About MeI've been happily married for to Alexandra "Alex" Balch, a lady I met while living on my sailboat in the United States Virgin Islands. Our first child, Skyler was born on the 18th of December, 2009 making him old. For the fourteen years before I met my wife and for about a year after, I lived on a sailboat completely off the power/phone grid while teaching at the University of the Virgin Islands and acting as CEO or a couple of computer consulting firms that I founded. I took advantage of opportunities offered by my location, sailboat, and teaching schedule to visit all of the Caribbean and some of South America. In search of our roots and tired of hurricanes we left the Islands to move to Copenhagen, Denmark where my half-Danish wife managed Hard Rock Cafe and I wrote web based expert systems for a major stock broker for a bit over a year. We then decided that we wanted careers in teaching and landed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to earn advanced degrees. In the year 2008, we decided to settle in Yuma and raise a family. We bought a house close the NAU-Yuma university -- most days, I ride my bike to work. You'll often find me sailing the local reservoirs in a small trailer-able sailboat.
Please don't call me "Mr. Balch" or "Charles" -- I prefer the informal "Charlie." If you must be formal, call me "Dr. Balch." I worked long and hard for my PhD and am proud to say that Mr. Balch is no longer proper. On the other hand, when I'm called "Charles," I think my mom is around and I'm in trouble. My professional career is divided equally between success in academia and in the private information systems sector. My focus has always been on effective use of technology and human-computer interaction. My academic credentials are eclectic. Starting from the beginning to get back to now I was a college brat and my PreK-12 learning experience included twelve different schools in six states and the United States Virgin Islands. I thrived on the changes in curriculum which allowed me focus on each institutions strengths and graduated from high school as a National Merit Scholar. While an undergraduate at the University of California at Davis, I created a cross-discipline Bachelor of Science degree in Psychophysiology focused on the study of how the mind effects the body and how to train persons to control this interaction to their advantage. I developed much of the early software then used internationally in this area. At the University of the Virgin Islands, I earned a Masters Degrees in Education and a Masters in Business Administration while also serving as full-time faculty and covering various administrative positions. UVI faces unique instructional challenges and I was very active in creating distance education technology solutions to address those issues. I earned my PhD with a focus on Leadership and Research from Louisiana State University where I was an LSU Board of Regents Fellow. My doctoral studies were also eclectic as I took classes in four different schools and nearly doubled the units required for my program of study with a variety of cross discipline graduate courses. My dissertation was focused on Internet surveys. I've published a book on Internet Survey Methodology. Most recently, I enjoyed four years at Arizona Western College as a Professor of Computer Information Systems. Arizona Western College was the first institution to offer me a position in writing after I graduated with my PHD. I continue my association with AWC as associate faculty. As of Fall 2010, I am a Clinical Assistant Professor of International Business and Marketing at NAU-Yuma. Both AWC and NAU are learning outcomes focused. I enjoy an academic orientation where I am encouraged to take greatest satisfaction from the student success. I started my third masters degree in Applied Computer Science in Fall of 2008 and I'm two thirds of the way to completion. BIRAT, my Internet based survey system demonstrates my finding and is in international use. My primary research interests are:
Student learning assessment is moving into my radar. My Vita provides additional information including publications and presentations. My professional experience has focused on applied computer technology. I worked my way through my undergraduate degree creating computer systems for real-time monitoring and analysis of human physiological functions at the University of Davis International Biofeedback Lab. Shortly after my graduation with my Bachelors, I headed the educational center for a national chain of computer stores based in New Orleans. I then went on to create, build, and sell two business consulting agencies based in the United States Virgin Islands focused on training users and adapting business software to the unique staffing, accounting, and shipping needs of Caribbean businesses. I next spent two years as sole author developing an Internet based Decision Support System for a major stock broker. Thanks for the visit,
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