FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jeff Weaver, Melony Ritter
(501) 760.6410 office
press@np.edu
April 1, 2016
INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES CENTER HOSTS CODE.CONNECT.INNOVATE CONFERENCE
Hot Springs, Arkansas – The National Park College (NPC) Innovative Technologies Center will host the Code.Connect.Innovate (CCI) computer science and information technology conference April 7-8 in the Frederick M. Dierks Center for Nursing and Health Sciences. Speakers from two and four-year institutions as well as industry will address a variety of subjects from innovative research and instruction to cyber security and cloud services. Industry partners will be present to review and explain the latest information technology products and services. Event sponsors include, Juniper Networks, Cisco Systems and NWN corporation.
William Polk, Community and Corporate Training Project Coordinator said, “The CCI conference is an opportunity for college educators and staff to connect with Arkansas’ high-tech industries, share ideas, foster best practices and stimulate innovation.”
The two-day event will include keynote speaker, Gary Dowdy, President of Arkansas Academy of Computing. Dowdy teaches an Internet/digital marketing and strategy course for the Executive MBA program at the University of Arkansas, Walton College of Business. He serves on the boards of the Arkansas Academy of Computing and Mid-America Science Museum; and the Board of Visitors for the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts. Gary also serves on Governor Hutchinson’s Task Force for the Computer Science Initiative. He will present Innovation and Trends in the Digital Economy.
Plenary session presenter, Greg Schaffer, is the CEO and founder of First72 Cyber, a cyber-security firm created to help enterprises prepare for, respond to and manage the risk of cyber events. Schaffer will present Cybersecurity Evolution, which traces the evolution of cybersecurity over the last 20 years and the implications of those changes for the next 20 years.
The closing keynote speaker will be John Rathje, Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Officer for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Rathje spent time in Industry as co-founder of a software development company and President/CEO of a national technology advocacy firm. He will present The Internet of Things (IoT), exploring how information technology professionals can add value to their organizations and explore predictions about technology, growth areas and security.
Breakout sessions will follow two tracks for teaching faculty and information technology staff. The faculty track will consider computer science research, instructional content, pedagogy, and the education bridge from K-12 to college. The information technology Staff track will cover subjects such as Campus Networking Solutions, Disaster Recovery, cybersecurity, and various cloud services. The conference agenda also includes panel discussions on building bridges from K-12 to college and identifying skills gaps and training needs for information technology personnel. The conference schedule and registration information can be found at np.edu/itc .
