OIT summer initiative aimed at increasing
diversity in technology

by Sarah R. Buchholz, Chronicle staff

Konstantin Skovorodin transferred to UMass from Springfield Technical Community College after interning with OIT during the summer. (Stan Sherer photo)

he Office of Information Technologies launched a program this summer to add diversity to its staff and the information technologies workforce, in general.

     Dubbed "Diversity through Technology," the program brought IT students from underrepresented groups to campus for internships at OIT.

     Ten students, five each from Springfield Technical Community College and UMass Boston, spent 12 weeks assigned to an office in OIT. Among their tasks were helping to wire the campus with fiber optic cable, programming databases and troubleshooting for them, and training University staff to use People-Soft.

     "There was a real variety in what the students were doing," said Rosio Alvarez, interim associate chancellor for Information Technologies and Planning. "These were quality students providing good technical support, and they became very well integrated into each of their units. Some of my staff said they wished the students could have stayed."

     In fact, some did. Three of the STCC students transferred to the University this fall, and all three continue to work for OIT.

     "When OIT went through an Excellence in Higher Education management assessment program, one of the actions of the exercise was identifying that we want to diversify our organization," Alvarez said. "We were looking for diversity in its many forms, women, Eastern European, South Asian and other ethnicities, socio-economic diversity; we tried to open it up as broadly as we could."

     Alvarez said finding qualified students was easy: She went to obvious sources.
"I know the diversity of UMass Boston because I am on the faculty there," she said. "We decided to include STCC because it's a local school and there was more possibility of an ongoing connection."

     Alvarez wanted the program to provide urban students with opportunities to learn new technical skills.

     Another goal of the program was to make students feel welcome and like they have a future in IT, according to Michele Turre, a multimedia support specialist at OIT.

     "They got a nice sense of community and they added to the community, so it was a success," she said.

     "I got to meet new people," said Konstantin Skovorodin, a junior transfer from STCC. "I've never had any internships before." Skovorodin works in Telcom Trailer II, doing software upgrades, helping to set up new systems as they arrive, and being "an emergency support guy." Over the summer he rebuilt some systems in the office and helped to lay fiber optic cable near Tillson Farm.

     Skovorodin learned about more than computers over the summer.
"I got to see how the University works," he said. This information makes him more informed as a student, he said.

     Most students just go to school and have no clue how the University works, he said. "I got to meet people in different departments, plus all this budget mystery makes sense [to me], and to a lot of people it doesn't."

     Kovorodin said he understands why fees on the campus are going up now that he's seen the effects of layoffs on campus departments.

     Elizabeth Rosso, a junior transfer in Computer Science, worked with software in Academic Computing over the summer and is now employed by the Help Desk.
"This is perfect for me because it allows me to work around my school schedule," Rosso said of her Help Desk job. "I'm really grateful for the chance to intern at UMass. It was a great experience and it helped me to find a student job I enjoy.

     "I have been really surprised at how well the curriculum here matches the one at STCC. I ... feel like I have sufficient background. The classes are challenging but not terribly difficult."

     Alvarez said she hopes to continue the program in future summers and that STCC and UMass Boston should continue to be a good source of qualified students.

     "We're drawing on a pool that's in our own backyard," she said. "The President's Office is pushing collaboration among the campuses, and this is a way to contribute to that."

     OIT funded the $54,600 initiative from operating funds this year, but Alvarez said her office is looking into acquiring grant funding for subsequent years.