University CIO Discusses Challenges of STEM Education

Pat Shier, chief information officer and associate vice chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA), spoke to chapter members at a luncheon in January. His talk primarily focused on the challenges of attracting and keeping science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) students at the rapidly increasing pace of technology. Alaska currently has no STEM-based apprenticeship programs and no defined pathways to educate and guide K-12 students toward STEM careers. Another challenge throughout the state is reaching out to its 15,000 home-schooled students. And once the student embarks on a STEM education at UAA, the next hurdle is to keep them in the program through graduation. Shier said that what a student learns in his or her freshman year of college may be obsolete by junior year because of the rapid changes in industry. Additionally, many students take decent-paying information technology jobs after only two years of college and never complete their bachelor's degree, cutting short their full potential. And finally, Shier discussed the challenges of using technology efficiently throughout all University of Alaska campuses. While efficiencies were found in centralizing server farms and teaching students remotely via virtual classrooms, it remains challenging to put the right technology in the hands of instructors and teach them to use it to enhance the classroom experience. Shier lauded AFCEA for helping to define what STEM means to the community and for supporting STEM exposure and education through school grants.

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