MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY
ITSO...GOOD
Volume 7, Issue 6
March 2014
Java & Jobs 2014
Inside this issue:
Java & Jobs2014
1
Cell Phones in Developing
Nations
3
A Shifting Paradigm in
Education
4
Human Connection Powers
Technology
5
2014-2015 ITSO E-Board
Applications
8
Announcements
8
Winter is coming to an end, and like
the polar vortex that we have experienced recently, the busy recruiting
season is back. With new internship
and job opportunities popping up
around campus every day, companies are looking to fill the last of
these positions before the end of the
school year. What better way to
bring recruiters and students together
than in the AMU Ballrooms for the
seventh annual Java and Jobs Networking event. On February 11th
Marquette IT students had the opportunity to mingle with their peers, enjoy
coffee, fruits and pastries, and network with IT professionals and their
respective organizations. A total
of 28 companies attended the event
while 90 students came to learn more
about these companies and explore
the opportunities they have to offer.
The event opened with words from
Associate Executive Dean McGibany
from the College of Business Administration. He touched upon how much
(Continued on page 2)
“Java & Jobs is a template other disciplines at
Marquette are using because it works so well.”
Executive Assoc. Dean James McGibany
Volume 7, Issue 4
Page 2
Java and Jobs (cont’d)
(Continued from page 1)
of an effort Marquette makes to get
their name out there, as well as its
students. He stated, "Java & Jobs is
a template other disciplines at Marquette are using because it works so
well. Students and employers have an
environment that is a lot less intimidating than a job fair. You are an IT major and the employers are specifically
looking for IT students, so it benefits
both sides."
Groups began to form around tables,
showcasing just how serious Marquette students were about their career search. An employer from Wipfli
and Marquette Alum, Angus
Whitmore, was quoted saying, "It's
good to come back as an alum and
get the chance to network with the
students. I understand how they are
feeling because I was in their shoes
about a year ago." Zachary
Woytych, a junior from Marquette,
was also quoted saying, "This is a
great chance to network, and it helps
Marquette students get a foot in the
door before applying for internships
and jobs. We can be one step above
the competition." Java and Jobs supports the important message to students that networking is essential to
finding the internship or job for
you. Each year, the event provides
students with an excellent opportunity
to expand one's network, learn about
different career options, and discover
how successful employers' have become. This event was not only to gain
a job interview, but to establish relationships that will last for the next
several years, if not beyond.
This year, we would like to especially
thank our generous sponsors of the
event: Accenture, Church Mutual, Ernst
and Young, FIS Global, GE
Healthcare, New Resources Companies, PKWARE, PwC, Robert W. Baird,
ULINE, and Wipfli.
Together wih Biznet which is held in
October, ITSO has helped with endless opportunities and networking for
our Marquette students and we hope
to continue the event's successes for
many years to come!
-Tara McQuillan, Co-President
Thank you to all of the companies that attended this year’s Java & Jobs.
Page 3
ITSO...GOOD
Cell Phones in Developing Nations
From a technology perspective, India
has endless potential due to its everexpanding population and a culture
of innovation, research, and hard
work. This past summer I spent 6
weeks living in India. I spent the majority of my time in a tiny rural village
called Khubvali, which is about an
hour and a half drive from one of the
major technology hubs of India and
the 7th largest city in India, Pune.
Though the village is only about an
hour and a half away from the big
city, in terms of quality of living
standards and access to technology, it
is years behind. Though many of the
homes do have electricity, it goes out
several times a day because there
knows-what type of vegetable dish
for dinner, had my host sisters draw
henna on my arm, used an outhouse,
the works. My host family had a big
sleepover and my host sister invited
over 4 of her friends. Although I tried
to learn the local language, the only
phrase I could ever recall was “Pull
over, I’m carsick,” so you could say
there was a huge language barrier
between me and the 4 giggling 16
year olds. We all slept on a folded
over blanket on the hard-packed dirt
floor. The village slows down after it
gets dark around 8 because there
aren’t lights outside, and everyone
wakes up early to some boisterous
roosters around 6 or 7am.
Though the sleepover
was thousands of miles
from the US, I was reminded of when I had
sleepovers with my
friends when I was
younger. For starters,
my host sister and her friends all had
cell phones. They did a lot of what
my friends and I did when I was
younger, like call a boy somebody
likes and ask him questions over
speaker phone, all while pretending
like the girl who likes him isn’t there.
We even played Tetris on a flipphone.
“Cell phones are a relatively
inexpensive way to connect women
to their families”
are so many homes connected to an
outdated electrical grid. The homes
don’t have running water (or potable
water) or indoor plumbing. Most
families all share one small room,
where everyone from the family
crams into one bed, and those that
can’t fit on the bed sleep on the floor.
I stayed with a family of rice farmers
for part of my trip, which is the most
intense cultural immersion I’ve ever
had. Every moment was a new experience; I ate the spiciest god-only-
The abundance of cell phones in an
impoverished rural village in India
absolutely fascinated me - not only
because I was out in the middle of
nowhere and there wasn’t much access to technology, but also because
cell phones in developing nations
have the potential to greatly improve
the lives of its citizens. My passion,
and my future career aspiration, is
improving the status of women in male
-dominated societies by fostering independence through micro-enterprise
(both in the US and abroad).
Traditionally in India, when a woman
gets married, she leaves her family
and moves in with her in-laws to care
for her husband’s family. I met some
women who only see their families
once a year, and that’s if they’re
lucky. Although the distance between a woman and her family may
not be far geographically, access to
vehicles is scarce and the roads are
filled with potholes and foot-traffic,
(Continued on page 6)
Volume 7, Issue 4
Page 4
A Shifting Paradigm in Education
There is nothing like personal attention and the feeling that another individual is invested in your well being
and future. That is what Marquette
University has provided me in my college experience. It is awesome that I
get to talk to my professors after
class and they even give me time during office hours to answer any additional questions or help me to understand concepts better. During lectures
when I have a question about a topic
that confuses me, I can simply raise
my hand and have that confusion handled on the spot. Not only does it
help me but my classmates benefit
from it as well and professor typically
do all they can do to help you understand by providing examples and
paraphrasing their explanations.
Professors at Marquette are very invested in their students, whether they
are their academic advisor or not,
they help to provide students with
personal and career advice, and life
changing opportunities. That intimate
attention is something that I greatly
valued and is one of the reasons that
I decided to transfer to Marquette.
My former college is an Ivy League
and like most elite schools, professors
were more focused on graduate students and their own careers, classes
are moving online and the personal
attention is lacking in almost every
area.
With technology becoming more and
more incorporated into our daily lives,
it is only growing with the slow introduction of technology in education.
The role of technology in education is
constantly being questioned and is
shaping a new paradigm of education. It could be argued that technology has failed in its promise to transform education. On one hand, the use
of technology in schools and universities is lagging behind the rest of society. On the other hand, the technology, which has been widely adopted in
education, is mainly used to improve
existing teaching practice. For example, PowerPoint
and whiteboards have
come to dominate classrooms,
reinforcing the
lecture–based
class model. But
now that technology has taken over the
classroom, education is now moving
online and away from the classroom
where that personal attention resides.
Many of the country’s top universities
and colleges are offering a growing
number of online courses. As one educational committee at
the University of California at Los Angeles
argued, “we should
just move most of our
introductory courses
“That intimate attention is something that I
greatly valued and is one of the reasons that
I decided to transfer to Marquette. ”
online because they are already
highly impersonal and ineffective.”
But should it stop there? Resources like
MOOC (Mass Open Online Courses),
a list of online courses aimed at unlimited participation and open access
via the web which are typically free,
make that shift in the paradigm of
education more of a reality. Even
Marquette is moving in that direction,
offering more
“distance learning”
courses. A Milwaukee
area editorial featured a MOOC-like
course that the College of Business is offering, Introduction to
Applied Investing. It is
a free online course
that will be taught by
David Krause, director of the Applied
Investment Management program.
Value does lie in online education
including its enlarged accessibility to
a wider range of individuals and its
economical significance in a period of
increased cost consciousness. But does
online education rob students of
learning and the true educational experience? Student attrition rates have
(Continued on page 7)
Page 5
ITSO...GOOD
Human Connection Powers Technology
“Technology is about forging forward new paths
and enhancing existing avenues to underscore
simplicity in our lives.”
Nine years ago I sat in Dr. Ow’s Introduction to IT course working on a project to enhance a database for the
Milwaukee World Trade Center. My
working group had an interesting
composition of international affairs,
business, and communications majors.
By the end of the project I was impressed that I had learned as much
from my peers as from the course
itself. Listening to the different approaches to solving a basic technological issue was a fascinating experiment and our collective approaches
resulted in an interactive database
for our client. We were all very
proud of the work we had done once
we reached completion.
In those first few weeks of Intro to IT,
my love affair for technology began.
Suddenly a human resources major
wasn’t just about “getting the thing”
done. My lens was shifting from seeing the transactional knowledge I was
acquiring to seeing larger, systematic
issues. Many of these issues can be
solved with technology. As we continue to use new tools to be more efficient in our jobs, we will get smarter
with respect to how we do our jobs.
As a result, we will need to seize opportunities to learn new skills, meet
new people, and understand how
parallel functions are interacting with
our roles. Approaching your job with
intention and focus is one approach
that will lead to success.
I moved to the Silicon Valley three
years ago seeking opportunities to
understand how technology influences
our behaviors and the decisions we
make. I have always been fascinated
with why this geography seems to
stride ahead in its ability to sustain
innovation through technology. It has
been fascinating to work alongside
these passionate technologists, entrepreneurs, rebels, and investors. Some
of these individuals go so far to say
that they don’t know what to do when
they grow up - people who have
founded highly successful companies
and have gone on to have careers at
other high tech companies. There is a
commonality about these individuals:
a childlike curiosity and natural drive
to play with what’s possible through
ways to innovate and solve everyday
problems.
Technology is about forging new
paths forward and enhancing existing
avenues to underscore simplicity in our
lives. It’s about creating that connection between human and process -orhuman and value exchange. This is
where I initially had it all wrong: I
thought technology was supposed to
be complicated in order for it to merit
the term “innovation.” There are many
new start-ups that aren’t complicated
at all. Uber, OpenTable, TaskRabbit,
and AirBnB are all everyday lifestyle
solutions to make our routines easier.
Sure there are probably about a million lines of code supporting those
infrastructures, but the ideas themselves are consumable by a non-tech
person. (I’ve heard of folks say, “If
your Grandma can’t understand your
idea it’s not a good idea. I don’t
know if that’s a viable expression in
all scenarios.)
(Continued on page 7)
There is a commonality about these individuals: a childlike curiosity and natural drive to play with what’s possible through ways
to innovate and solve everyday problems.
Page 6
ITSO...GOOD
Cell Phones in Developing Nations (cont’d)
(Continued from page 3)
making travel a slow and dangerous
endeavor. Several used cell phones
to stay connected with their families.
Cell phones are a relatively inexpensive way to connect women to their
families (as opposed to having a
landline or a computer) and provide
access to information that isn’t readily
available in the remote villages. Cell
phones can also help small business
owners by allowing them to make
calls instead of traveling far away to
find out information. If the phone has
Internet access, the possibilities are
even more endless because it can
connect the villages with the rest of
the world.
There is a growing trend of creating
apps that improve people’s lives by
educating them about important issues
or giving them important reminders
and information. For example, a
newly released app called “Nine
Minutes” tutors new mothers about the
pregnancy cycle and maternal health.
Another app called “Worm Attack” is
more like a game and it teaches
about parasites, how to avoid them,
and what to do if you get one. These
apps can be a powerful tool for
women in areas where access to education and healthcare are greatly
limited. These apps certainly aren’t
an end-all solution to the lack of education and healthcare, but they can
help women be more informed and
they are a step in the right direction
for harnessing the power of technology for the betterment of society.
After my trip I had “culture shock”
trying to reintegrate back into my
normal life. I felt overwhelmed by all
the stuff I have and guilty about all
the opportunities I’ve had simply because of where I live and the family I
was born into. I’ll never be able to
forget the pervasive poverty that I
saw and the resilience of families to
do whatever necessary to educate
their children. I returned even more
passionate and enthused about using
my skills as a business major for a
social cause. As IT majors, the possibilities are endless for harnessing
technology for social innovation and
making education accessible to the
masses. Technology isn’t a blanket
solution, and there are certainly barriers to implementing new technologies in developing countries (as well
as the US), but if implemented well,
technology can be an inexpensive
and effective tool for social change.
-Charlotte Clarke,
Senior, information
technology & Entrepreneurship major
‘14.
“India currently has more than 900 million telephone subscribers, 96% of whom are mobile users.
The results of a recent survey showed that India had far more mobile phones than toilets of any kind.”
Page 7
ITSO...GOOD
A Shifting Paradigm in Education (cont’d)
(Continued from page 4)
been argued as an argument against
online education along with concept
of the “slacker.” Courses delivered
solely online may be fine for highly
skilled, highly motivated people, but
they are inappropriate for struggling
students who make up a significant
portion of college enrollment and who
need close contact with instructors to
succeed.
www.insidehighered.com
With this infinite debate ever evolving we must quickly come to a greater
consensus as the power of technology
is only growing and our definition of
the role of it in education is falling
behind. There is nothing like an education where I am able to get the
attention that I want so that I can actually learn as opposed to learning
random facts just to pass an exam. At
a time where we still have the choice
between an education based online
and one based in the classroom, it is
up to you to decide which fits YOU
better. The fact that most of us have
chosen to stay in the
classroom and are
finding greater success as a result of it
says a lot. But is traditional education
what is best?
~Ahmed Hollowell, sophomore, information technology and marketing
major, 2016.
Human Connection Powers Technology (cont’d)
“… that’s really when I started to realize that
even our passions can be realized through
technology and innovation.”
(Continued from page 5)
Last year I had dinner with the CEO
of an up-and-coming start-up. He
asked me who my professional role
models were. I rattled off a few
names assuming it was a quiz; he finished my sentence to say, “Emily,
you’re not any different than any of
those people. Bottom line to me is
what you’re passionate about and
that’s what I want to help you with.” It
was really an inspiring junction for me
because that’s really when I started to
realize that even our passions can be
realized through technology and innovation.
As for me, the rest is still unwritten. I’m
thinking about a few ideas that might
lead to a start-up. Since I don’t have
the skills to code, but I do have the
skills to think about business, operations, and globalization, I’m on the
lookout for technical partners. What’s
important for me in the next few
years is to make sure I understand
who my audience is going to be and
identifying why my solution is their
solution. I’m not in any hurry, however,
during the day I’m working at an exciting hyper growth company Square.
We’re making commerce easy by
making analytics, payments, and operations available to businesses within
a few taps on their gadget. My role
is focusing on benefits strategy and
global expansion within the human
resources function. My very first project was to come up with a solution to
streamline the way we manage a
process. Guess what I did? I went
right back to the
beginning of Intro
to IT course to identify what I wanted
my key reporting
capabilities to be.
Emily Chardac, BusAd ‘06,. MSHR ‘09
People Strategy & Operations,
SQUARE
2014-2015
ITSO E-Board
Applications
JULIA NAPOLATINO
Salesforce:
It's more
than CRM
Are you interesting in running for a position on the 2014
–2015 ITSO E-Board? If so, begin to think of which role
you would like to apply for, and keep an eye out for an
email from ITSO in April with application details!
Julia is the lead solution engineer for Salesforce and a Marquette alumnus. She is coming
to campus to discuss how
Salesforce is changing how
organizations are connecting
with their customers.
E-Board Positions
PRESIDENT
CHIEF EDITOR
VP OF PUBLICITY
VP OF PROGRAMS
VP OF FINANCE
VP OF PLACEMENT AND WEBSITE
VP OF COMMUNITY OUTREACH
If you have questions about a specific position,
please contact Prof. Terence Ow
Tuesday, April 8th @ 6:00pm in DS105
Free Pizza and drinks at the event
This event is jointly organized by ITSO and Marquetting Club
Announcements
April 8
Salesforce.com Presentation
Julia Napolitano
6 pm. DS 105
April 2014
E-Board Applications
Check for information in
this issue.
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see in ITSO...Good, please email
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megan.hauser@mu.edu.
Sign up today! Just fill out
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along with a $15 check
made out to ITSO.
Recruiting Zone:
This space is available for job or internship postings. Please contact Megan at
megan.hauser@mu.edu for more information.
Executive Board (2013-2014)
Katie Kemmerer: Co-President
Tara McQuillan: Co-President
Megan Hauser: Chief Editor
Zhishu Geng: VP of Finance
Amanda Conway: VP of Publicity
Connor McNamara: VP of Programs
Brian Sobon: VP of Membership