Under the joint direction of Michael Manojlovich, Instructor in Information Sciences and Technology, and Sara Ahrens, Community Engagement Coordinator at Penn State Greater Allegheny, students in the IST 421: Advanced Enterprise Integration: Technologies and Applications and IST 440W: Information Sciences and Technology Integration and Problem Solving classes have entered into partnerships with two community service organizations.
Joining with The Future is Mine (TFIM), a career awareness initiative of the Consortium for Public Education, Penn State Greater Allegheny IST students will be sponsoring an Information Sciences and Technology Workshop for high school students from the 25 school districts participating in the Consortium's TFIM initiative. As part of the campus's Open House on April 12, IST students will conduct workshp sessions in the following areas:
Careers in technology
New technologies for teachers and students in social networking -- podcasting, blogging, use of Facebook, etc.
Globalization - how technology fits into the global society and the technology of other cultures.
Web design - setting up and maintaining sites
Students attending the workshops are also invited to attend the campus's open house events. www.ga.psu.edu/Admissions/admevents.htm
IST 421 students are partnering with the Good Grief Center for Bereavement Support in an attempt to better organize and index their reference materials. The Center is a non-profit organization which serves the community through grief awareness, education, support and hope. IST students have joined with the Center's staff in brainstorming to better develop the Center's future technological needs, as well as organizing their reference materials. Students will also help in the organization's move from Homestead to Squirrel Hill, scheduled for later this spring.
This partnership is one of many the campus faculty and students have undertaken as part of the Civic and Community Engagement Minor currently offered at Penn State Greater Allegheny. Over 20 classes have been approved as credit towards the minor as students participate in service projects with various non-profit and government agencies throughout the Greater Allegheny service area.