Spotlight on The Northeast Florida CIO Council’s partnership with the University Of North Florida
Did you know?
- There are 1700 engineering and computing students currently at UNF.
- UNF graduated about 180 engineers and 200 computing students last year.
- Thanks to leaders within the Northeast Florida CIO Council, UNF typically has about 60-70 students per year involved in hands-on, computing-related paid internships in the Jacksonville area. Currently, UNF’s Handshake job platform (see below) lists 54 Computer Science internships available in Jacksonville.
What is congruent between these items?
A core focus of our Council is community-based partnerships with local companies who are pioneering technology & innovation.
This focus is mutually beneficial for all in that:
- It provides opportunities for Northeast Florida technology students to have hands-on experience with innovative organizations.
- Allows these students the opportunity to demonstrate insight and value with innovative ways of solving today’s technology and business challenges.
Dr. William Klostermeyer
Dean, College of Computing, Engineering, and Construction at University of North Florida
Encouraging students to look at the great programs at UNF and fulfilling the technology demands of our thriving community.
So how do students know which jobs are in high demand?
The Northeast Florida CIO Council has enabled many face to face sessions with local technical leaders and their teams so that these students can have open and positive conversations regarding the technical jobs being requisitioned. These meetings offer students the opportunity to learn about real technology demands with highly professional interactions with local technology leaders.
Many of these jobs include:
- Security
- Cloud/hybrid Infrastructure
- Application and Solution Development
- Robotics and Business Intelligence
- Innovation and entrepreneurship
UNF’s School of Computing offers four tracks in its undergraduate curriculum: Computer Science, Information Science, Information Technology (which is really Cybersecurity), and Data Science (started Fall 2020). The Coggin College of Business offers a B.S. in Business Intelligence, beginning Fall 2021.
UNF recognizes that we need to increase our enrollments and production of graduates to serve the talent needs of the community. We are working with high schools to promote our programs and develop our pipeline. Additional scholarships we are able to offer prospective students helps us compete with other universities. Exciting internship opportunities help our students pay for college, become job ready, and promote UNF as great place to pursue their degree.
The Northeast Florida CIO Council continues to grow their partnership with UNF based on internship sources and opportunities. Since 2016 this Council has assisted 64 UNF students inclusive of 12 classes (of 4-6 students each) led by Dale Johnston.
Over the past 4 years this Council has provided 5 scholarships to UNF students and we are looking to provide continued opportunity to our future technology leaders.
