Information Technology Workforce Development Grant Project
Description
As the Link-to-Learn web site states, this project was designed to "attract, retain, and
graduate information technology students with the knowledge
and skills that match the needs of Pennsylvania employers." The
project included partnerships with area businesses and K-12 schools.
For further information, see the
Information Technology Workforce Development
web page at the state Link-to-Learn web site,
the Executive Summary for this grant project,
and the Final Report on this project.
Continuing Activities and Benefits
Current students continue to benefit from the many improvements that this grant
project has made in the areas of hardware, software, curriculum, links to area
schools and businesses, etc. Some of the ongoing activities are shown in the
following list. See the NSF grant project for more
information, as most are now incorporated into that project.
- Internships continue to be strongly encouraged
for all CIS majors. NSF scholarship awardees are asked to complete an
internship in their junior or senior year. Industry and school partners
are assisting in providing internships.
- The Women in Computing Web Page and activities
such as the Summer Computer Mini-Camp
for middle and high school girls encourage female students to
study computing and to consider careers in this field.
- An annual Computing Day is used to introduce many area middle and high
school students to possible careers in computing.
Computing Day 2003 was held
on Feb 24, 2003. Also take a look at the
information from Computing Day 2002
and Computing Career Day, held in 2001.
- Mentoring opportunities continue as part of the new
NSF grant project. This includes
email-based mentoring as well as bringing in guest speakers.
- Partnerships with area industry and schools continues to provide
ideas for real-world senior projects.
- Curriculum improvements continue with the addition
of new courses in webpage design, computer and network security,
and artificial intelligence. Further work with the Oracle database
and other high-end software is also ongoing.
|
List of what the Project Provided
This section gives a fairly complete list of all of the opportunities,
improvements, and activities that this grant project provided during the
grant time period (2000 - 2002). See above for the activities that are
continuing.
- Opportunities for Saint Vincent CIS Students
- New internships with business partners highlighting key IT skills.
- New internships at K-12 partners,
assisting with their IT infrastructure.
- The CIS department itself hired a student intern in
summer 2001, fall 2001, and spring 2002.
- Electronic (email) mentoring for students
interested in Information Technology.
This program matched the student with a professional among our business
partners and alumni, thus allowing the student a unique look into the
work world. Students could ask questions about careers, hot IT skills, etc.
- More real-world projects, contributed by the business partners.
- Women in Computing Web Page.
- Opportunities for K-12 Students
- Infrastructure Improvements
- New projection equipment for CIS lab and classroom.
- TV and VCR for use with training videos.
- Oracle database.
- New PCs, servers, and software for the CIS lab.
- Curriculum Enhancement
- Updating of courses in the areas of databases, networking, and
operating systems.
- Development of a database course using Oracle.
- Development of a new course on computer and network security.
- Development of a new course on webpage design.
- Guest lectures in CIS classes by business partners.
- Project Partners
- Project Milestones
|
This 2000 - 2002 project was supported in part by funds from the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania's Link-to-Learn Project.
|
Maintained by: