Information Systems at Karlstad Business School, welcomed a new teacher on the first of August. Gunnar Olsson, with a sterling background within the IT-business and a former Olympic medalist, has stepped into the academic world.
Gunnar Olsson is originally from Timrå, a place north of Sundsvall that has a strong athletic tradition, not least in ice hockey with the men’s A-team of Timrå IK in the Swedish hockey league, SHL. For Gunnar Olsson it was canoe instead.
- I was around 13 years old when the youth Swedish Championship in canoe took place in Timrå. I saw all the canoes and thought it was cool. The middle sister in the family started first, after that me and my younger sister joined the sports of canoe, says Gunnar.
It went quite well with nice results in the competitions for the junior and senior national team. But it wasn’t until after studying to electrical engineer and being a PhD student and Chalmers university, that Gunnar decided to seriously take on paddling. In the 1998 Olympics he finished fifth place and in 1992 in Barcelona he won silver in K2.
- I was 32 years old it back then and it felt fantastic!
The career in the IT-business took off in Karlstad at Ericsson and Gunnar has, among others, worked with system development, project management and as a technical writer. He has also, for many years, worked as a consultant and comes recently from his own business. Both the background as an IT-consultant and a successful athlete are experiences which comes to hand in teaching.
- Here at the Information System subject, the course of Information systems and IT, which is a distance course, is on the schedule for the near future. Ahead waits teaching here at campus, says Gunnar.
