FY06 New Look Final Report

Illinois Central College

Contact:
Illinois Central College
Special Academic Services
Lisa White
One College Drive, Room 215E
East Peoria, IL 61635-0001
Phone: (309) 694-4409
lwhite@icc.edu
Contact:
Illinois Central College
Business & Information Systems
Trudee Bremer
One College Drive, Room TC110
East Peoria, IL 61635-0001
Phone: (309) 694-8807
tbremer@icc.edu

Project Title: Get Connected to IT at ICC

Special Population Targeted: Students pursuing nontraditional careers

Implementation Date: March 14, 2006

♦ Self-Study Conclusions
The self-assessment exercise revealed that ICC had not been utilizing its existing
resources to provide outreach and recruitment activities to prospective
nontraditional students. The college has focused on providing assistance and
support to nontraditional students after they have enrolled in programs. Outreach
is critical to increasing the numbers of students participating in nontraditional
programs and has been done in a limited way through mini-grants in the previous
4 years. Research strongly suggests that nontraditional role models play a pivotal
role in a young person’s career choice, as well as exposure to high-skill, high-
wage occupations. Women and young girls have a tendency to underestimate
their abilities in nontraditional fields, especially math and science-related areas,
and often need to experience interactive demonstrations of the skills and abilities
needed for these careers. When they ‘do’ the work, they are able to visualize
themselves in those occupations that they previously thought unavailable to
them. Careers in information technology dominate the lists of fastest-growing
occupations at both the state and national levels. The fields of computer
programming, networking, web development and multimedia offer tremendous
opportunities for women. Although women are attending college at approximately
the same or higher rates than men, they are still choosing education and health
care professions in large percentages. The average age of students at ICC in the
programming, networking, and web development programs is 33. Students who
have been out of high school at least a decade or more are enrolling in these
programs at a much greater rate than recent graduates. ICC would like to target
high school females at this event to inform them of these opportunities. 33% of
the faculty are women in these areas and will serve as excellent role models,
along with the female students who are presently enrolled.
♦ Project Plans
The long-term goal of this project is to increase female participation in college
programs leading to technical and well-paying nontraditional occupations. The
short-term goals, based on our research, are to inform a younger population of
female learners of the multitude of opportunities available in information
technology. We will also broaden the idea that only students interested in math
and science are a good fit for IT careers. Action goals include; inviting girls
enrolled in our high schools to the community college for a conference focusing
on careers in information technology; exposing them to interactive
demonstrations of the coursework in internetworking, computer programming,
web design, and multimedia facilitated by female instructors and students.
We accomplished the short-term and action goals by hosting a conference for 47
high school girls at the college on March 14, 2006. Attached is the summary of
the evaluations that were completed by the participating students.

♦ Support
The Get Connected to IT at ICC conference was a collaboration with ICC’s
Perkins-funded program, Special Academic Services, and the Business &
Information Systems Department at the college. It was also a recruitment activity
designed to introduce and interest high school females in the programs at ICC
that lead to careers in Information Technology.

♦ Outcomes
It is expected that this event will increase our percentage of students
participating in a nontraditional program within the next 2-3 years. Both
sophomore and junior students attended this event.

♦ Activities
The “Get Connected to IT at ICC” conference was held on March 14, 2006. 47
high school females participated and the conference was held in the Technology
Center, the Lecture Recital Hall, and the Multimedia labs at Illinois Central
College. Students attended three interactive workshops in the morning lasting
approximately 35 minutes each. They were given flash drives to begin their day
and were able to save all work to take with them from each session. They were
introduced to computer programming and the new gaming program that ICC will
be offering. They visited gaming sites to see the design work involved in this
growing profession. They went on to the computer networking, or CISCO
program, which was a summary of the type of coursework required for
networking. Students visited the lab to make their own cables and learn the
different applications for each type of cable. From there they went to a session on
website design and did some basic design work. Pizza was served at lunch and
students received several door prizes including posters, mugs, and a free gift of
class at ICC. Students then participated in a panel discussion with women
employed in Information Technology careers. They included a computer
programmer, advertising firm project manager, graphic designer, computer
technician, and a business owner of a technology service company. Students
concluded their day in a multimedia lab working in Adobe Photoshop. All their
work was saved on their own flash drives and taken with them. Attached is the
agenda for the conference.
♦ Sustainability
Sustainability involves a continued focus on connecting the target population with
the community college. This means highlighting nontraditional programs at the
college each year to area high school students. Whether this can be done on a
large or small scale depends on the availability of resources, money and people,
that can be utilized for activities and events each year.

♦ Dissemination
This project was displayed at the Connections conference held in Springfield this
year. Information will also remain available through ICSPS and ICC.

♦ Congratulations
ICC President Associate Dean of Community Outreach
Dr. John S. Erwin Kay Sutton
Illinois Central College Illinois Central College-North Campus
One College Drive, L419 5407 N. University, Cedar 51
East Peoria, IL 61635-0001 Peoria, IL 61635
jerwin@icc.edu ksutton@icc.edu

Associate Dean of Business & Information Systems

Matt Hertzog
Illinois Central College
One College Drive, TC 204
East Peoria, IL 61635-0001
mhertzog@icc.edu

♦ Quantitative Information
47 students participated in this event from 9 different high schools. Faculty and
students from 5 different college programs presented the sessions. There were 6
presenters on the Women in Technology panel discussion and numerous
volunteers who helped from throughout the college. A summary of the
evaluations from participants is attached with this report. All participating
students and faculty received a t-shirt and flash drive as well as a folder full of
information on careers in technology.

♦ Expenditures
(Attachment A)

Please return the completed final report by June 30, 2006

By e-mail at
cjborow@ilstu.edu, or

By mail at
ICSPS, 705 E. Lincoln St., Suite 313, Normal, IL 61761.
Attention: Connie Borowski
 Attachment A

Funding for this project was supplemented by the Perkins grant at Illinois
Central College.

NEW LOOK FY 06 FINAL BUDGET

Illinois Central College

Please indicate
Budget dollar amounts
$0
Salaries
$0
Employee Benefits
$0
Contractual Services
$0
Travel Expenses
Other Expenditures $

Flash Drives 1,320.00

T-shirts 396.05
Door prizes (posters) 77.90
Speaker gifts 106.05
Printing 100.00
$
Total 2,000.00