Stevens launches new enterprise computing initiative

HOBOKEN, N.J. — The Stevens Enterprise Computing Initiative gets its official launch with a reception at the Midtown Executive Club in Manhattan on Tuesday, November 28, 6 to 8 p.m. Business representatives interested in hiring graduates of Stevens enterprise computing programs, and students interested in participating in the program, are invited to a buffet dinner and short presentation announcing the Graduate Certificate in Enterprise Computing in the Department of Computer Science, additional programs in enterprise computing that are being developed, and the Stevens Enterprise Computing Scholarship Fund (SECSF).

Stevens is developing new graduate and undergraduate programs in enterprise computing and will offer a new graduate certificate program of interrelated courses in enterprise computing, including the development of both the deep technical skills required for enterprise computing, and the business skills required of modern IT professionals. Both undergraduates and graduate students may take the courses in the program to earn a Graduate Certificate in Enterprise Computing.

“The enterprise computing initiative at Stevens Institute of Technology is a response to a growing need for large-scale commercial computing skills in the corporate IT environment. This demand is growing fast because of the advantages of centralized large-scale enterprise computing as computing needs expand, and because of the impending retirement of a generation of enterprise computing professionals,” said Dominic Duggan, Chair of Stevens’ Computer Science Department.

Stevens is partnering with business clients to educate the next generation of enterprise computing professionals. These professionals will be comfortable in the heterogeneous IT environment of enterprise computing, including distributed computing, Unix, Windows, z/OS and z/VM.

The backbone of corporate IT is still large mainframe computers, for various reasons including economies of scale, performance and reliability. Although the 1990s saw a move to more decentralized client-server architectures, much of the workload of IT operations stayed on the mainframe. Now various factors are causing a reconsideration of the move to decentralized server operations, and a recentralization of IT operations based on mainframe backends.

“The current generation of people with skills in enterprise computing is retiring, and there is concern about where the next generation of enterprise computing professionals will come from and if they will have the right skill sets,” said Ruth Schwartz, Senior Teaching Professor and Director of the Enterprise Computing Program. Graduates of the Stevens program will be conversant with both the deep technical skills required for systems programming and systems administration on mainframe backends, and also the business skills required of such a professional, including project management, client facing skills, integration and large-scale enterprise software engineering.

Programs in enterprise computing are being developed at both the undergraduate and the graduate level, integrated into the existing computer science curricula so that these programs maintain the high standards established by these curricula. Elements of enterprise computing are being integrated into the existing curricula, and new courses are being developed to support the development of the proper skill sets for this environment.

The event will feature a buffet dinner and presentations from Professor Duggan; Don Resnik, Program Manager of the IBM Academic Initiative–Mainframe Division; and James McClellan, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences.

For more information, please visit www.enterprisecomputing.org.

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.

Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.  

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