Office of External Communications

Houston, TX 77204-5017 Fax; 713/743-8199

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 20, 2004

Contact: Eric Gerber
713/743-8189 (office)
713/617-7130(pager)
egerber@uh.edu

HOUSTON, April 20, 2004 – Continuing its support for a University of Houston program that helps area high schools prepare students for Information Technology careers, the SBC Foundation has given UH another $250,000 grant.

This is the third payment in a four-installment pledge of $1 million to the Houston Area Technology Advancement Center (HATAC) at UH. With this latest installment, SBC Foundation has now donated $750,000.

HATAC works to ensure that the IT courses area high school students are taking reflect the needs of the businesses that may hire them and the requirements of the educational institutions where they may take further instruction.

“The skilled technology workforce of tomorrow begins as the well-trained students of today,” said Pat Bellamy, a founding partner of HATAC. “SBC’s ongoing assistance with this program allows us to make sure that the businesses who hire these students and educators who teach them keep talking to each other and developing a productive feedback loop.”

HATAC has been implementing a technology education model that provides a “ladder” for IT students that begins with coordinated classes in high school then progresses through community colleges and/or four-year universities and beyond to advanced degrees. At any point in the progression, the student can step off the ladder and his skills should be of value in the IT marketplace. And he can return to the ladder at any time for additional training. The result is a well-educated and economically viable personnel pool.

In addition to helping to synchronize the IT curricula with industry needs, HATAC provides stipends to area educators and business mentors to keep their own IT skills current. At UH, HATAC’s programs are being assisted by the C.T. Bauer College of Business, the College of Technology and the Cullen College of Engineering.

HATAC also uses the SBC funding for other technology outreach projects, including sponsoring the annual CIO Executive Summit in which chief information officers from 300 of the country’s top companies meet in Houston to discuss IT issues.

HATAC began as an initiative from the Greater Houston Partnership’s Technology Committee. For more information, visit the Web site http://www.hatac.org/.

For more information about UH visit the university’s ‘Newsroom’ at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom.