Industry Insights

Sarah Weber

Making Connections: IBM and the iSchool

SARAH WEBER I n past Industry Insights columns, I’ve highlighted a number of companies with a focus on the individual engagement that each has with the iSchool. For this column, I look at one company, IBM, and the numerous initiatives where they partner with the iSchool.

Through their engagements, IBM has collectively addressed developing a diverse talent pipeline of high school women into the field of information technology, has enriched current student skillsets through real-world applications, and has prepared students for their professional careers. These initiatives have touched many students at different points in their academic careers and provided them with opportunities to learn more about new

technologies, and prepared them for inspiring new careers in the field of information technology. IBM’s broad and varied engagements with the iSchool provide a solid and holistic foundation to innovate and expand from, engaging industry experts, students, faculty, and alumni.

IT GIRLS OVERNIGHT RETREAT A sponsor and strong supporter of the iSchool’s It Girls Overnight Retreat for a number of years, IBM raised their level of support in 2018 to generously become the program’s first Event Level sponsor. For eight years, approximately 100 high school students, junior and senior women from across the country have traveled to Syracuse University each year to participate in a fun-filled, technology-focused, two-day event. Designed to support and engage the It Girls, the event also helps them develop a pathway to study Information Technology as an academic discipline. Essential components of the program are the opportunities the It Girls have to meet like-minded students and create meaningful connections with professional women, iSchool staff, faculty, current students, and iSchool alumnae who work in the IT industry. Connections and technical knowledge were shared with the It Girls through a number of means, including industry and academia-led workshops and an insightful conversation with IBM Keynote Speaker, Sharon Fortune Bowden. Sharon shared a relevant and engaging presentation with the It Girls about their futures and the vast opportunities there are for women in the field of information technology. JULIE WALAS

IBM’s Sharon Fortune Bowden (lower right) was the keynote speaker for our 2018 It Girls Overnight Retreat.

Exemplifying the spirit of the It Girls program with her message of “IT means everything,” Sharon connected and inspired many future female technologists and leaders.

CALL FOR CODE IBM’s Call for Code Global Initiative inspires technologists around the world to apply their skill sets and talent to drive positive and long-lasting change across the world. Hosted at Syracuse University’s Blackstone LaunchPad in Bird Library, 125 students from across campus formed teams and challenged themselves to develop solutions that significantly improve preparedness for natural disasters and relief in their aftermath. Following a hackathon-style format, the program culminated with final presentations to a panel of technologists from IBM and the Syracuse community. Enthusiastic for opportunities to apply their knowledge to real-world challenges, iSchool students represented the largest contingency at the event, and a team of five graduate students from the iSchool’s Information Management and Applied Data Science degrees won the challenge. All participants had exposure to tools such as IBM Watson, Chat Bot Engine, and IBM Blockchain through this initiative, enhancing their understanding of current technologies and inspiring them to think of new and innovative applications for them.

FALL CAREER FAIR An important event each Fall semester, the iSchool welcomes companies from across the country to campus to recruit talented students. A participant of many past iSchool career fairs, both Fall and Spring, IBM has leveraged these high-visibility events to connect directly with students in all iSchool programs,

J.D. ROSS

IBM’s Phil Evangelista talks with students visiting the IBM booth at our Fall Career Fair in the Carrier Dome.

cultivate interest in IBM careers, and develop a strong talent pipeline. Visible and welcoming at the career fairs, IBM representatives have been instrumental in developing a line in front of IBM’s table that has consistently grown over the years. This year alone, IBM representatives, Phil Evangelista and Eric Higgins, saw hundreds of students within only a four-hour timeframe, as students looked to highlight their skillsets and gain valuable insight into sought-after IBM internship and full-time opportunities.

IBM DAY AT THE ISCHOOL A complement to career fairs during peak recruiting seasons, or engagement opportunities at any time of the academic year, ‘Company Days’ at the iSchool offer a creative and customized way for companies to engage with iSchool students. In recent years, IBM has leveraged IBM Days to showcase specific programs and highlight connections between iSchool courses and professional roles. Through numerous classroom visits, one-on-one student appointments, and an engaging information session, IBM Day allows students to have in-depth engagements with senior IBM representatives and also to connect with iSchool alumni at IBM. Alumna Dominique Parker G’17 generously donated her time and returned to campus this Fall, providing current students with the opportunity to visualize their own futures at IBM through her experiences. Alumni Janak Khilnani G’15 and Jamar Smith G’16 have also returned to campus in the past for different events and classroom engagements, providing invaluable mentorship to students and inspiring them to think big. THANK YOU to these IBMers for their close relationship with the iSchool and for helping to forge many important partnerships to benefit our students: PHIL EVANGELISTA Business Unit Executive, Technical Sales IBM Global Markets, Financial Services Market University Partnership Executive - Syracuse University

ERIC HIGGINS IBM Summit Champion Leader for nine years at Syracuse University Financial Services Market Certified IT Specialist - CICS and z Technical Professional

SHARON FORTUNE-BOWDEN IBM Global Markets, Financial Services Market CTO

Thank You to Our Corporate Partners and Employers We thank our corporate partners and employers who sponsor programs at the iSchool, host student groups on the road, and visit our career events to hire students for internships and full-time positions.

CORPORATE PARTNERS

1871 Accenture Adobe - LiveFyre AIM Air Force Research Laboratory Air National Guard Airbnb Airtel ATN Alarm.com Amazon Arkadium Aspen Dental Assured Information Security AXA Bank of America Merrill Lynch Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) Barnes & Noble BASES - Stanford BD (Becton, Dickinson & Company) Big Switch Networks Blackstone LaunchPad Blink UX Bloomberg BNY Mellon Boeing Brand Yourself Brevite BugCrowd Cadence Design Systems Catapult Celerity Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Chicago ArchAngels Cisco Meraki CitizensRX Cloudability Crowd Twist Crowe LLP Cryomech, Inc. Deloitte Consulting Density Department of Defense Department of Homeland Security Department of Transportation Dig Safely New York, Inc. Dogpatch Labs Eaton Elevate Emogi EPE Innovations Epic Excellus BlueCross BlueShield Exelon Corporation EY (Ernst & Young) Facebook FactSet Research Systems, Inc. FDM Group Federal Reserve Board Fidelity Investments First Data FTI Consulting GE Georgetown University Goldman Sachs Good Uncle Google Gutchess Lumber, Inc. Halma HH Brown Highspot Hill-Rom HubSpot IBM IBM Design IDEO Inficon INROADS Intel Inter-American Development Bank Intercom Jet.com JPMorgan Chase & Co. KPMG LLP Library of Congress Lincoln Park Zoo

iSchool alumni participants in the 2018 Fall Career Fair

LinkedIn LUX Capital MAG Sourcing Marlabs Inc. MedMen mHub Microsoft Microsoft Flagship Store MLB Advanced Media MobileIron Momentum MoviePass National Grid Nest Northeast Information Discovery Northern Onondaga Public Library (NOPL) NPR NY Air National Guard NY on Tech OBG Oldham Gryska Oracle Peak Campus PIE Pinterest PMI Protiviti Quake Capital Quanterion Solutions Inc. (QSI) Rapid Response Monitoring Services Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Relativity ROIDNA Rookie Road Salesforce Scott’s Pizza Tour Sevenrooms Skilljar Smarsh SRC, Inc. Starbucks Startup Hall Synchrony Financial TAO Tata Consultancy Services Teach For America Tech4kidz LLC Tempus Thales The 505 on Walnut The CBORD Group Inc. The Hartford The Raymond Corporation Threadloom T-Mobile Tory Burch Trading Technologies Trinity College/ADAPT Twitter U.S. Government Accountability Office U.S. National Library of Medicine Uber United States Navy United States Senate United Technologies Climate, Controls & Securities University Beyond University of Rochester, River Campus Libraries University of Rochester-Rush Rhees Library UW Virta Labs Vox Media Walk.me Warby Parker Washington National Airport Wayfair Inc. WAYV Wethos World Bank Yewno Zimmerman Associates Inc.