WEST PLAINS, Mo. – Paul Majkut has been hired as the new information technology director at Missouri State University-West Plains.

Majkut, who has 18 years of information technology experience, comes to the university after spending the past five years as a Department of Defense contractor in cybersecurity with the White House Communications Agency, the Army Research Laboratory and the DOD’s High Performance Computing Modernization Program in the Washington, D.C., area in the roles of project manager, team lead and computer network defense analyst.

Prior to those positions, he served as a client-server systems administrator III with Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic, a senior systems analyst with Court Square Data Group Inc. in Groton, Conn., a senior systems administrator with Lowe’s Company’s regional distribution center in Plainfield, Conn., a network specialist for Rutland Tool and Supply Inc. in Whittier, Calif., and a systems engineer with ASC Government Solutions at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts.

For almost eight years, he has served in the Army Reserve and Army National Guard with units in Virginia, Maryland and Connecticut.

He received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Management Information Systems Concentration from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell in February 1997 and his Master of Arts in Christian Apologetics from Biola University in La Mirada, Calif., in 2003. He also has several technology-related certifications, including Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), the Foundation Certification in IT Service Management (ITIL) and the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE).

Majkut will oversee all operations of the campus’ information technology services department. His first day on the job was Oct. 15.