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Staff profile – Jim Ster, 25 years

Jim Ster

When mistakes happen, the results are usually bad. Occasionally though, something good comes from it. Jim Ster experienced one of those rare moments 26 years ago when a clerical error led to a job on campus.

Ster is an equipment technician in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. He is responsible for operating and maintaining the lab equipment in the college. It’s a job that most likely would have gone to his dad if not for the error.

“I’m James F. Ster the third, and my dad is James F. Ster Jr.,” says Ster. “Two jobs opened on campus for journeyman machinists, and we both applied for them. We hoped maybe they would hire us both, although I was still an apprentice and technically didn’t qualify for the job. When it came time for the interview, someone made a mistake, our applications got crossed up and I was called for an interview. The supervisor took one look at me and said, ‘Oh, there has been an error.’”

Ster says he was given an interview and took the verbal and written tests, but didn’t think he would get the job. “I relaxed because I was sure I wouldn’t get it, but I topped all the scores. I was the only person who answered all the questions on both tests correctly.”

His dad placed third, but there was no animosity about it, Ster says. “He was proud that I got the job.” His father was eventually hired on here as a part time lab assistant.

Ster has taken advantage of the opportunity and has become a self-proclaimed jack of all trades. “You have to have a little knowledge about a lot of things because we maintain hundreds of pieces of equipment,” he says. “Some of what we have is equipment donated from the military. It was produced 20 years ago and they still use it, but some of the companies that made the equipment have long since gone out of business, so we try to figure out how to make it work.”

His favorite pieces of equipment seem to be the ones that tear things apart and make a lot of noise.

“Testing things until they break is cool and fun and the students really get a kick out of it,” he says. “You’re snapping pieces of steel and when they give they go ‘bam’ and the whole building begins to shake for a moment. These are the labs that students will remember in 20 or 30 years, when they think back on what they did in college.”

Make no mistake about it; 26 years later, Ster still enjoys his job.