The Rural Information Technology Alliance (RITA) is a consortium of four community colleges funded by a $18 million Department of Labor grant to develop IT training programs to meet the needs of rural communities. RITA aims to increase enrollment in its programs through innovative curriculum, support services, and partnerships with local employers. It has ambitious goals to serve over 1,000 students, help over 600 complete credentials, and place over 600 in jobs or with increased wages by the end of the grant period in 2017.

1. Rural Information Technology Alliance:
Growing and Keeping IT Talent
Michael J. Olesen
August 11, 2016

2. Brainerd & Staples
Gainesville, TXPine City Lead Institution
Willmar & Hutchinson
The Partners

3. Department of Labor Funded
• Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College
Career Training (TAACCCT) grant – Round 3
• Program focuses on:
• Workers Displaced or could be displaced by
foreign trade
• But can serve others as well
• 18 million, four year, award
• Awarded October 1, 2013
• One of fifty-seven awards totaling $474.5 million
• Programmatic efforts end March 31, 2017

4. What $18 million over 4 years buys
• Really three and a half years – program support ends
March 31, 2017
• Hardware and Software
• Certification Programs
• Curriculum development i.e. faculty time
• Faculty development and training
• Student recruitment, retention and placement
• Industry, community, and other stakeholder outreach
• Data collection assessment and evaluation
• Programmatic guidance and administration

5. Market Demand
A personal perspective

6. The Why: Market Demands
Identified by Local Industry
• VoIP
• Video Skills
• Vendor Certifications
• Cybersecurity
• Data Management
• Networking and Interoperability
• Virtualization Administration
• Modeling Skills
• Adaptability – the employee not the technology

7. The Economic Development
Landscape
• Communities with connectivity
• Rural Broadband Initiatives
• Locations on major interstates
• Quality of life
• Companies looking to relocate
• Demand in IT, Healthcare, Finance
• Deficit of IT workers
• IT wages higher on average, but lower than urban
areas

8. The Demand for the Skills
Employment Projections 2010-2020 Central Minnesota North Texas
Industry/Occupations % Change 2010 - 2020
Total, All Industries 18.30% 22%
Computer & Information Systems Managers 18.50% 22%
Management Analysts 17.60% 32%
Computer Systems Analysts 13.90% 61%
Computer Programmers 17.60% 41%
Software Developers, Applications 17.00% 25%
Software Developers, Systems Software 46.20% 32%
Network & Computer Systems Administrators 24.20% 31%
Info Security Analysts, Web Developers 18.20% 29%
Sources: QCEW Employees & Non-QCEW Employees - EMSI 2013.2 Class of Worker and DEED

9. The RITA vision
Meet the evolving information technology
needs of rural communities by offering
educational programs to students in high-
demand information technology areas
through innovative and sustainable
partnerships among participating
community colleges with industry and other
stakeholders.

10. The RITA mission
The Rural Information Technology Alliance advances workforce development in
rural communities by preparing students for in-demand information technology
opportunities in IT networking, mobile applications, databases, computing
technology, and cybersecurity. It will:
• Develop innovative information technology curriculum that incorporates a
variety of novel instructional delivery approaches and that builds on the
strengths of all educational partners
• Provide practical, relevant courses and experiences that prepare students for
real-world challenges
• Provide exceptional support for students throughout the program and
including integrated student services
• Foster continuous dialogue among all stakeholders with the aim of
strengthening educational offerings

11. FORCE FIELD ANALYSIS
Desired Change
More students enrolled in RITA’s IT programs
DRIVING FORCES
Forces favoring change
RESTRAINING FORCES
Forces resisting change
Lack of awareness of programs
Misperception that jobs require 4-yr degree
Perceptions about the nature of the work
Little K-12 pipeline cultivation
Misperception that jobs not in local area
New programs
Local employer demand
RITA-funded improvements
Institutional will
We are currently working on reducing
these barriers to increased enrollment.

12. Nationally . . .
60% of college students are women
40% are people of color
ENROLLMENT CHALLENGES
IT programs across the country do not
reflect student demographics
We need to implement strategies
to help remedy this imbalance.

13. Programmatic Focus
• Application Development
• Mobile Apps (Android and Apple)
• Database Management
• Application Security
• Web Development
• Networking / Cybersecurity
• Microsoft Certification
• Cisco Certification
• Includes VoIP
• Computing Technology and Support

14. Shared, coordinated, integrated curriculum
Hybrid and online learning
Contextualized learning
Wrap around student services
Virtualized teaching of IT skills
Support for certifications
Stacked and latticed credentials
Novel Approaches to IT Learning

15. Students first!
Know every
student
by name and
story

16. Ambitious Goals
• 1,100 participants served (1,220 as 6/30/16)
• 630 completers (124 as of 6/30/16)
• 415 earned credentials (462 as of 6/30/16)
• 620 employed (To be determined)
• 430 with
increased
wages (TBD)

17. Digging Deeper
• 212% increase in visitors to PTCC IT web pages
• 100% increase in IT applications at PTC
• Retention at CLC increased to 35%
• 50% increase in graduations
at CLC

18. The Hardware to Make it Happen
• Cisco Networking Equipment
• Workstation upgrades
• Android and Apple Devices
• Virtual server and vmWare

19. Virtualization

20. Shared Virtualization Resources
• Housed at Ridgewater College
• Available all consortium
• In partnership with VMware and Lenovo
• Virtual desktops (e.g., Win7, Win8, Mac OS,
Linux)
• Virtual server environments (e.g., Win
Server 2008, Exchange, Oracle)
• Applications
• Virtual environments that instructors can
teach from and provide break/fix
environments

21. A Resource for the Future
QTY Appliances and Software
16 ThinkServer RD650 2x Intel Xeon ES-2660 v2 Processors, 192GB of Memory, 7- 3TB 3.5"
7200 RPM SATA, 1-800GB Solid State Drive, X520 10GB Ethernet
32 Academic VMware vCloud Suite 5 Advanced Each vCloud Advanced Suite contains vSphere
5 Enterprise Plus, vCloud Director, vCloud Networking and Security, vCenter Operations
Management Suite Advanced and vCloud Automation Center Advanced. SnS is required. Only
96 Academic Production Support/Subscription VMware vCloud Suite 5 Advanced for 1 year
Technical Support, 24 Hour Sev 1 Support -- 7 days a week.
32 Academic VMware NSX for vSphere - vCloud Suite Add-on per Processor
96 Academic Production Support/Subscription VMware NSX for vSphere - vCloud Suite Add-on
per Processor
96 Academic Production Support/Subscription for VMware Virtual SAN 5 for 1 processor
200 Deep Security-Anti-malware per Desktop (VM) 51-250 Users

22. Connecting with our communities

23. Underrepresented Populations
• Rural Minnesota is facing Population Declines
• Long Term Trend
• Willmar Stable, Hutchinson growing as an exurban
community, but slowly. Everywhere else is declining in
population

24. Strategy To Address
• Cultural Competency Training
• Reaching Out To New Populations
• Somali
• Somali Star
• Latino
• Azteca
• Micronesians In Milan
• Burmese/Karen
• Church

25. Some Institutional Barriers
Very Little Interactions with Underrepresented Populations
A Lack of Cultural Competence
Slowness to embrace new populations
Virtually No Diversity in the Staff & Faculty

26. Faculty development
• Cisco certification
• Cybersecurity training
• Faculty curriculum development workshop
• Instructional design and online learning
workshop
• Instructional design and online learning support
• Subject Matter expert review
• National conferences

27. Industry Partners

29. https://techreadyhack.com
In May, CLC hosted, and co-sponsored a social
hackathon. The daylong event leveraged development
and design thinking to community-based projects. For
more information see:

30. The Rural Information Technology Alliance is a four community college consortium involving Pine
Technical and Community College, as well as Central Lakes College, Ridgewater College, and North
Central Texas College, funded by the Department of Labor through the Trade Adjustment Assistance
Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grant program. This product was created by the
grantee and does not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Labor. The
U.S. Department of Labor makes no guarantees, warranties, or assurances of any kind, express or
implied, with respect to such information, including any information on linked sites and including,
but not limited to, accuracy of the information or its completeness, timeliness, usefulness, adequacy,
continued availability or ownership.
Minnesota State Colleges and Universities is committed to a policy of nondiscrimination in employment and education
opportunity. No person shall be discriminated against in the terms and conditions of employment, personnel practices,
or access to and participation in, programs, services, and activities with regard to race, sex, color, creed, religion, age,
national origin, disability, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, or sexual orientation. In addition,
discrimination in employment based on membership or activity in a local commission as defined by law is prohibited.
The fine print

31. RitaConsortium.org
Michael J. Olesen
Director
Rural Information Technology Alliance (RITA)
651-274-9982 (cell)
olesenm@pine.edu
olesen@ritaconsortium.org
Thank You