By JONATHAN BYINGTON
Some students recognize the name Brent Harker but can?t pinpoint why it has such a familiar feel. The next time BYU students or staff check their inbox they may have a message, sent by Harker with information BYU administrators feel is important.
Harker is not an elusive e-mail-sending ?man behind the curtain,? as the Wizard of Oz was portrayed. As director of Web communications for BYU, sending university e-mails is only one part of the job for Harker, who has worked at BYU for 22 years and helped launch BYU?s Web site in 1994. .
?In ?94, it was a cool toy, but now it is essential to a student?s functioning,? said Harker, a self-described computer guy who loves gadgets.
As content manager for several BYU Web pages, Harker supervises and contributes to postings, including the ?What?s New Today? on the BYU home page. Harker listens to user feedback and ideas in frequent meetings with Web masters across campus to develop ideas and address concerns while ensuring a unified look. He works closely with the Office of Information Technology and Web developers who build the Web sites from the ideas.
The home page has had a lot of variety in the past, Harker said. He is quick to give credit to the hundreds of others who assisted in making BYU?s Web presence more unified.
Harker did not begin his career at BYU. He graduated from the University of Utah with a journalism degree and worked 10 years as a print journalist at the Deseret News and at a newspaper in Canada before coming to BYU.
?We were really on the forefront when it came to using technology as a communication tool and that is very much due to Brent,? said university spokeswoman, Carri Jenkins, who has worked with Harker since the early 1980s.
Christine Oakes, Office of Information Technology service desk manager, has worked with Harker on various projects in the past 22 years. In 1997, when Harker?s involvement with BYU?s Web communications became a full-time job, Oakes gave him a framed poem addressed to the ?Spam King of BYU.?
?I thought it would be funny to tease him a little about having to do that ,? Oakes said.
Harker participated in the development of the integrated home page and Route Y in 2003. Harker conducts Web advisory meetings with representatives from different BYU schools and organizations. Advisory agenda items during the last meeting included font size and color contrast on BYU Web pages. Harker works with the Office of IT, but he is not responsible for Blackboard or Route Y.
Harker leads a three-student Web team in maintaining BYU?s home page, news page and campus calendar. Team members, Liz and Mark Kasper, described Harker as genuine and funny.
One day Harker walked into the office and quoted a line from the movie, ?The Three Amigos,? about a plethora of pi?atas, said Mark laughing.
?He laughs at my jokes if they?re funny or not,? Mark said.
Harker met with Liz to review events for the ?What?s New Today? feature, but Harker was concerned about how a picture may be interpreted wrongly because of an international event that occurred. He did not want to offend anyone, Liz said.
?He is very conscious of everything,? she said.
Harker?s sense of humor and sincerity are not limited to the office.
?My dad is very light-hearted,? said BYU senior Erika Harker, the youngest of Brent?s five children. ?He is a fun person to be around. He?d wrestle with us when we were little.?
Her father?s e-mails mean a little bit more to Erika than to most students.
?I actually read the e-mails sent by my dad,? she said. ?I kind of like to scroll down and see my dad?s name.?
Harker spends about an hour in the evenings and some time on the weekends working on the Web site from home.
?His commitment to BYU has not affected his commitment to his family,? Erika said.
Erika said she admires many aspects of her father?s character.
?My dad, in essence, is the perfect man,? Erika said. ?He is so genuinely caring of everyone he meets. He has always told me that it doesn?t matter what your job is, just do what you love and make sure your family comes first.?
Whether other people think Harker is perfect or not, he is interested in feedback about the Web site and reads all of the e-mail he receives. In the past two months, he has received about 500 e-mails from campus calendar submissions and suggestions for the Web site.
?I really feel the indebtedness to give back and serve,? said Harker. ?I feel fortunate to be involved in this work.?