Darnell "Don" Austin has extensive backgrounds in both industry and teaching. He started
his industrial career as a designer for a company that makes high precision reference
oscillators for telecommunication equipment. Later, he worked for a scientific equipment
manufacturer where his primary responsibility was for developing a product line of
process control instrumentation. The instruments he developed were automated systems
that very precisely measured (often 5ppm) such things as the amount of sulfur in gasoline,
copper in chemical baths and silicon on printed label laminates for such customers
as Mobil, National Semiconductor and Avery Labels. He traveled around the world installing
these instruments and providing training in their operation. He worked his way up
from mechanical designer to technical support manager, engineering manager, production
manager and product manager. Mr. Austin's teaching experience before coming to Fresno
State includes two years as a middle school teacher, one year as a visiting instructor
at a vocational school in the Republic of Singapore and one year as a teaching fellow
at the University of North Texas. His educational background includes coursework at
Forsyth Technical Institute (NC), a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wake Forest University
and a Master of Science degree from the University of North Texas. Currently, he is
working on a doctorate in Educational Administration and Leadership at the University
of the Pacific. He is currently coordinator for the Teacher Education program in the
Industrial Technology department, where he has taught courses in Industrial Materials,
Quality Systems, Safety Management, Manufacturing Processes, Technical Writing and
other areas.
