There's still not much silicon to be found in the ivory tower. When it comes to technology, higher education is sputtering behind the times. At Georgetown University in Washington, DC, however, a new department is underway to get the campus up to speed on all things digital. There, a small but inspired staff has built a multidisciplinary master's program centered around the social, economic, cultural, and political dimensions of communication, media, and information technology.
It's a mutually beneficial arrangement. With Georgetown behind it, the Communication, Culture, and Technology program has a slew of resources to propel it forward. And CCT hopes to ensure the school's place in the information age. Program manager Katherine Bishop says, "Georgetown needs to show it's paying attention to the wave of the future." And the Center needs a director who can take charge of the whole venture and navigate its course.
"This is an attempt to bring Georgetown into the 21st century - kicking and screaming though it may be," says Bishop. Though in reality the university has supported the cause of the fledgling department, Katherine's comment refers more to how outsiders may perceive the school - with its Jesuit ties and its previous dearth of technology programs. "Many people might not see Georgetown as the most cutting-edge school around."
Of course, students enrolled in the 2-year-old CCT program need plenty of toys to carry out their studies. And to provide them, the department is building the CCT Networked Media Center, which it ambitiously hopes will rival the likes of MIT's Media Lab and Xerox PARC. Thus far, the Center is equipped with 16 Dell Pentium 200 workstations, an NView multimedia projection system, an SGI machine, a Solaris box, and a few Linux boxes.
Though the center will function as a sort of techie playground for CCT's faculty and students, it eventually will serve a more structured purpose, explains Katherine. In addition to being a site for exploration, the facility will house classes for professionals, teaching them about technology and Web design. A consulting firm will also run out of the center to give students practical experience working in the business world. And lastly, plans are in the works to do some local community outreach with K-12 students and nonprofits.
But before the center can become a well-rounded resource, CCT must find a director who can head up these diverse efforts. "This is a brand-new center waiting for someone to light a fire under it and turn it into something amazing," Katherine says. The department is looking for someone who, in Katherine's words, is a "jack of all trades," someone who has experience in an academic setting but can also network with corporate clients and mingle on Capitol Hill to raise funds for the center.
The director will work with CCT's small staff of four and will have an assistant. Candidates should come with a background in information technology and higher education. Knowledge of and experience with digital media and the Internet/Web client-server environment is essential. Management and training experience is required.
Both the center and CCT are housed in a building affectionately referred to as the "Car Barn" at Georgetown. The building, which used to serve as an old trolley switching station, overlooks the Potomac River and M Street, the main shopping sprawl. CCT, however, is in the midst of discussions with architects to relocate to a more glamorous space, with multiple wired classrooms and conference rooms.
Though the Networked Media Center has yet to really get underway, based on CCT's growth so far Katherine anticipates success. In its first two years, the number of applicants to the program has more than doubled, from 80 to 180. "It's hard to imagine the transformation that will happen in the next two years."
This article appeared originally in HotWired.
