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Review of Fall Symposium 2005

Date: Held Friday October 28th, 2005 (12:30 - 4:30 p.m.)

Location: Rochester Institute of Technology (Golisano College Atrium and Auditorium)

Sponsored by the following corporations and academic institutions:
The corporate and academic sponsors and participants in the Symposium are Kodak, University of Rochester, Rochester Institute of Technology, Computer Aid, Bausch and Lomb, Wegmans, Energy East, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, Frontier/Citizen, Paychex and Xerox.

Attended by:
Approximately 150 IT undergraduates and graduate students from Nazareth, St. John Fisher, Roberts Wesleyan, University of Rochester (including the Simon School), Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Geneseo, SUNY Oswego, Alfred University and SUNY Brockport.

Background:
As part of a continuing effort to retain talented IT graduates in the Rochester area, Explore Rochester IT sponsored this symposium. Explore Rochester IT was created by the Chief Information Officers (CIOs) of the major Rochester area employers. Open to students in the information technology field, the Symposium is an opportunity to have "future IT professionals talk to current IT professionals about their jobs in Information Technology," said RIT Chief Information Officer, Diane Barbour.

Don Reeve, Wegmans Sr. Vice President and CIO, explained how Explore Rochester IT took shape: "About three years ago I realized that within the food industry, I knew the CIOs from virtually every food retailer in the nation. Yet I had never connected with the CIOs of other Rochester companies. I pursued the idea we should come together as a group. We decided one of our primary objectives would be to help local college students realize that Rochester is home to a number of world class, technology-driven companies and students should consider a future here after graduation."

"Every year our local colleges graduate students with IT degrees and many of these students leave the area to pursue jobs out of state," said Fran Versace, ITS Student Employment Manager at RIT. "This program is an effort to retain the best and the brightest here in the Rochester area."

Event:
Students participated in a panel discussion with local corporate and academic Chief Information Officers. They also had an opportunity to meet IT staff who are using innovative technology. The objective was to acquaint IT students with the various types of career opportunities in the IT profession.

The afternoon's program included lunch, the panel discussion followed by a Q & A session and an opportunity to network with IT employees who are involved in projects at each of the local corporations and academic institutions. Feedback from the evaluation forms indicated that students appreciated this a great deal. Click here to review feedback

The day ended with a raffle of nine iPods, generously provided by the CIOs. Click here for raffle winners