AD

Recommendations

Info

BEST PRACTICES FOR SUCCESS Rashid Davis, Principal, Pathways in Technology Early College High School First Steps GROWING STEM TALENT, BUILDING NEXT GENERATION TECH By Lango Deen ldeen@ccgmag.com Early in 2011 Sam Palmisano, then chairman, president, and chief executive officer of IBM, and Joel Klein, former chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, sat down and came up with a plan to put New York City students first in line for a STEM career at IBM. At the time, IBM wasn’t doing high school internships. Over the next several months, IBM looked at post-secondary skill credentials, New York State and college requirements, and what was appropriate in the industry. Stanley S. Litow, former deputy chancellor of NYC public schools and president of the IBM International Foundation, was the key architect in designing a new model of education. By December of that year, New York City, in collaboration with the City University of New York, IBM, and the New York City College of Technology, had identified a host institution to award two-year degrees in applied science. Pathways in Technology Pathways in Technology Early College High School, or P-TECH, is the first school in the nation that connects high school, college, and the world of work through college and industry partnerships, pioneering a new vision for college and career readiness and success. With a 9 – 14 model, the goal for a diverse, unscreened student population is 100 percent completion of an associate degree within six years. “Four months from today, six students are on path to graduate,” said Rashid Davis, the founding principal of P-TECH, in January 2015. Davis opened P-TECH after spending fifteen years in New York City public schools as a teacher, assistant principal, and principal of the Bronx Engineering and Technology Academy (BETA). Under his leadership, BETA rose to #143 on the Newsweek list of 1500 Top American High Schools, also receiving accolades from U.S. News and World Reports and Good Morning America. “Game-changing, homegrown STEM talent can be produced even if students 42 USBE&IT I FALL 2015 www.blackengineer.com
aren’t academically screened,” said Davis, who sees the urban New York City turnaround initiative as a model for the kind of diverse representation corporations need. The majority of the students at P-TECH in Brooklyn are African American and Hispanic males — students that weren’t expected to succeed. “Many entered the school behind in reading and math, but now six of them are ready to graduate this spring two years ahead of schedule,” Davis said. At P-TECH, it is all about open enrollment. Students take college courses as early as their sophomore year, work in teams, and learn critical thinking, presentation skills, and how algebra can be used in the real world. In addition, every student has a mentor. Employees at IBM work with their mentees in a secure online portal to provide guidance, tips, and advice on networking. Many of the students at P-TECH will be the first in their family to graduate from college. With the involvement of higher education, IBM, and the Department of Education, Davis aims to “change generations” through education that is aligned with college and the workplace. “Good leadership is half the battle,” Davis noted. “Mentoring is relevant — pointing the way to what is possible.” P-TECH’s advisory board is tasked with finding paid skills internships for students. This past summer, the lion’s share were from IBM. Building the Technical Pipeline Growing the talent pipeline in early-college high schools goes hand in hand with another IBM program that has had a lot of traction, said Belinda Tang, who was named IBM’s Vice President, Leadership and Diversity in January 2014. During her career at IBM, she has worked in general management, finance, and human resources. Previously, Tang was Vice President, Human Resources, Global Business Services, IBM Growth Markets, based in Shanghai. She was responsible for talent management in IBM’s consulting and application management services business in eight regions: Greater China, ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), India, Korea, Australia, Latin America, Africa and Middle East, and Central and Eastern Europe. IBM’s Technical Pipeline program pairs emerging leaders with IBM coaches and executive sponsors for three years. “The program’s objective is to increase the number of highly qualified diverse candidates for IBM’s top technical leaders: Distinguished Engineers and Fellows,” Tang said. “It begins with an education session at IBM headquarters in Armonk, NY, to In Brooklyn, N.Y., teacher Tanya Spence (right), Principal Rashid Ferrod Davis (left) and IBM Citizenship Vice President Stanley Litow prepare for a class at Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH). align each emerging technical leader with a coach and executive sponsor and continues for at least three years.” IBM sources many candidates from chapters of student-led university organizations like the National Society of Black Engineers, National Black MBA, Society of Women Engineers SHPE, Great Minds in STEM, and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES). All these groups work to increase representation of diverse talent in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) studies and careers. Tang said IBM does not disclose how many African American, Hispanic, women, and other minorities are in the program or work at the multinational technology and consulting company, but she says IBM’s strategy is driven by its people, beliefs, clients, and integrated business. Insights from diversity data is enabling IBM to ensure that recruiting, development, and career promotion programs work well. In addition, Tang said the company has moved beyond inclusion into active engagement of diverse talent at IBM, connecting with them in new ways. Diversity is at the core of IBM throughout its history. “At IBM, we embrace each other’s differences because we each share a common identity — we are all IBMers,” she explained. “We are a global network of individuals unified by purpose, values, and practices. We draw on the unique experiences, capabilities, and expertise of IBMers around the world to reimagine how the world works. IBM diversity is the source of collective and varied intelligence, which when regularly and actively engaged, enables innovation that matters for our company and the world.” Diversity exists in infinite dimensions, she added. It has evolved past gender, race, religion, and sexual orientation to include “dimensions,” including generations, culture, countries, knowledge, and expertise, just to name a few. “Our globally interconnected society produces an infinite number of interactions crossing what can now be defined as artificial barriers to engagement,” she said. IBM is a leading provider of global enterprise technology, hosting, and consulting services in areas ranging from cognitive computing to nanotechnology. IBM has approximately 380,000 employees working in 170 countries. As of 2013 the company held the record for most patents generated by a business for 22 consecutive years. Its employees have garnered five Nobel Prizes, six Turing Awards, ten National Medals of Technology, and five National Medals of Science. www.blackengineer.com USBE&IT I FALL 2015 43
Page 1 and 2: AD L-3
Page 3 and 4: TS Volume 39 Number 2 Walking the W
Page 5 and 6: Letters to the Publisher Thank you
Page 8 and 9: PROFILES IN INNOVATION We celebrate
Page 11 and 12: PROFILES IN INNOVATION One on One H
Page 13 and 14: USBE&IT: Looking ahead, do you see
Page 15 and 16: USBE&IT Publisher Tyrone Taborn pos
Page 17 and 18: MICHAEL F. MAHONEY • President an
Page 20 and 21: EDUCATION xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Page 22 and 23: Focused on diversity hiring and rec
Page 24 and 25: Walking the Walk Top Supporters of
Page 31 and 32: BEST PRACTICES FOR SUCCESS Some of
Page 33 and 34: “We have the space identified,”
Page 35 and 36: Dr. Eugene M. DeLoatch Dean and Pro
Page 38 and 39: Are you technically talented? Mitre
Page 40 and 41: BEST PRACTICES FOR SUCCESS Dr. Alve
Page 46 and 47: BEYA 2015 HBCU Deans Connecting EVE
Page 48 and 49: BEYA 2015 HBCU Deans Connecting EVE
Page 50 and 51: Navy Civilian Careers AD
Page 52 and 53: ADVERTORIAL Walking the Walk Histor
Page 54 and 55: The 2015 by M.V. Greene mgreene@ccg
Page 60 and 61: Walking the Walk: 15 ABET-accredite
Page 63 and 64: in-house AD
Page 65 and 66: Walking the Walk Historically Black
Page 77: Tennessee AD

AD

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?