March 19 panel to explore the successful careers of IST alumnae

March 19 panel to explore the successful careers of IST alumnaeMarch 15, 2004Edward Byrnesedbyrnes@syr.edu

Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies (IST) and Women in Information Technology (WIT) are hosting an Alumni Career Panel, March 19 from 3:30-5 p.m. in Room 4-201 of the Center for Science and Technology. A reception will follow. The event is free and open to the public.

An all-female panel of five IST alumni will discuss the professional positions they hold and the factors that they feel helped them attain such positions and become successful. Panelists will discuss their education, internship experience, leadership experience, mentors and faculty who made a difference, and their technical skills, while adding their insights on the future of their field or industry.

“Female IST graduates are finding fulfilling high-level IT jobs all over the globe. Having this panel of alumni here to tell their success stories and give real-life insights into the workplace benefits every student on campus who is about to enter the job market. It especially empowers and tells our female students that they too can be very successful in fields historically predominated by men,” says Barbara Settel, WIT advisor, panel organizer and IST’s director of alumni relations and annual giving. “The panel is the ideal venue to address the primary goal of WIT: to ensure the success of IST’s female students in their chosen careers through mentoring, information-sharing, and increased opportunities to interact with successful women in the field of information management and technology.”

Representing IST graduating classes from 1995-2003 and the fields of consulting, pharmaceuticals, financial services, and engineering, the panelists are: Cui Chen ’97, systems administrator for Vollmer Associates, New York, N.Y.; Shenea Hunt ’02, loan administrator for Citigroup, New York, N.Y.; Katie Conley ’03, of the Pharmaceutical Leadership Development Program at Johnson & Johnson, Doylestown, Pa.; Myra Miller ’95, manager of accounting at ABC Television, New York, N.Y., and; Papiya Gupta ’01, associate at Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., Washington, D.C.

WIT, established in February 2002, is a student-led undergraduate organization dedicated to increasing the participation of women in information technology, and to closing the gender gap in the field. WIT has a three-fold mission: To improve perceptions about women in the IT industry and represent successful alumni; to empower women in the school through programs of support and education; and to increase the enrollment of women in IST. WIT membership is open to all students, faculty and staff.