden said.
He came back to Wisconsin and attended Western Wisconsin Technical Institute in La Crosse for a year before transferring to UW-Parkside and pursuing his engineering degree.
