BlackMoney Worldwide, 11/28/11 (Jacqueline Anderson)

Job Separation Trend Runs Counter to Market. Jacqueline S. Anderson had been used to high ratings as a technology manager in the financial industry for 30 years, but once she spoke up about what she saw as mistreatment of one of her subordinates, that changed.  After the technology manager at Charles Schwab filed a discrimination claim with the California Dept. of Fair Employment and a lawsuit in Superior Court, she was abruptly terminated.

Read the rest of the BlackMoney Worldwide article.

NOTE: Jacqueline Anderson is a member of our BDPA Bay Area chapter

South Florida Caribbean News, 11/4/2011 (Larry Quinlan)

Three Jamaicans To Be Honored At Annual Caribbean American Heritage Awards. The Institute of Caribbean Studies will recognize the outstanding accomplishments of three Jamaicans at the 18th Annual Caribbean American Heritage (CARAH) Awards on Friday, Nov. 11th at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, DC ... Larry Quinlan, Chief Information Officer for Deloitte LLP, will receive the Award for Outstanding Contribution to Corporate America.

NOTE: Larry Quinlan is a BETF board member.

Read the rest of the South Florida Caribbean News.

Network World, 11/17/2011 (Earl Pace)

IT Hall of Fame Seeks Nominations. IT trade group CompTIA is now accepting nominations for its 2012 IT Hall of Fame inductees. The hall recognizes IT Innovators and IT Channel stars. The Class of 2011 included Phil Katz, creator of the .zip file format, as well as Earl Pace, founder of Black Data Processing Associates. The CompTIA A+ Originators, those who developed a key certification program, entered the IT Channel wing of the hall this year.

Read the rest of the Network World article.

Comcast Newsmakers, 11/17/2011 (Perry Carter)

Selling the Free State, 11/15/2011 (Mario Armstrong)

Maryland's Digital Ambassador. Like a musician serenading his fans; a pastor rallying his congregation; or a coach motivating his team, watching Mario Armstrong deftly move around a packed auditorium at UMBC Sunday evening was both inspirational and motivational.

Hugging friends and colleagues, coaxing audience participation and preaching passion and ‘positivity’ – the Maryland-based “Digital Lifestyle Expert” – a regular contributor to CNN, NPR and NBC – attracted 300+ people at the end of a long holiday weekend in the name of technology, innovation and opportunity.

Read the rest of the 'Selling the Free State' blog post.

BlackMoney Worldwide, 11/15/2011 (Juan Gilbert)

Clemson's Gilbert Receives Presidential Mentoring Honor, Election Contract. Dr. Juan E. Gilbert, Chair of Human-Centered Computing in the College of Computing at Clemson University, has gained attention from President Obama for his work to increase the number of underrepresented students in math, engineering and science. Gilbert's many discoveries include the African-American Multiple Learning Styles integrated learning system, with a prototype designed to teach algebra in a culturally-responsive way. He was also selected this summer to lead a three-year $4.5 million contract with the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to create accessible voting technology. He is developer of the Prime III universal voting machine, which he presented on during the 10th annual Innovation and Equity symposium in San Francisco in 2010.

Read the rest of the BlackMoney Worldwide article.

The White House, 11/15/2011 (Juan Gilbert)

President Obama Honors Outstanding Science, Math, and Engineering Mentors. President Obama today named nine individuals and eight organizations recipients of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring. The mentors will receive their awards at a White House ceremony later this year.

The Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring, awarded by the White House to individuals and organizations, recognizes the crucial role that mentoring plays in the academic and personal development of students studying science and engineering—particularly those who belong to groups that are underrepresented in these fields. By offering their expertise and encouragement, mentors help prepare the next generation of scientists and engineers while ensuring that tomorrow’s innovators reflect and benefit from the diverse talent of the United States.

One of the award winners is BDPA Greater Columbia member Dr. Juan Gilbert (Clemson University).

See the full list of honorees on the White House website.

CNN, 11/12/2011 (Lisa Chambers, Wayne Hicks, Wesley Williams)

Wesley Williams

Building More Minority Engineers, As Early as Elementary School. As a young teen, Wesley Williams believed his only career option was to work at a local warehouse in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee.

“I wasn’t planning on going to college, I wasn’t planning on graduating high school, I was planning on doing nothing with my life,” he said.

Now, nearly 10 years later, he is a college graduate and an IT administrator and developer.

“I would be either dead or in jail," he said. "Those would have been my options had it not been for BDPA.”

BDPA, formerly known as the Black Data Processing Associates, is a non-profit organization founded to increase the number of minorities in information technology related industries.

In high school, Williams had no interest in academics and spent most of his time hanging out with the wrong crowd. His mother pushed him to join the local BDPA chapter. There, he discovered a love for technology.

Read the rest of the CNN.com article here.

IT Business Net, 11/8/2011 (Terence Hall)

Why IT Drives Success in Business. Combine all the belt-tightening in a down economy with an increasing shift toward the cloud, and you might think IT isn’t as relevant today to small business as it was just a few years ago. But in fact, IT is a critical component to driving success, especially given the growing number of malware and other threats, an increased reliance on mobility, and adoption of more consumer devices into almost every business.

“Not investing in IT infrastructure or applications is a mistake,” says Terence Hall, communications coordinator and senior network engineer at BDPA New York, a nonprofit organization for professionals in computer science and IT. “There can be a large expenditure for maintaining IT, but many companies are now offering lower-cost solutions for SMBs. And if software licensing is an issue, open-source software is a great solution.”

Read the rest of the IT Business Net article.

Salisbury Post, 10/27/2011 (Damein Greatheart, Kenneth Lennon, Milton Pearson, Trevor Stuart, John Thomas)

Grant Seeks to Get More High School Girls Interested in Technology. It’s no secret that there aren’t enough women in the technology field.

But Livingstone College hopes to change that.

The college’s Black Data Processing Associates chapter, or BDPA, has been awarded a $500 grant from the National Center for Women & Information Technology to raise awareness and interest in technology among high school girls. The grant’s official name is Return Path Student Seed Fund.

Read the rest of the Salisbury Post article.

Rochest Post-Bulletin, 10/24/2011 (BDPA Southern Minnesota)

Business Networking and Educational Opportunities. AM Espresso, a monthly business networking breakfast event sponsored by the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce, will run from 7:30 a.m to 9 a.m. on November 4th at 3050 Superior Drive 1900 Ballington Boulevard N.W. in Rochester. The Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA) of Southern Minnesota are The Homestead is hosting this month's gathering.

Soulclap to the Rochester Post-Bulletin for sharing this event information.

The Temple News, 10/2/2011 (Brianna Edwards)

People You Should Know: Brianna Edwards. Not to be overshadowed by the endless number of organizations at Main Campus is the Queer Student Union, which is deeply involved in the GLBT community both inside and outside of Temple. Sophomore advertising major Brianna Edwards holds the position of QSU president and is hoping the organization has an extremely successful year. The Temple News sat down with Edwards to talk about her involvement in QSU and what events organization members have planned for the school year and about National Coming Out Week.

Read the rest of the Temple News interview with Brianna.


NOTE: Brianna Edwards participated in the 2006, 2008 and 2009 national BDPA High School Computer Competition championships as a member of teams trained by BDPA Philadelphia chapter.

Diversity/Careers Magaine, 10/1/2011 (2011 BDPA Conference)

BDPA Career Fair: The GPS of Future Technologists.  BDPA held its thirty-third national technology conference in Chicago this past August, drawing attendees from chapters across the United States.  They were joined by a roster of top technology companies and organizations in a powerful two-day career fair.

Read the full Diversity/Careers article and enjoy over two-dozen photos from the conference.

Diversity/Careers Magaine, 10/1/2011 (Pamela Sexton)

2011 BDPA Conference Offers Guidance & Inspiration. The thirty-third annual national BDPA technology conference and career fair brought more than 700 IT pros, students and corporate supporters together in Chicago this summer. They spent four days attending seminars, panel discussions and awards presentations, and of course they also enjoyed plenty of opportunities for networking.

The conference's Chicago location drew attendees from chapters across the country, as well as a surge of last-minute interest from local job seekers and companies, says conference director Pamela Sexton, an IT exec at HSBC Bank and president of the host Chicago chapter.

Read the rest of the Diversity/Careers article.

PBS News Hour, 9/28/2011 (Milt Haynes)

Inequality Hurts: The Unhealthy Side of Economic Disparity. As part of our series on economic inequality, Paul Solman investigates the health effects that inequality can have on individuals and society. To determine the hidden costs, he speaks with epidemiologists, former six-figure income earners who are chronically unemployed and poor teenagers who struggle with inequality each day.

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

Creating IT Futures Blog, 9/27/2011 (Khalia Braswell, Stephanie Brown, Julius Clark, David Gottlieb, Reginald Jamerson, Dennis Rankin)

Julius Clark

It's Time to Show IT Off. The thing is, if material success is important to a person, then a kid could do a lot worse than to follow a career in information technology (IT). For example, it was recently reported that mobile app developers are pulling in six figures — whether they had a college degree or not.

Six figures for someone in their 20s! Hey, that seems like rap star status to me.

Julius Clark thinks so, too. Clark is the president of the Charlotte (N.C.) Chapter of the Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA), a professional technology organization formed in 1975. I was introduced to Julius over the summer when Creating IT Futures Foundation partnered with BDPA's own foundation to award $10,000 in scholarships.

Read the full Creating IT Futures Blog post.

Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, 9/21/2011 (BDPA Twin Cities)

BDPA Twin Cities Place 5th at National Computer Competition. The Twin Cities Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA) Minnesota teams won first and fifth place at the 2011 National BDPA High School Computer Competition, which was part of the 2011 33rd Annual BDPA Technology Conference held August 3-6 in Chicago.

The members of the High School Computer (HSCC) team were Cedric Cyrus (Como HS), Samantha Spears (Woodbury HS), Jorian Wulf (St. Paul Central HS) and Douglas Callahan (St. Paul Central HS). The Twin Cities Chapter High School Competition Team took fifth place out of 45 teams. The Rochester team won first place, Detroit team placed second, Columbus, Ohio team placed third, and the Atlanta team placed fourth.

Read the rest of the  Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder article.

The Atlanta Post, 9/13/2011 (Kai Dupé)

Why Technology Networks Are Critical for African Americans.  The lack of support networks has been identified as a critical aspect to involving more African Americans in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).  While I agree that this is very important, I do not agree that African Americans lack technology support groups.  I assert that the problem is that the African American community at large is not aware of the networks that do exist.

There are three that I have worked with over the years. I am sure there are others and I am even more certain that most of our people, particularly our young people are not aware of these groups.  I know this because I do quite a bit of public speaking around the country.  When I ask students if they are familiar with The Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA), BiTWiSE, or Blacks In Technology the answer is invariably no.

Read the rest of The Atlanta Post article.

Mason Pulse-Journal, 9/11/2011 (BDPA Cincinnati)

Margo Springs "Keynote Speaker" for Sixteenth Annual BDPA Awards Banquet. BDPA Cincinnati announced that Margo Springs, Chief Information Officer, City of Cincinnati, is keynote speaker for this year's banquet, addressing the theme “Ignite, Inspire, & Empower – The GPS of Future Technologists”.

Read the rest of the Mason Pulse-Journal article.

IT Martini, 9/6/2011 (Ricardo Wilkins)

Top Three Ways to Build Your IT Community. As IT Professionals, we spend many years developing our crafts and investing in our careers. Along the way, we have all been fortunate enough to get help from many sources, including colleagues and mentors who decided to take the time to share their knowledge and experience with us.

As a result, we grow in our profession. Most of us inevitably ask the question – what can I do to give back and make the same investment in others someone made in me? Fortunately, there are many ways in which we can ‘return the favor’ in the IT Community while making a positive impact on our industry.

Read the rest of this IT Martini article.

South Florida Caribbean News, 9/6/2011 (Larry Quinlan)

Honorees Named for 18th Annual Caribbean American Heritage Awards Gala. BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) director Larry Quinlan is among the individuals that will be honored by the Institute of Caribbean Studies (ICS) at the 18th Annual Caribbean American Heritage (CARAH) Awards Gala on November 11, 2011. The elegant affair recognizes individuals of Caribbean descent of accomplished and emerging stature in their field of expertise or who have made outstanding contributions to the community. Larry Quinlan is the Chief Information Officer for Deloitte, a professional services organization. His expertise has helped the company develop and implement a globally recognized strategy to address technology use, application, infrastructure and execution. He serves on the US Executive Committee and chairs the global CIO Council. He will receive the Award for Outstanding Contribution to Corporate America.

Read the full South Florida Caribbean News article.

BDPAtoday Newsletter, 9/1/2011 (BDPA Washington DC)

Newsletter: BDPA Washington DC (Sep 2011)

View more documents from Wayne Hicks

CompTIA Blog, 8/31/2011 (Stephanie Brown, Charles Eaton, Wayne Hicks)

Two Foundations Team Up to Provide Scholarships for Talented Minority Students. By the time she had graduated from Stanford University, Stephanie Brown had already completed internships with Fortune 500 companies Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and Deloitte. She was only 21. Getting connected with BDPA in high school put Stephanie Brown on a learning track that led to a managing stint at Microsoft.

Says Brown: “Here I had all these awesome role models. It was a turning point in my life.”

Brown attributes much of her success to an organization that has been quietly helping African American students succeed going on four decades. Today with chapters in more than 40 cities, the Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA) has been helping middle school and high school students develop interest and acumen in technology fields such as IT in which minorities (and women, for that matter) tend to be under-represented.

Read the full CompTIA Blog post.

PR.com, 8/17/2011 (Renetta English, Earl Pace)

BDPA New York Honored as 2011 Chapter of the Year.  BDPA New York was awarded the 2011 Chapter of the Year Award at the 2011 National BDPA Conference Awards Gala at the Hilton Chicago in Chicago, IL. The award was presented by BDPA co-founder Earl Pace. Accepting on behalf of the chapter was current BDPA New York chapter president Renetta English, who was both "ignited and inspired" by the win, referring to the 2011 Conference theme: Ignite, Inspire & Empower.

Read the rest of the PR.com press release.

Rochester Post-Bulletin, 8/15/2011 (BDPA Southern Minnesota)

Data Processing Group Continues Its Winning Ways. By any measure, they have become an almost dynastic presence in national high school computer competitions. This year has been no different. For the fifth consecutive year and sixth out of seven years, five Rochester students representing the Southern Minnesota chapter of the Black Data Processing Associates claimed first-place in a high school contest that featured 19 teams from across the U.S. The southern Minnesota team won with a score of 871 points, followed by Detroit's 807 points and Columbus (OH)'s 628 points. In three of the nine years that BDPA Southern Minnesota didn't win the competition, it came in second place.

Read the rest of the Rochester Post-Bulletin article.

Rochester Post-Bulletin, 8/12/2011 (BDPA Southern Minnesota)

Rochester Students Win National Computer Competition -- Again. BDPA Southern Minnesota stands for Black Data Processing Associates-Southern Minnesota. It's not the easiest name to remember, but the five high school students who represented the team at this year's national competition make it difficult to forget.

For the fifth consecutive year and sixth out of seven years, the Rochester team took first place in a national contest that measures computer skills. The highlight of the competition is a seven-hour programming project. This year, students were required to create a web application to allow customers to configure and purchase computer orders based on an inventory of electronic parts from multiple vendors.

Click here to read the rest of the Rochester Post-Bulletin article.

Cincinnati.com, 8/10/2011 (BDPA Cincinnati)

Cincinnati HSCC team with their coach Deborah Jackson

BDPA Cincinnati Takes Culturally Diverse Students to National High School Computer Competition Championship in Chicago. Stock market gyrations, debt ceiling debates and the worries over the upcoming Cincinnati Bengals football season have dominated local headlines in recent weeks. Few in our city were focused on the remarkable achievements of Cincinnati-area high school students in a national computer programming competition, or appreciate the training it takes to excel in this intellectual effort.

So the 13th-place finish of Cincinnati's team (out of 45 BDPA chapters) in the National High School Computer Competition (HSCC) Championship sponsored by BDPA didn't draw a lot of attention. But the four team members went through a comprehensive training program with the local BDPA chapter before they pitted their skills against other teams at the national BDPA technology conference in Chicago.

Read the rest of the Cincinnati.com article.

Rix Bits, 8/7/2011 (BDPA Columbus)

BDPA Columbus Earns 3rd Place in National Competition! The results are in! As we close out the 33rd Annual BDPA National Conference and High School Computer Competition, I’m proud to announce that the BDPA Columbus high school team scored THIRD PLACE this year out of 19 participating teams!

Read the rest of the Rix Bits article.

CyberLife Tutors, 7/26/2011 (April Williams)

Black Data Processing Associates Conference Features April M. Williams. The 2011 National Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA) Technology conference will feature April M. Williams, an executive coach and author of “Social Networking Throughout Your Career.” She will present two sessions, 'Creating Buzz Marketing for Professionals' and 'Facebook: Your Chapter PR Friend.'

During these 90 minute sessions, BDPA conference attendees will engage in interactive sessions to promote their professional careers using social networking tools. As a result of these presentations, participants will be armed to promote themselves effectively in the marketplace and demonstrate the value of their skills.

“The days of passive job career management are gone. By using technology to expand our professional networking, we can leverage our connections to reach out to the key people in our industry,” said April M. Williams. “By building bridges and crafting succinct on-target messages, we can market our best qualities.”

Read the rest of the CyberLife Tutors article.

BDPA iRadio Show, 7/26/2011 (Franne McNeal, Michael Robinson)

BDPA iRadio Show interviewed Michael Robinson, General Manager, Microsoft on July 26, 2011.

Michael encouraged BDPA members to recognize the leadership development opportunities that BDPA provides as we are moving up the corporate ladder at our workplace. He also shared the concept of diversity dexterity with the audience and noted it was important in his most recent 4-year stint working for Microsoft on the African continent and beyond.

The interview was conducted by Franne McNeal.