Recently Dr. Holly Hoopes, Microsoft Professor from the College of Computer & Information Technology (CCIT) had the privilege of attending a “Women on the Way” luncheon as part of a Microsoft Ignite Conference in Chicago, Illinois. This luncheon brought to light that there is a greater population of men than women in the technology field. With a goal to break this trend, lecturers presented excellent tools that could be implemented throughout St. Petersburg College (SPC) and CCIT.

Hoopes viewed her attendance at the conference as an excellent opportunity to expand her knowledge of the industry. “Real world experience brings greater value to the course and lends credibility to the professor,” she said. This, she feels, leads to a greater rapport with students in the classroom.

This year the Microsoft Ignite Conference included:

• Microsoft Hyper V
• Cloud Computing
• Business Skype

“Microsoft Hyper V is giving VMware a run for their money,” Hoopes said, because it is efficient and cost effective. For the purposes of SPC, Business Skype is replacing the Microsoft Lync system; CCIT faculty can communicate with students and others outside our organization.

Note what a recent report from Cyberfed.org,  had to say about the level of interest women had in comparison to men when it came to IT programs:

“Despite the fact that 57% of bachelor’s degrees are earned by women, only 12% of them are in computer sciences. In more recent times, the number of enrollees in IT related degrees has declined when compared to 37% of women who obtained bachelor’s degrees in the 1980’s, whereas in 2012 they only amounted to 18%.”

The report continues, “With the rising number of attacks on companies like Primera Blue Cross, Anthem, Sony Pictures and many more, the need for cybersecurity professionals in growing at a rapid rate. The timing has never been better for women to get involved in the cybersecurity sector especially since the Pentagon alone plans to hire at least 3000 new cybersecurity employees by 2016. These highly skilled well-paying jobs have salaries ranging from $42, 399 to $132,122.”

As for the future of SPC, Hoopes hopes that in the near future more women will pursue IT programs and break the current enrollment trend.