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SC Day of Civic Hacking

May 2nd, 2013 | Posted by Whitney Williams in Grow IT | IT-oLogy Defined - (0 Comments)

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Columbia will be one of dozens of cities across the nation participating in the first ever National Day of Civic Hacking, June 1-2, 2013. Yes, that’s two days, not one. Most of the events will be occurring Saturday, June 1, and will run the gamut from pure fun to pure coding (“hacking”). There will be classes at Richland Library and a design competition at the Columbia Museum of Art. At IT-oLogy, coders will continue working overnight in a Hackathon. The computer applications they produce will be unveiled Sunday afternoon. Sponsors include: IT-oLogy, Richland Library, Columbia Museum of Art, EdVenture Children’s Museum, City of Columbia, Richland County, Innovista, University of South Carolina, SC.gov, EngenuitySC, CETi, Columbia Opportunity Resource (COR), Voterheads, and DP Professionals.

Why participate? “Public information” is often the most difficult data to use, although it includes things we want, need, and have a right to know. Learn what what’s available, and how to unlock it. Hang out with others who want to share information to improve our communities.  If you’re up to a challenge, you might actually do something to help in just 24 hours. There will be food, drinks and music. And, to make it another hot weekend in Columbia, we’ll be collaborating with the folks at EdVenture Children’s Museum, which is hosting the Columbia Mini Maker Faire June 1.

Data miners, fact hunters and activists (Richland Library). No technical skills required! Join us for sessions throughout the day. We’ll have beginner classes for Web design, and we’ll show you how to use information that’s already online so you can do things like compare your property taxes or pinpoint hot spots for crimes in your neighborhood.

Designers and dreamers (Columbia Museum of Art). Sessions will be open to all who care about designing the ways people can find and use information.

Makers (EdVenture Children’s Museum). Featuring both established and emerging local “makers,” the Columbia Mini Maker Faire is a family-friendly celebration featuring rockets and robots, DIY science, technology and educational workshops. Maker Faire is an all-ages gathering of tech enthusiasts, crafters, educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, engineers, science clubs, authors, artists and students. All of these “makers” come to Maker Faire to show and share what they make and what they have learned.

Hackathon for Hackers (IT-oLogy). Immerse yourself for 24 hours in a coding project that can help others in Columbia solve problems or better their lives. You’ll be teaming up with others who design in your language. You can join one of the teams on a project that the organizers have launched, or you can assemble your own team for your own project. Projects envisioned by the organizers tentatively include building better tools for searching the collection at the Columbia Museum of Art.

Breaking the code around ‘civic hacking’

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How “national” is the National Day of Civic Hacking? As of mid-April there were about 80 cities in 32 states participating. Also on board were more than a dozen federal government agencies from the National Archives to the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Why is the event is called a “Day” when you say it spans June 1-2? Good question. We’re not sure, but in Columbia most of the activities occur Saturday, June 1. An overnight Hackathon at IT-oLogy will end 1 p.m. Sunday, when the teams’ results are announced.

What’s the “civic” about? We’re concentrating on information that is available to the public through government agencies to solve problems relevant to our communities.

Why will you be celebrating “hacking” — and should I be concerned? We’re glad you asked that question. Many people think of “hacking” as something bad — from mischief to a crime — done by people who know how to use computers and computer languages. But some believe its origins lie with the broader, and older meaning of hacking as “to chop or chip away at something.” The idea here is that you are trying to figure out how to solve a problem, as in “hacking towards a solution.” Our event is named after that broader definition: We think hacking should be for the good of the community.

 

A short history of hacking

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As late as the 1976 edition of The American Heritage Dictionary, “hack” and “hacking” were specifically mentioned in relation to an occupation as an informal way of saying someone was working “as a hack, especially as a taxicab driver or a writer.” That edition of American Heritage makes no mention of computers in relation to “hack” or “hacking.” But this was already changing. A milestone for the computer-related meaning of the word arrived with 1984’s publication of Steven Levy’s book, “Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution.” Levy said hackers should be guided by these principles:

●             Access to computers—and anything which might teach you something about the way the world   works—should be unlimited and total. Always yield to the Hands-on Imperative
●             All information should be free
●             Mistrust authority—promote decentralization.
●             Hackers should be judged by their hacking, not bogus criteria such as degrees, age, race or position.
●             You can create art and beauty on a computer.
●             Computers can change your life for the better.

This type of definition of “hacking” has less to do with the morality of the activity than it does with the values and culture surrounding hacking. If you really want to probe the moral dimensions of hacking, click here and watch some episodes of the PBS cartoon series, Cyberchase.

Here a character called “Motherboard” (or “Mother B.”) rules a world called “cyberspace.” Motherboard is kept working by a technician called “Dr. Marbles.” One day Dr. Marbles creates an assistant called “Hacker,” who turns evil and infects Motherboard’s operating system with a virus. In each episode, Motherboard summons a group of kids to thwart Hacker’s latest attempt to overthrow our wise ruler. While the kids essentially act as “hackers” themselves, the signature line of the show’s best-known character is “That’s THE Hacker to you.”

More information about the South Carolina Day of Civic Hacking can be found at:

Web: http://hackforchange.org/south-carolina-day-civic-hacking-june-1-2-2013
Twitter: www.twitter.com/hackforsc
Facebook: www.facebook.com/HackforSC

Event registrations are at:
http://scdoch.eventbrite.com/

More information about the National Day of Civic Hacking can be found at:
http://hackforchange.org/

 

Guest Post: A Look Back at POSSCON 2013

April 8th, 2013 | Posted by Whitney Williams in Careers | Grow IT | IT-oLogy Defined | World of IT - (0 Comments)

Beginning Wednesday, March 27 at 7:30 am IT-oLogy was a buzz with the energy of hundreds to begin the annual open source conference in Columbia, SC. Professionals itching to get a good seat for the first keynote address filled up on coffee and networked until it was time to take a seat.

Below is a guest post from POSSCON attendee and active IT-oLogy Volunteer, Traci Carnes.

Paddling POSSCON

I’m a duck. After years of searching for my identity, I am relieved to realize this. I reached this conclusion at the 2013 Palmetto Open Source Conference (POSSCON). In case you aren’t aware of POSSCON or even open source software let me give you quick overview. Open Source champions collaboration and transparency in the creation of IT projects for the use of many and design by and for many more. As one POSSCON speaker explained so eloquently, it’s like sharing cookies and the recipe for making and modifying more cookies. And who doesn’t love cookies?

I have worked in business environments for years. And by business environments I mean the most businessy type of industries such as insurance and corporate finance. I also put in my fair share of time in non-profit and small business development. Yet, no matter what type of conference room I found myself or what type of project needed a solution; I always talked tech. My innate desire to bring digital solutions to enterprise growth always sneaks out.

Yet, I noticed that in tech environments I tend to talk about business application. I talk business at tech meetings and tech at business meetings. So, there is always this moment when I move from one environment to the other that I seem to flounder.

Instead of a fish out of water, I concluded that I feel like a bird in water. I flap around, taking deep gulps of new information, trying to fly, trying to swim, all while getting my feet wet. I felt this moment at POSSCON. There I was wearing my name badge with “Insurance” clearly labeling me, yet reveling in all the tech talk. I felt simultaneously at home and lost. At least in those first few hours. Then something began to happen as it usually does. I began connecting with others.

The whole conference pulsated with an energy of creativity and brilliance. Speakers and attendees overflowed with knowledge. I spent most of the first day meeting new people. Developers, programmers, engineers and project managers from all types of industry spilled over with a passion for IT. We were the embodiment of Information Technology, retrieving, transmitting and storing bits of information between us.

The real magic happened for me on day two when my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth while meeting Christian Heilmann, Principal Developer Evangelist for Mozilla Firefox. I finally got the meaning of the phrase, “geeking out.” I totally geeked out. Not one to experience being star struck I am still marveling over it. Then to quickly follow that by meeting the Director of New Media Technologies for the White House, Leigh Heyman. Well, let’s just say that I am still tingling with excitement.

Later, during his keynote speech, when Leigh Heyman referenced his time as one of the “black t-shirt crowd” and the contrast to his current suit wearing position, I realized there are many ducks out there. We need these people willing to wade between business and IT to keep all of us afloat.

You only have two options in enterprise development; stagnate or grow. We can equate this to being a bird in water. You only have two choices there; drown or evolve. Without doubt, digital solutions will continue to grow. How we apply those to economic growth will take a lot of people and organizations, like IT-oLogy, promoting this cross-germination between industry and IT. In that moment of seeking solutions when you realize you can’t swim and you can’t fly, let’s paddle.

Overflow crowd for Drupal 101 & 102 Workshops

February 26th, 2013 | Posted by ToddLewis in Grow IT | IT-oLogy Defined - (0 Comments)

Nearly 20 people attended the Drupal 101 & 102 workshop on Saturday, February 23 at IT-oLogy. Even with the terrible weather outside, attendees of all ages and experience levels gathered in the Distance Learning classroom to learn more.

The purpose of the workshop was to introduce the open source Drupal content management system and framework, in use by about 2% of the world’s websites, and to provide an opportunity to extend upon that baseline knowledge. The course was a combination of the Drupal 101 and 102 classes offered previously at IT-Ology and gave attendees an opportunity to learn a lot in a single day of instruction.

Those in attendance learned to build their own website using Drupal Gardens, and to take advantage of Drupal features such as content types and views to develop custom applications. Tech-savvy people with no programming experience used the point and click interface to build sites and the API/framework allowed programmers to develop unique applications.

The nearly 20 people for this workshop, combined with the 30 attendees for the separate Drupal 101 and 102 workshops earlier in the month, meant more than 50 unique individuals learned more about Drupal in February at IT-oLogy.

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Guest Blog Post: SCANA Internship

January 22nd, 2013 | Posted by Whitney Williams in Grow IT - (0 Comments)

Jack Lee is an international student doing an internship at SCANA corporation.

After a long Christmas break, I returned to SCANA for my spring semester Co-Op. I have to admit to the fact that I truly missed working at SCANA. Everyone welcomed me back when I returned, and I told them how much I had missed them and that I will work extra hard this semester.

I resumed my primary job duties as soon as I stepped into the office. I checked in equipment and imaged more desktop machines. My mentor Mike Taylor taught me how to fix the black square on the computer monitor. My workstation support team leader Mack Anderson taught me how to install a USB video adapter in order to hook up a third monitor to a work station. I also got the chance to meet an old member of the workstation support team, Bryan Bright, who had been out of the office due to a knee surgery. I worked on various projects with my co-workers and gained more knowledge.

I will continue to work hard and I hope I will be hired as a full-time employee in the future.

 

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Guest Post: A Look Back at IT-oLogy Career Fair

December 17th, 2012 | Posted by Emily in Careers | Grow IT - (0 Comments)

Karl McCollester has worked in the IT industry for 16 years. He has been a successful CIO and business executive, leading multi-million dollar product initiatives and overseeing company expansions into new territories. Those experiences provided him with first-hand knowledge of the IT skills gap and the vital role IT-oLogy can play for its partners. Most recently, Karl has led an entrepreneurial team at an Internet startup, Voterheads.com. Karl manages corporate and business partnerships with IT-oLogy.

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When a company’s primary mission is, in short, to get more people into IT jobs, sometimes you do something and think “Why didn’t we do that sooner?” I think that pretty much sums up the Career Fair IT-oLogy held with Tech After 5 and TM Floyd on December 5th.

More than 300 IT job seekers attended the event to find out about jobs from the 30 companies present.  Thanks to Tech After Five, the opportunity went well into the evening, giving both recruiters and job seekers an informal way to make new connections.

IT-oLogy will send out surveys to all attendees and recruiters shortly to make sure the event was valuable to everyone and worth repeating.  Having said that, the initial comments have been encouraging.  One participant raved about the event. “Thanks for a wonderful career fair you hosted yesterday. I thought it was the best one I have ever attended.” One of our employers also followed up after the event: “My team indicated it was very informative and they feel they walked away with a lot of good contacts for future employment opportunities.”

Like anything at IT-oLogy, none of this could have happened without our dedicated staff or our volunteers!  The project team from USC’s IIT program did a great job helping us with outreach to the local universities as well as helping us recruit volunteers from the student body.  We hope they put our IT-oLogy green t-shirts to good use, besides when they’re on traffic safety patrol.

We are excited to have had a chance to launch this idea.  We will work hard over the next few weeks to collect feedback and document the experience so it can be leveraged by our other branches in the future.  If you have an idea for an event or want to get involved if we plan to hold another Career Fair, please reach out to us via out website: http://www.IT-oLogy.org.

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Guest Post: Extra Perks for IT Professionals

December 3rd, 2012 | Posted by Emily in Grow IT - (0 Comments)

Graduate education expert Emma Collins joins the blog today to talk about some of the perks job seekers with computer science and high-tech skills are likely to find in today’s marketplace. Emma writes a number of articles about the intersection of higher education and corporate advancement, many of which can found on this page. Her advice and insight adds depth to the IT jobs series posts of the past few months, and should prove useful to anyone thinking of breaking into this field. 

Making Companies Work for You: Non-Monetary Benefits and a Free MBA

While many of today’s college graduates struggle to find good positions within the competitive job market, employers also struggle to recruit talented workers with requisite technological skills. As a result, many companies and organizations must supplement competitive salaries with non-monetary benefits – additional perks that foster a positive workplace and manage to retain the majority of the firm’s workforce.

In October 2012, Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal Managing Editor Shana Lynch wrote that job applicants with relevant tech skills were in the “highest demand” for top positions. The most desirable proficiency, software development, was a prerequisite for nearly 15,000 job openings nationwide. Quality assurance was another important skill, listed among the criteria for more than 9,000 employment vacancies. Other in-demand competencies include fluency in open-source programming languages (particularly Python, SOAP and Ruby), Android design, and information security. And not surprisingly, employees who possess at least some of these proficiencies stand to earn much higher salaries than their less-skilled counterparts; in 2013, the projected annual earnings for skilled developers will likely fall between $92,750 and $133,500. Salaries in the tech industry are expected to grow by 5.3 percent next year – more than any other industrial sector.

Technological skills are so desirable that employers have begun to offer non-monetary benefits on top of competitive salaries for applicants who meet the criteria. Joyce Slayton of Wired recently noted that several tech companies have already embraced this effective recruitment strategy. Sun Microsystems, for example, rewards employees with dry cleaning, an in-house auto mechanic station that provides free oil changes, on-call physical therapists to address injuries and an expansive company gym. Oracle provides floral delivery, shoe repair and six different on-site restaurants. And Netscape provides “office concierges” who manage employee calendars and travel logistics, in-house dental care, car detailing and massage chairs.

Anne Little, the corporate PR manager for Sun Microsystems, explained that all of these bonus perks for employees ultimately create a more productive workplace environment. By incorporating the personal interests of employees into the professional setting, company leaders are essentially making work more “fun” for their workforce, which has proven to be a highly effective factor in terms of employee retention. While implementing these incentives may represent a significant company investment, the initial costs are typically outweighed by the higher levels of productivity generated by a happier workforce.

Forbes contributor Lisa Quast wrote that the push for more non-monetary incentives was brought on by the recession that first took shape five years ago. Due to necessary financial cutbacks, employers were forced to explore alternative means of not only attracting top applicants, but also retaining their services by keeping office morale high. Asurvey conducted by McKinsey revealed that, for many employees, motivating factors were just as crucial (if not moreso) than financial benefits. Some of the most effective motivators included recognition and praise from company leadership, regular opportunities to meet with top executives (particularly in a one-on-one setting) and opportunities to serve as the team leader for important projects or tasks. “A talent strategy that emphasizes the frequent use of the right non-financial motivators would benefit most companies in bleak times and fair,” the McKinsey survey states. “By acting now, they could exit the downturn stronger than they entered it.”

For this reason, many employers now offer an additional, non-monetary incentives for top company performers: sponsorship in an MBA program. By selecting employees that excel at their work, financing their graduate-level business degree, and mentoring them throughout their coursework, organizational leaders are able to forge a lasting bond with their staff that often leads to high levels of commitment and retention. And according to Jingying Yang of The New York Times, this strategy has become quite popular over the last five years. In 2007, 52 percent of companies surveyed by Business and Legal Reports offered some form of MBA tuition-funding program; three years later, 85 percent of respondents had adopted this measure – and 78 percent of these companies did not reduce educational spending during the recession.

Many of these programs are part-time, allowing the employee to simultaneously earn a degree and contribute to the company. One such program can be found at Target Corporation, one of the nation’s largest employers; workers that are accepted into the MBA tuition-funding program simultaneously work for the company and take classes at the University of Minnesota – Carlton School of Business. Following completion of the program, the MBA recipients must commit to at least two years with Target Corporation before pursuing other positions.

Despite the sagging economy, employees with highly desirable skills are faring quite well in today’s job market. They not only are considered hirable by most major employers, but also stand to earn competitive salaries – and be rewarded with numerous non-monetary benefits – by the companies that hire them.

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Guest Blog Post: SCANA Internship

November 30th, 2012 | Posted by Emily in Grow IT - (0 Comments)
Jack Lee is an international student doing an internship at SCANA Corporation.

This is my third week working for SCANA Corporation. I have to admit that I am really happy that I have a chance to work here. The staff members are friendly, and they treat me like their family. It gives me the feeling that I do belong working for SCANA.

This week is in fact my second full week of work due to the Thanksgiving Holiday last week. I have become more familiar with the application called Magic. Magic is the special application that the work station support team uses. Every day we receive multiple incident reports from different departments within the company, and as work station support staff members, we have to help resolve the issues. Due to the fact that I am still new to the team, I have up to now only taken care of the incidents that involve re-installing computer monitors. However, as the week progressed, I have taken on different incidents and resolved them easily. I am also learning new information technology skills from solving the incidents.  My mentor, Mike Taylor, taught me many new computer skills, such as imaging computers and encrypting the operating system. When I master those skills, I will be able to apply them in the future incidents.

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IT-oLogy Receives Google Community Grant

October 22nd, 2012 | Posted by Emily in Grow IT - (0 Comments)

Award to support student open-source education and participation in SC technology conference

CHARLESTON, S.C. – South Carolina college and high school students will get an insider’s look at open-source technology issues in 2013 thanks to a Google Community Grant. IT-oLogy received $10,000 this quarter from the Google Inc. Charitable Giving Fund at Tides Foundation to fund an educational opportunity for local students.

Students from the College of Charleston and other South Carolina universities and high schools will use grant funds to gain free entry to the Palmetto Open Source Software Conference (POSSCON) in March 2013.

“This grant will enable unprecedented engagement of computer science students in an open-source community, including students from the College of Charleston,” said Dr. Chris Starr, chair of the computer science department at College of Charleston. “Google is stepping up to help us educate computer scientists, 84 percent of whom remain in South Carolina to grow the region’s economy by creating companies and new jobs.”

In 2012, more than 20 colleges and universities attended the Columbia, S.C., event, among hundreds of participants from dozens of other states. Funding from Google will allow approximately 100 students to learn first-hand from industry leaders. POSSCON has made student accessibility a primary focus since its start.

IT-oLogy is a nonprofit organization that is growing the IT talent pipeline to ensure a more educated, skilled workforce. Providing students access to open-source education is an important objective for IT-oLogy to better prepare the future IT workforce.

“IT-oLogy, made up of partners like Google, College of Charleston and Palmetto Computer Labs, continues to prepare the workforce of the 21st Century, and the results are coming in,” said Lonnie Emard, executive director of IT-oLogy. “Key jobs are being filled, more start-up companies are forming and new companies are coming to South Carolina.”

“Google is once again demonstrating their dedication to technology education and students in South Carolina,” said Todd Lewis, chair of POSSCON. “They’ve been a partner for many years, and we are extremely grateful for the continued support.”

Google Community Grants come from the Google Inc. Charitable Giving Fund at Tides Foundation, which offers donor-advised funds, as well as professional philanthropic advice. It supports South Carolina organizations and initiatives that focus on four issues:

  • Technology literacy and innovation
  • Renewable energy innovation
  • Access to high-speed Internet
  • New economy entrepreneurship

“We want to help students reach their full potential by enabling thought-provoking experiences and valuable learning opportunities like this conference,” said Eric Wages, operations manager at the Berkeley County data center. “Training the next generation of technology workers benefits companies like Google and the entire South Carolina community.”

For more information about the Google Community Grants Program, go togoogle.com/datacenter/berkeleycounty and visit the “Community Outreach” page.

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Columbia-based iTs|SC Receives Top Award at International Conference

October 5th, 2012 | Posted by Whitney Williams in Grow IT - (0 Comments)

Association recognized as leading technology-based economic development initiative

Columbia, S.C. – iTs|SC: Columbia’s Insurance Technology & Services Cluster, an initiative managed by New Carolina – South Carolina’s Council on Competitiveness, was selected by the International Economic Development Council to receive the Gold Award for Technology-Based Economic Development programs serving populations of 200,000-500,000. The top honor in the category, the award focuses on economic development efforts that stimulate and support the growth of technology-intensive firms and sectors as the key drivers of prosperity in their communities. The award was accepted today by Tiffany Davis, senior project manager for New Carolina, on behalf of iTs|SC at the IEDC 2012 Annual Conference in Houston.

“This award further solidifies our region’s reputation as an industry leader focused on cultivating high-wage, high-growth insurance technology and services careers and companies here in Columbia and throughout the Midlands,” said City of Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin. “I’m excited to see our city receive this international recognition as a world-class destination for new technology and innovation.”

The announcement comes on the heels of iTs|SC partnering last month with IT-oLogy and Gartner Inc. to host more than 125 information technology, insurance technology, and insurance services professionals for the Big Data Conference. This was the second year of a locally hosted Gartner event tailored towards bringing key leaders and executives together to network, build intellectual capacity and connect to emerging technology topics. This year’s event was again held at the IT-oLogy facility in downtown Columbia, with leading Gartner analysts discussing trends in information technology, including those specific to the insurance industry.

During the morning, premiere Gartner analyst Doug Laney discussed the future of analytics and the economics of information. The afternoon session, led by iTs|SC, featured case studies highlighting Columbia’s competitive advantages in Big Data as applied to the insurance technology and services industry as well as an executive panel on growth and opportunity both in the region and industry. The day included a networking lunch, sponsored by IBM, and a networking reception hosted in partnership with Tech After Five and sponsored by Advanced Automation Consulting, a member of both iTs|SC and IT-oLogy.

The Columbia region is home to one of the nation’s leading insurance technology and services clusters, employing approximately 15,000 insurance technology and services professionals at an average annual salary of $62,000, nearly twice the state average. The industry generates more than $4.9 billion in annual sales with a nearly $6.7 billion total annual economic impact for the state of South Carolina.

iTs|SC will host iTs|Social, the group’s signature quarterly networking event, from 5:30-7:00 p.m. Oct 23. The group will confirm the location at the end of the week on its website and through its mailing list. All professionals in insurance technology and services in the Columbia region are welcome to attend the social. RSVP atwww.its-sc.com/itssocial for the no-cost event.

 

About iTs|SC

iTs|SC: Columbia’s Insurance Technology & Services Cluster, is a New Carolina cluster dedicated to promoting the Greater Columbia area’s wealth of opportunities within the insurance technology and services sector. Representing 10 private sector companies and 5 public partners, its mission is to foster a collaborative environment where the private sector, government, and higher education work to strengthen industry competitiveness, develop a world class talent pool, and enhance Columbia, South Carolina’s reputation as a premier destination for insurance technology and services. Membership is open to any company or organization connected to insurance technology and services. News, events, and information can be found online atwww.its-sc.com.

About New Carolina

New Carolina – South Carolina’s Council on Competitiveness – is a public/private partnership working to increase per capita income and enhance South Carolina’s economic competitiveness through cluster economic development strategy. New Carolina has a proven track record for streamlining and coordinating statewide industry efforts and brings valuable insights to the table for connecting the dots and achieving lasting collaborative economic development solutions. For more information, visit www.newcarolina.org.

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Innovista and American Specialty Health Inc. Create Jobs With Health Technology Innovation Center

October 2nd, 2012 | Posted by Whitney Williams in Grow IT - (0 Comments)

Sharing news from our friends at Innovista!

National health services company American Specialty Health Incorporated (ASH) announced it is teaming up with Innovista at the University of South Carolina to create a health technology innovation center that will bring new jobs to Columbia.

“As technology plays an increasingly larger role in our service capabilities and in the day-to-day lives of people, ASH must deliver innovative and robust capabilities that will allow us to keep up with demand and also grow our services in new ways,” said ASH Chairman and CEO George DeVries. “Our new office site tied to the university campus and our affiliation with USC and Innovista puts us at the center of technology innovation, and will facilitate access to a valuable pool of prospective employees as we develop new web and mobile technology applications.”

ASH recently signed a lease for office space in the “IT-oLogy @ Innovista”-branded building at 1301 Gervais Street and plans to open the office in November. The new office will employ up to 15 IT professionals and will offer internships and job opportunities to students and recent graduates of the university’s computing, information technology, and health sciences programs, as well as to experienced local IT professionals.

“USC places a high priority on engagement with business and industry,” said university President Harris Pastides. “ASH has a national reputation for excellence in health services, and we are excited to collaborate in areas of technology innovation, while expanding the educational and employment opportunities for our students and graduates.”

Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin also praised the move.

“The decision of American Specialty Health to locate to Columbia fuels our growing knowledge economy and reinforces what many already know about our capital city —Columbia is a great place to do business and provides an excellent quality of life,” said Benjamin.

“ASH is thrilled to partner with leading-edge universities like the University of South Carolina,” added DeVries. “We look forward to a long and successful relationship.”

ASH is currently accepting applications for IT professionals to launch the new office. Interested candidates can visit www.ashcompanies.com/sc to see career opportunities and apply online, or email hr@ashn.com.

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