Professor Emeritus dduran@whittier.edu
B.A. /MLS, University of California, Berkeley Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Madison
Professor Daniel Duran was born and raised in Richmond, California. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and spent his early career developing public library-based information and referral programs with and for people of color, especially the non-English speaking communities in the San Francisco Bay Area.
He pursued a Ph.D. in Information and Communication Technologies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and developed information and referral programs for migrant farm workers in the Midwest. After graduating, he became an Account Executive at AT&T, spending many years as a National Account Manager, Sales Manager, and Operations Manager. He left AT&T and became the Western Region Director of Computer and Communications for NEC (Tokyo), traveling and working in Japan, Mexico, and other parts of the Pacific Rim.
After his work at NEC, he began working at PRM, a Systems Integration firm that developed, implemented and maintained Distance Learning and Video Arraignment systems. PRM provided the knowledge to serve as President of Sat Networks International (SNI), another systems integration firm. At SNI, he developed and implemented leap-frog technologies and applications in Mexico and Latin America, implementing several projects, including the first provision of advanced telephone and data services to many rural communes ("ejidos") in Mexico and the delivery of Internet services to several Mexican colleges and universities using satellite technology. In addition to using US-based technologies, SNI also developed a Network Operations Center in Mexico City.
After leaving SNI, he worked at Southern California Edison. He helped prepare customer service organizations for the impending deregulation of the California energy market. As he learned the fundamentals of the energy business and worked within the regulated business at Edison International he was eventually prepared to work for PacifiCorp. Recruited by PacifiCorp to lead the deregulated sales organization in California, he was later recruited by Sempra, the mother company of SDG&E and The Gas Company, to perform a turn-around of their Midwest natural gas operations, headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. After that assignment, he returned to California, where he helped develop their national accounts program and served as a sales Vice President.
During his time at Sempra, he was recruited once again by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) to lead the commercial energy business development. Leaving SAIC to teach full-time at Whittier College, he continues to consult with utilities, regional government agencies, and private corporations, focusing on sustainable development in the nexus of energy efficiency and water conservation.
Professor Daniel Durian has co-authored a text and article on energy services outsourcing. He conducted field research on energy efficiency and water conservation and is interested in the energy-water nexus as it relates to agriculture, both in rural and urban environments. Despite, working in the corporate world for many years, he also taught undergraduate and graduate courses in Information Technologies, Telecommunications, International Business, Negotiation Skills, Chicano Bibliography, and Change Management at UCLA, University of Wisconsin, University of Arizona, and other colleges and universities. He had worked at Whittier College for over a decade he enjoys meeting students from diverse ethnic and experiential backgrounds.
