Mellon Web Grant Gives MHC Students a Leg Up

One project funded by the Mellon grant was a collaboration between Stephanie Small '99 and Professor of English Bill Quillian on the James Joyce and Critical Theory Web page. It aims to make studying the author's complex works less daunting and more fun.

As the new millennium approaches, the term "literate" has taken on new meanings and expectations for the college students who will come of age in the twenty-first century. A liberal arts education that doesn't include the acquisition of technological literacy and experiences beyond a college's gates no longer equips students to succeed following graduation. A special teaching and technology grant to the College from the Andrew Mellon Foundation is helping MHC students gain technological literacy while they study the liberal arts. And it's making them more marketable to boot!

Student Web technologists who have been trained through the grant have acquired new abilities, enabling them to land internships, summer jobs, and full-time positions following graduation. The 125 students who have participated in the Web program since it began in 1997 have lived out the words of the grant proposal submitted to the Mellon Foundation: "Students working as assistants to faculty or as peer trainers and consultants to users at the Web lab will have the very special experience of a campus job that offers the chance to develop and refine technological skills very relevant and marketable in today's workplace. Besides becoming proficient with Web tools, they will acquire general comfort with technology and its changing nature, building confidence in their ability to adapt to its everyday uses."

Some student Web technologists work as peer teachers and consultants, providing workshops for students on Web-related topics and one-on-one consulting in Dwight Hall's special projects laboratory. Training in Web site design and development is provided.

"I was hired by the Mellon program, through which I was exposed to many new responsibilities, like teaching workshops, working with faculty, and consulting in the labs," says Jhenya Sokolova '01. "It's an awesome job, constantly propelling you to new horizons." When she was home in Moscow for the summer, Sokolova sent her resume to a law firm and was invited for an interview. Although she had been seeking a position dealing with economics, the firm was so impressed with her Web skills that she was hired on the spot to do computer work, which included designing the group's Web site.

Last summer, Stephanie Small '99, who had no experience with Web work prior to her Mellon training, worked at a computer systems, sales, and service company. "I think the exposure to computers [gained as a Web technologist] gave me the courage to pursue a summer job in the computer field and the attitude to get the job," she says. Former student Web technologist Whitney Fraser '98 now works full time at Microsoft. "I talked about [the Mellon work] during my Microsoft interview as experience I've had working with many levels of technological literacy to achieve a goal--a Web site. Now I work with many levels of technological literacy to get people to FTP [File Transfer Protocol--a method for moving files between computers] their data to us."

More positions as student Web consultants should be opening this summer and during the 1999 - 2000 academic year. The summer program will involve working with Web sites for offices across campus, and next year's curriculum-based projects will no doubt span the disciplines. For more information, contact Mary McMahon, x3034 or mcmahon@mtholyoke.edu.

Photograph by Jim Gipe