Meet the Graduate Assistants: Isaac Wink and Matthew Monteith

Two-fer Thursday puts two GAs from opposite ends of Illinois in the spotlight. Meet Isaac and Matthew!

Isaac Wink

Isaac comes to use from Berwyn, a western suburb of Chicago, where they apparently like to trash talk about Naperville since he says that one of his favorite things about it is that it’s on the CTA’s Blue Line (thereby giving better bragging rights for being part of Chicago??? Don’t ask me, I’m from Champaign. Can’t wait to hear what our Napervillian GA has to say about this.—Jen). He’s in his first semester in the LIS program, with his sights set on working in either an academic or federal library after graduation.

• What is your favorite part about working at the Help Desk?
  • So many things! But I’ll narrow it down to two: 1) The people I get to work with, and 2) Having the inside scoop on the massive amount of resources available to us as iSchool students.
• What is your second favorite book?
  • The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (https://bookshop.org/books/the-sparrow/9780449912553)
• Based upon your current cooking repertoire, if you were a professional chef, what would your signature dish be?
  • Chocolate chip pumpkin muffins (https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/7958/pumpkin-chocolate-chip-muffins/)
• What would be the theme song of your life?
  • Beautiful Day by U2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co6WMzDOh1o)
• If you could hang out with any cartoon character, who would you choose and why?
  • Pikachu because he’s cute, down for a good time, and adventurous.
    
• If you were famous, what would you be famous for?
  • Sentator’s husband
• What part of the s’more are you?
  • Graham cracker
• Would you rather have a pet dinosaur or a pet dragon,  and what would you name it?
  • Dragon named Spark

Matthew Monteith

Matthew joins us from Cobden in Southern Illinois, where he holds a love/hate relationship with the trees. They are majestic beings of great beauty, but they make things massively humid in the summer. Why trees, WHY???!!!!! Matt is in his first year at the iSchool and while he arrived here two months ago thinking that he’d flex archival skills after graduation, he’s now leaning toward a tech-related position.

• What is your favorite part about working at the Help Desk?
  • My favorite thing to do at the Help Desk so far is to help faculty and staff with their technical problems, as they present a great opportunity for both of us (me and the staff/student) to learn a great deal about how our systems here at UIUC work.
• What is your second favorite book?
  • Caiphas Cain by Sandy Mitchell (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciaphas_Cain, Matthew, a series feels a little bit like cheating on your answer to the question. –Jen)
• Based upon your current cooking repertoire, if you were a professional chef, what would your signature dish be?
  • Pork chops (seasoned with pepper, salt, chili powder, paprika), green peas, & yellow rice (seasoned with cumin turmeric, cardamom, and thyme)
• What would be the theme song of your life?
  • Remix of Ode to Joy and Dies Irae  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWFhwF7753g)
• If you could hang out with any cartoon character, who would you choose and why?
  • Professor Frink from The Simpsons, because he sounds like a good, educational time without being frightening
    
• If you were famous, what would you be famous for?
  • Famous writer
• What part of the s’more are you?
  • Chocolate
• Would you rather have a pet dinosaur or a pet dragon,  and what would you name it?
  • Dragon named Argus