Portland, Ore.
To help jump-start the economy, OHSU's OGI School of Science & Engineering initiates Technology Bootstrap Program for unemployed technology workers in Oregon.
"For us, this is a tangible way to help jump-start the economy," said Paul Newman, Ph.D., professor of science and technology management in the OGI School of Science & Engineering who developed the scholarship program with Raiton. "In the Portland-metropolitan area alone, unemployment is over 8 percent, and that number is even higher in the technology sector. When we hold evening seminars, half the people (50) that show up are unemployed and trying to network for jobs -- it's really unbelievable how many good people have been displaced by the economic downturn.
"Many of these high-technology folks -- a lot of them software engineers -- are really talented but are struggling right now to find jobs," noted Newman. "These professionals will play a major role in the high-tech industry's recovery, but without sufficient economic resources, many workers will miss out on the top-quality graduate education they need to realize their full potential. We want to help unemployed high-tech workers be in a position of strength when the economy comes back."
Potential scholarship recipients must be unemployed, have a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science in a technology- or business-related field; have worked in a technology-related business for a minimum of two years after earning their undergraduate degree; have been a permanent full-time Oregon resident for at least two years; have worked for an Oregon business for at least six months during the past two years; and be willing to submit a recommendation from a previous technology employer.
Five science and technology management scholarships are expected to be awarded for the Winter 2004 term (registration begins Nov. 10, 2003). Students who receive scholarships may pursue their technology-focused master's in management at a 50 percent reduction in the normal credit-hour cost. The OGI management courses can be taken on the OGI Hillsboro campus, at a satellite classroom in Wilsonville, Ore., or online.
The Technology Bootstrap Program is "one more way the OGI School of Science & Engineering is trying to help Oregon's economy," said Raiton, a former Planar chief financial officer. In July the OGI school launched its Center for Technology Entrepreneurship to support the entrepreneurial environmental in the technology sector and, consequently, create jobs.
Since 1995 OGI's Department of Management in Science and Technology has offered a graduate degree program that has prepared students for leadership roles in technology-driven companies. Students from more than 200 companies in eight countries and 15 states have taken advantage of OGI's innovative technology-focused management courses.
For more information about management courses at OHSU's OGI School of Science & Engineering, go to http://www.ogi.edu/MST.
The OGI School of Science & Engineering (formerly the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science & Technology) became one of four schools of the Oregon Health & Science University in 2001 (see http://www.ogi.edu).
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