ITEC Employees Give Back Through Scholarships
On the second floor of the Twin Rise building, about 50 information technology gurus toil away day after day with little fanfare, providing critical technical support services to the State University of New York (SUNY).
“We’re SUNY ITEC, which stands for the SUNY Information Technology Exchange Center,” explained Brian Dawley, an ITEC programmer/analyst. “We provide services for campuses throughout the SUNY system; we just happen to have our home base at Buffalo State.”
ITEC was founded in 1989 and is a long-running example of how multiple SUNY campuses can successfully share services. ITEC hosts the Banner environment and DegreeWorks platforms for various campuses, and provides other software installation and maintenance services.
Still, ITEC employees hold a special place for their host campus.
“ITEC employees recognize that Buffalo State treats us very well. We really appreciate that and we started a scholarship as one way for us to give back and say ‘thanks,’” said Dawley, who helps coordinate the scholarship program.
The Ron Brown ITEC Scholarship, named in honor of the center’s first chief information officer, was established in 2004 to support students in any degree program who demonstrate excellence in technology.
Since its inception, the scholarship has provided a total of $35,400 to 40 students representing a wide range of majors.
“This scholarship is funded through donations from ITEC employees, along with gifts from several Buffalo State Computing and Technology Services employees,” said Dawley. “We solicit gifts once a year and our employees have always been very generous. A majority of ITEC employees are Buffalo State alumni and they know the importance of scholarships to students who are paying their own bills.”
The deadline to apply for this year’s round of scholarships is March 1 and awards will be announced in April. Applicants must have been enrolled at Buffalo State for the fall 2014 semester to be eligible. Additional information on criteria and application procedures is available at itec.suny.edu/scholarship.
“We want students to know that this scholarship is not just for computer information systems majors. It is for any student, undergraduates or graduate, who will use technology in their future careers,” said Dawley. “Technology is so prevalent across all fields these days—we hope to encourage a lot of students to apply for this scholarship.”