The ETC staff, from left to right, first row: Heather Haley, undergraduate student; Jessica Smith, ETC manager; second row: Carolyn Novak, ETC director; Sarah Huggins, undergraduate student; Dushyanth Maguluru, graduate assistant; David Frazier, ETC manager; Kevin Bowes, graduate assistant; and Bryan Black, undergraduate student;
not pictured: Greg Kitzmiller and Chris Forrester.
The East Tennessee State University Department of Computer and Information Sciences has long been a destination for members of the community who require answers and assistance in technology matters-from difficulty with a computer to the need for a well-designed Web page.
After years of trying to match requests with class projects, department chair Dr. Terry Countermine decided a more long-term solution was required. While the needs of the community could be met on a short-term basis, those that required later follow-up were hindered by a lack of students in the summer or the graduation of the group that had done the original work.
Countermine enlisted the aid of Carolyn Novak, who became director of the ever-evolving ETSU Emerging Technology Center (ETC), a small business created to offer technological assistance while giving students hands-on experience.
When there are inquiries about creating software, building a Web site, setting up a secure network, or researching a unique problem, the staff determines whether the project is appropriate for their organization, and then ETC is ready to serve, in return for a reasonable fee.
To handle the diverse requests received from within the university and from the community at large, Novak enlists the aid of David Frazier and Jessica Smith, the "managers" of ETC; two graduate assistants; many upper-level undergraduates; and faculty members from several disciplines.
Other departments within the ETSU College of Business and Technology, including Marketing and Management and Family and Consumer Sciences, are clients. The University Testing Center asked for assistance so that students can register for standardized tests online and print their confirmations. The Scholarship Office sought help with a software engineering project, and the new ETSU Accelerated Master of Business Administration program will be aided by ETC's expertise.
Off-campus clients include the City of Church Hill, which asked ETC to assume responsibility for an interactive Web page that allows users such services as paying water bills and traffic tickets online.
The Quilt Trail and the Tennessee Technical Center at Elizabethton have also benefited from ETC.
The Regents Online Degree Programs (RODP) is ETC's major client. A service of the Tennessee Board of Regents, ETSU's governing body, RODP offers online courses and degrees to students across the nation. ETC was asked to assist with online surveys-especially students' class evaluations. ETC developed a way to link the evaluations to an outside server so that the responses are truly anonymous. This allows faculty members to see the percentage rate of completed surveys, without knowing whether specific individuals have or have not completed the survey. A color-coded page allows the chief academic officer at an institution to see the current response rate for each individual class.
Self-sufficiency is ETC's goal. Start-up funds from ETSU will dwindle over the next few years, and, thanks to satisfied customers, ETC is on its way to being a solvent small business.
For further information about the Emerging Technology Center, visit http://www-cs.etsu.edu/etc/ or contact Novak at (423) 439-5824 or via novak@etsu.edu.
— Article by Carol Fox, ETSU University Relations
