A major concern in our industry over the last few years has been the declining number of women in the computing fields. IT is not like other industries where there is a “glass ceiling”, a level above which women cannot rise: there are numerous examples of women CIOs in Chicago alone, including the former CIO of Boeing Corporation Kim Hammonds, now Global Chief Operating Officer of Deutsche Bank AG. And of course there’s Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, and Megan Smith, CTO of the United States. But we understand that it is difficult being female in a male-majority industry. Our department is strongly committed to doing everything we can to reduce this gender imbalance and to ensure that every student in our program is successful. Because this is a serious concern, I wanted to take an opportunity to share some resources to support women in IT. And guys: you should at least read the articles so you can begin to understand why this is an issue. Read more…
Free is always good, and beyond our Microsoft DreamSpark Premium there are a variety of free tools available to students such as Autodesk 3D Software including AutoCad, RipTiger Software, and even professional prototyping software such as Axure. See the full list of freebies as well as student discounts at https://slickdeals.net/f/8500607-2016-students-freebies-offers-software-membership-free-more.
Every year the department publishes a specification for notebook computers for use by ITM students. It is the intent of the department to require all students entering a degree in our department starting in Fall 2016 to posses a portable computer that meets these specifications. Here is the specification for Fall 2016.
The 17th Annual Conference on Information Technology Education (SIGITE) and the 5th Annual Research in IT Conference (RIIT) will be hosted by University of Massachusetts Boston September 28 – October 1, 2016. The conferences will take place at the Hilton Boston Back Bay at 40 Dalton St near Fenway Park. Both conferences are sponsored by the ACM Special Interest Group of Information Technology Education (SIGITE)and the theme of both conferences is “Securing the Future”. More student papers from IIT have been presented at RIIT than from any other institution, and 50% of the “Best Paper” awards have gone to IIT students or faculty. ITM students won “Best Paper” in 2014. See the full Call for Participation at http://sigite.hosting.acm.org/sigite2016/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/SIGITE2016CfP.pdf and start tweaking your best research papers for sumission!
A major concern in our industry over the last few years has been the declining number of women in the computing fields. IT is not like other industries where there is a “glass ceiling”, a level above which women cannot rise: there are numerous examples of women CIOs in Chicago alone, including the former CIO of Boeing Corporation Kim Hammonds, now Global Chief Operating Officer of Deutsche Bank AG. And of course there’s Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, and Megan Smith, CTO of the United States. But we understand that it is difficult being female in a male-majority industry. Our department is strongly committed to doing everything we can to reduce this gender imbalance and to ensure that every student in our program is successful. Because this is a serious concern, I wanted to take an opportunity to share some resources to support women in IT. And guys: you should at least read the articles so you can begin to understand why this is an issue. Read more…