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A random sampling of IT's Class of '97
by Chris Lee
One week before finals and two weeks before spring break, the mood on campus is always a delicate mixture of anxiety, excitement, relief, and fear. For those students who will be graduating in June, the ante has been upped even more. Questions like, "Do I really have all my credits?", "Have I really filled out all the necessary paperwork?", and "Do I really, really only have one more quarter left in my college career?" are just the tip of the tassel for students about to be thrust into the so-called real world.
It's no secret: To graduate from the University of Minnesota in four years, regardless of your major, is an accomplishment requiring focus, discipline, organization, and hard work--Institute of Technology students like the four interviewed for this article can vouch for that.
"You pretty much have to know coming in to get out in four years," says Beth Lenz. Lenz, a chemical engineering major originally from Racine, Wis., was certain of her choice of major from the very beginning.
"I knew I wanted to do chemical engineering-or at least I thought I knew I wanted to do chemical engineering-from high school, because I liked chemistry and I liked math and it was kind of a good fit," Lenz says. "And then when I got here, I didn't not like it, so I just kept with it and didn't really think about changing."
Lenz's focus and interest in her studies led her to spend her first two college summers working in a polymer processing area at Johnson Wax back home in Racine--the first summer in research and development and the second in the pilot plant. She gained further work experience during her sophomore year by participating in an internship through the Supercomputer Institute, working with a professor in the chemical engineering department to model gas flow in zeolites.
"It was pretty good experience to get to know the department and kind of get in with chemical engineering," she says. "And then this past summer I had an internship with General Mills, and I was making cereal."
Cereal?
"Heck yeah!" she says, explaining, "I wasn't working on an established cereal, but I was working on trying to add different ingredients to make it puff larger-because people like better puffing in their cereal."
Whether or not Lenz can stomach much cereal after spending so much time making it will be tested soon, for Lenz has accepted a position with the company famous for the Trix rabbit, Wheaties, and Lucky Charms. But Lenz already has plans to return to school someday, for possibly an MBA or a master's in food science. "I need to work for a couple years and figure out what would best help my career, " she says. "But it will be something, because I just can't quite let go of education. I really like to learn."
Dave Litfin really likes to learn too, and in June he will graduate with a master's degree in electrical engineering. Having far surpassed the four-year plan, Litfin describes his higher education experiences to be an "off-and-on college career."
"I seriously started taking classes part time and working full time and I did that for a long period of time," says Litfin. "I got to a point where I was just making the transition to upper division and it was evident that years go passing by and you just don't get anywhere, so I quit my job that I'd been working for 14 years and I started going to school full time, and that was three years ago this January. So I finished my [bachelor's] and essentially a master's in three years. I've just been really working hard at it."
Litfin has worked on microelectronics and integrated circuits, experience that has led him to a position with Bloomington-based VTC, makers of integrated circuits for computer hard drives. While many graduates are looking forward to a little transition time between graduation and work, Litfin started his work with VTC at the end of March, finishing his master's degree simultaneously. But the learning won't stop there.
"I'd love to get a Ph.D. There's just so much stuff that I want to know," Litfin says. "The bad thing about being a master's [student] is things are just starting to tie together and you're starting to see the whole connected picture. But I can't spend any more time in school. I do plan to study on my own, to learn some things that I want to learn. I know the route to take. I've been working in a research lab long enough that if there's anything I want to know, I'll go out and learn it."
Chris Blume is a computer science major whose studies focused on human-computer interaction. He used the experience and connections he gained in college to line up a satisfying job at Cargill after graduation.
"I've been studying a lot about the graphical interface, the way people learn, the way people process and view information, and it's pretty wide-ranging," he says. Blume, originally a CLA major in speech communications, took several psychology classes to complement his computer science major and managed to do the IT program in only three and a half years. Blume also made the most of networking while in IT.
"I ended up going through my own personal contacts and got an internship at Cargill [in Minnetonka], and through that they offered me the full-time position." Next on Blume's horizon is Edyville, Iowa, home to the Cargill plant where he will be working. And while Blume admits that IT was positive yet difficult, he feels quite prepared for what the future holds.
"I think one of the biggest things I found in the workplace is that IT generally is very well-regarded," says Blume. "It's hard to say about the computer science department because they're going through so many changes right now, they're pumping all the money into it. I think in a couple of years it'll be right up there with anybody else, but I think they took a little bit longer to develop than others around the country."
Blume also hopes and plans to go back to school eventually, but that will all depend on the directions his career goes in. Whether or not the University of Minnesota will play a part in those future plans is still unknown, but he is grateful for what he has learned here.
"The one thing that probably got me the job at Cargill was the problem solving skills I learned here in IT," he says. "I'm very happy."
Also happy to be graduating in June is Danette Decker, a mechanical engineering major whose studies included an emphasis on industrial engineering and operations relations. Decker will be moving to St. Louis and starting a position with Andersen Consulting in mid-July.
"I'm going to be a process analyst," she says. "I believe that I will be doing interface between programs and what companies want a program to look like, and so they're set up so that the interfaces are correct." Decker is somewhat uncertain about all the specifics of her job, but seven weeks of training should answer those questions and others. "The company seems great, there's a lot of young people and there's a lot of community within."
Decker has been involved with the University community for most of her time in college. A member of Plumb Bob, she is involved in planning the annual IT Week festivities.
"We just have a blast," Decker says. "There's nothing better than the people you meet in a group [like this]. It gives you a chance to meet people outside of your major and get the interaction. Anybody, anybody in general, should get involved, because it makes the 'U' a much friendlier place. You know, 40,000 people is a big place, and it's all what you make of it."
In addition to her studies and work with Plumb Bob-an honorary leadership society started at the University in the early 1900s-Decker has been "co-oping" with Ellerbe Becket, an architectural engineering company based in downtown Minneapolis.
"Co-op is where you work every other quarter," explains Decker. "Essentially you start out learning the business. They're [Ellerbe Becket] architectural engineering, which means we do heating, ventilation systems, plumbing, piping, the whole works for buildings-which I didn't even know was mechanical engineering! [After my] first quarter there I couldn't walk into a building and not look at the ceiling because there's so much in ceiling space. I know way more than I ever needed to know about buildings," she says with a laugh.
So what else do all of these graduating IT students have in common besides the approaching ceremony that will put degrees in their hands and send them out to apply their talents in their respective jobs?
First, they all found the IT Career Services office to be a great help in their job searches. They also, however, recognize and advise that students have to put out an effort themselves.
"They [IT Career Services] have so many companies coming in there, and if you just make the effort to go in and have your resume on file and do all the interviews and stuff like that, it's great," says Lenz.
Litfin also credits the IT Career Services office (located at 50 Lind Hall) for helping him in his job search. "They've got a really good system there, that's how I got my job," he says.
These graduating students also had much to say about the University and how it has helped prepare them for the careers they are about to embark on. They did, however, find some room for improvement.
"I love the University and have had great experiences, and I think that IT is really good," says Decker. "But we need more females in IT. My classes are 10 to 25 percent female." Decker acknowledges that the lack of women in science fields has been a problem that the University isn't necessarily accountable for. She also believes that the future looks brighter in this area.
"The whole philosophy of teaching younger students, and that goes for both boys and girls, has changed, and now-no matter what you are-you can accomplish anything. And that's not only being taught in the home now, but also in school. I can remember reading those problems of like, 'Jeffrey the scientist does this' and 'Suzy the homemaker does that,' which is . . . ugh!" She shakes her head in disbelief, but is also pleased that things are definitely changing-her own graduation evidence itself. And her advice to current and future students here at the University?
"You need to get involved," says Decker. "Do some of the fun stuff."
