OIT staffers participate in SXSWedu Bill and Melinda Gates Summit

Left to right: Hammler Kenon and Ong De Trevino

By Alan Safai
Technical Writer/Editor, OIT Customer Relations

(March 12, 2015) -- Two UTSA Office of Information Technology (OIT) staff members traveled to Austin this week to participate in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Summit at the SXSWedu Education Expo. The summit brings educators together to discuss ideas and plans for postsecondary student achievement and success.

Vanessa Hammler Kenon, assistant vice provost for IT, and Rosalind Ong De Trevino, CRC project coordinator, represented UTSA and OIT at the South by Southwest event. They attended multiple Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation sessions held on Tuesday and Wednesday, including a session with Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President Joe Biden..

OIT is a recipient of a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation IPAS Grant utilized for GRIP technology projects. The Gates Foundation also sponsored their attendance.

“The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Integrated Planning and Advising (IPAS) grant has offered our staff a wealth of opportunities to work with colleges and universities across the country on ideas for improving technical data collection and utilization to benefit student graduation rates,” Kenon said. “Tuesday’s session with Doctor Biden was interactive, rewarding, and left us all with many issues to contemplate concerning student graduation rates and career success.”

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