All posts by Kimberly Gaskin

Jason Cooper discusses internship experience at the City of St. Pete

internships

Jason Cooper, a BAS Technology Management student for the College of Computer & Information Technology (CCIT), was just one of 38 students who completed an internship through St. Petersburg College’s College-wide Internship Program last school year. Having served as an intern for the City of St. Petersburg, Cooper was responsible for projects which included: Working on print servers, VMware products, CISCO VPN software and hardware, imaging drives with Norton products, data recovery, repairing computers, ordering new hardware from vendors and researching problems.

“My experience was extremely gratifying. I have learned a lot because of the real world experience and from working with some very talented people at the City of St. Petersburg,” Cooper said. He further stated that most of the technology at the City of St. Petersburg is new and he was glad that he had an opportunity to work with it. He hopes that the experience he gained will make him more marketable to employers.

For students who plan to complete an internship in the future, Cooper suggested that they “take advantage of the learning experience as much as possible, and keep in mind that you can do well if you are determined.”

 

The College of Computer & Information Technology Capstone Program at St. Petersburg College

College of Computer and Information Technology

 

Before arriving at St. Petersburg College (SPC) in the fall of 2009, Dr. Nathan Heinze worked at California State University (CSU) where he taught and developed a number of undergraduate, graduate and IT Management courses.  In 2002, he received his Ph.D. at Florida Atlantic University. He currently teaches the Senior Capstone Project along with other technology courses in Technology Management for the College of Computer & Information Technology (CCIT) department at St Petersburg College (SPC).

Commenting on the requirements for the Capstone class, Heinze said that students must complete two projects that span 16 weeks, along with a variety of written exercises designed to supplement their learning. They must choose from a selection of cases, recognize and diagnose any problems, and then recommend and defend a solution and implementation plan. In the first four weeks, students will complete a mini-case revolving around how the case can create business value. After this, groups will spend the remainder of the course where they must defend their choices.

At the end of the fall 2011 semester, the CCIT department completed its first Capstone class in December. Heinze said the results were promising. While presenting, students had to find core problems and explain them in their own words. Then they had to analyze the case, comparing and contrasting possible solutions. Once the analysis was complete, students had to offer a solution and defend it. Through an evaluation process, they had to identify the weaknesses of the chosen solution. Afterward, students had to suggest ways to improve or strengthen their chosen solution. Finally, students were asked to reflect on their thought process for the presentation after completing the assignment. The presentations were limited to 20 minutes and students were encouraged to dress professionally.

Throughout the capstone project, Heinze serves as a mentor for the students. He compared the operation of the capstone course to a CEO who runs a company. Students present proposals to him with a goal of convincing him to adopt their plan. “It’s more than just presenting facts and statistics. I teach them to think critically and to solve problems,” Heinze said.

 “Overall, the first semester presentations were quite good. I was very impressed with most of the projects. A number of them set high bars for achievement, and the goal is to make sure each and every team excels going forward. It’s a very encouraging start to our Capstone program here,” he said.

Heinze further stated that the best way to succeed in the course is to “keep up and do professional work.”

Brad Yourth introduces computer club to SPC students

computer technology

In the fall of 2011, Professor Brad Yourth introduced a computer club to his students on the Clearwater campus. This club is modeled after the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) club which was originally formed in 1947 when computers were called machines. Though much time has passed since its beginning, the ACM club strives for excellence and endeavors to stay abreast with industry standards. According to Yourth, ACM is “the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society with resources that advance computing as a science and profession.”

ACM is typically made up of computer scientists, engineers, programmers, technicians and students. Yourth strongly recommends ACM for students who wish to pursue a career in the computer field. He encourages students to join the SPC club to enhance their educational experience. The St. Petersburg College computer club is designed to help students explore computer programming languages, programming robotics and X-Box games. Students also have the opportunity to visit local computer establishments and attend programming competitions.

 Students who express interest in the club can contact Yourth at Yourth.Brad@spcollege.edu to join. On a periodic basis, students will receive notifications about club events from Yourth. Though membership with ACM is not required, students who join the SPC club must pay an annual fee of $39.00. Currently, Professor Yourth is looking into SPC club funds to cover expenses.

Gary Abernethy discusses his role on the CCIT Advisory Committee

College of Computer and Information Technology

Apart from being an Adjunct Instructor for the College of Computer & Information Technology Department, Gary Abernethy is also a member of the CCIT Advisory Committee. Prior to serving on the committee, Abernethy was a high school teacher for 7 years and a full-time employee for SPC for over 7 years. He is currently the Director of Education and Training Technology at SRI International. Describing his hopes for the advisory committee in the upcoming year, Abernethy said that his goal is to use the skills he has acquired through SRI to contribute to the mission of St. Petersburg College.

Gary Abernethy

“I want to offer insight from the real world and incorporate aspects of what I learned from the industry,” he said. To expand his involvement with SPC, he sought ways to volunteer and contribute to the Computer Science department. During his quest, he was told about the CCIT Advisory Committee by Amy Brush, Career Pathways/Workforce Specialist for Student Affairs in EpiServices. He then contacted Dr. Sharon Setterlind, Dean of the CCIT department, and she invited him to join the advisory committee.

Throughout his first year on the committee, Abernethy hopes to “offer his real world experience from SRI and instill awareness of current technological advances and try to fashion the curriculum and course offerings to it.” He said that at this point since no goals or initiatives are defined, the committee is focused on implementing its structure and assigning tasks to members, defining roles and honing in on what needs to be of focus.

In the future, Abernethy hopes to continue to offer insight into the needs of the business community and keep things relevant and current.

 

SPC’s CCIT Internship Program Expands College-wide

internships

Since the start of the 2010 school year, the College of Computer & Information Technology’s internship program has experienced tremendous growth to such an extent that Internship Coordinators Susan Biszewski-Eber and Deb Montalvo collaborated to expand the internship program college-wide. As the forerunner of this college-wide internship program, the College of Computer & Information Technology has a total of 38 CCIT students to date, who have served internships in the following subject areas: Computer Programming, Web Development, Computer Networking and IT Security. Of all the students who completed an internship, 80% received some form of compensation for their internship and 26 % of students were offered full-time positions, which they accepted.

 While performing their internships, students developed a variety of skill-sets which enabled them to complete various tasks in the Information Technology field such as developing Apple applications, redesigning web sites and developing a database to track sales and products for a major company. As a result, some students were promoted within their existing companies. Of the 22 businesses that employed SPC interns, six participated in SPC’s internship program more than one semester. Ninety-three of those businesses said that they would hire their intern if a position became available.

 

Eva Hefner Retires from St. Petersburg College

Faculty

For a little over 34 years, Professor Eva Hefner has been teaching for St. Petersburg College (SPC). For 23 of those years, she has taught CGS 1100 Computer Applications, a dynamically-dated skills-based course that uses several search engines and computer applications such as windows, word processing, spreadsheets, database programs and slide presentations. Prior to teaching at the St. Petersburg/Gibbs campus, Hefner first taught for 13 years at the Tarpon Springs campus. Since the start of her career at SPC, Hefner has seen many changes in technology. She went from teaching keyboarding, shorthand, and Business Math courses in face-to-face format to teaching online classes. This required her to adapt her teaching methods and change teaching strategies. She stated that it is important for faculty in the technology field to be flexible and periodically update their skills.

Apart from teaching, Hefner started the Phi Beta Lamda (PBL) Chapter, a student business organization, on the Tarpon Springs campus. She then continued as faculty advisor for PBL for 5 years on the St. Pete/Gibbs campus. Hefner and the PBL students attended statewide competitions, held fundraisers and organized monthly meetings. This gave students the opportunity to interact with each other as well as students and faculty from other colleges.  Hefner also launched the Tarpon Springs campus newsletter, handled student job placement and was the lead instructor for the Weekend Computer Institute. Hefner said that engaging in extracurricular activities such as these helped her to build a good rapport with her students.

Commenting on her tenure at SPC, Hefner said, “I learned a lot from my students. That is why I always appreciated face-to-face classes since I could interact with my students and exchange ideas. It is a great social network.” Hefner further stated that she gained a sense of fulfillment knowing that she “prepared students for future careers.” The students have “kept me feeling young, kept me active and helped me stay alert.”

Though Hefner has accomplished what she set out to do through her involvement in meetings, various committees, conferences, and workshops, she said that “there was always a feeling that you can do more, but that is not always possible due to time constraints, teaching responsibilities, and personal commitment.”

Hefner is due to retire at the end of the fall 2011 semester.

 

Spotlight on Adjunct Faculty: John Gibbons

Faculty

Before moving to Florida in 2002, Professor John Gibbons worked as a network engineer in Atlanta, Georgia. While working as a network engineer, Gibbons also taught part-time. Since he especially loved teaching, he retired from his job as a network engineer after working 33 years in the industry. Once he moved to Florida, he was hired as an adjunct instructor at St. Petersburg College (SPC) in 2002. Since that time, he has been teaching CGS 1070 Basic Computer & Information Literacy and CGS 1100 Computer Applications for the College of Computer & Information Technology (CCIT). Gibbons teaches both courses in online and face-to-face formats.

Commenting on his role as an adjunct instructor, Gibbons said that the best part is the flexible schedule since you have the convenience of working out of the office on occasion. He further stated that with this position “change is constant.” So being an adjunct instructor is “intellectually challenging.”

Susan Parcheta retires after 26 years at SPC

Faculty

Ever since the age of 10, Susan Parcheta possessed a passion for teaching. While at school she and her friends would play school and she would always assume the role of the teacher. This love for teaching at an early age, led her to pursue her Bachelor’s degree in Business Education from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, then she went on to pursue her Master’s degree. After years of teaching grade school, she went on to teach at Ferris State University where her husband studied Pharmacy.

In 1985, Parcheta began teaching at St. Petersburg College (SPC). She taught at the Clearwater and Health Education Center campuses until 1989, when she transferred to the Tarpon Springs campus.

Since that time, Parcheta has taught 17 courses while at SPC, including CGS 1100 Computer Applications which is “her first love.” In fact, she has pioneered courses at SPC in computer literacy for the health field as well as computer applications.

Throughout her 26 years at SPC, Parcheta participated on numerous committees such as Curriculum & Instruction, Staff & Program Development and SAC’s Steering Committee for Credentialing, just to name a few. Parcheta was a Faculty Advisor for Phi Beta Lambda (PBL), a national student organization for business, and the Instructor-in-charge for the Weekend Computer Institute at the Tarpon Springs campus. She was also selected by her students for Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers in Higher Education.

Teaching has certainly been a rewarding experience for Parcheta over the past 44 years.

“I feel energized by my students. I learned that the best way to incorporate new and better teaching methods is by observing good teachers and presenters in any field. I know that I am invigorated by attending conferences to witness expert presenters and new technology,” she said.

Parcheta is set to retire December 31, 2011. She plans to travel, resume playing the piano and drums, gardening, reading, creating beaded jewelry and spending time with family and friends.

Chris Paul becomes new CCIT Advisory Committee Chair

College of Computer and Information Technology

On June 29, 2011, Harold Schomaker stepped down as chairman of the College of Computer & Information Technology (CCIT) advisory committee. Chris Paul was elected as the new advisory committee Chairman. Paul, who began his term on July 1, has worked in the IT industry for the past 24 years and is currently the manager of the IS department at Melitta USA, Inc. Paul described his role as pivotal in the department since it is his job to ensure that things run efficiently and meets the needs of businesses in the community.

Paul said that his primary objective is to “produce college grads that are able to compete with the growth of the technical sector in the area.” He further stated that he strives to “make sure that the curriculum meets the needs of what the industry needs and helps foster the growth of businesses in the community.” With the flexibility afforded to him in this position, he is able to manage his time well to accomplish the objectives at hand.

Since assuming this new role as chairman, Paul has adjusted well. He is currently in the process of implementing strategies to improve the flow of the committee. By next year, he hopes to achieve more continuity between meetings and heighten communication between committee members to ensure that they always keep in mind the objectives and the charter.