whitman

Combining Business and Technology

Meet Julia Fontana ’19 G’20
Major: Information Management & Technology
Hometown: Nazareth, PA
High School: Nazareth High School
Activities: iSchool Peer Advisor, NEXIS Research and Innovation Lab, University 100 Student Ambassador

I began my career at Syracuse as a dual student in the iSchool and the Whitman School of Management. During my campus visit, I fell in love with the iSchool and the possibility of a curriculum that combined business and technology. I have always been interested in both areas and Syracuse was the only college I was looking at that had a formalized program where I could pursue both majors simultaneously.

Throughout my time at Syracuse, I have taken full advantage of every opportunity available to me. That’s my biggest piece of advice – there are awesome things happening in the iSchool, so make sure you’re making the most of them!

Collaborative, inviting environment for learning and discovery

The iSchool is more than just a building or college where students take classes. It truly is a community, a family of people, coming together to learn, discover, grow, and help each other.

Unlike any academic environment I’ve experienced before, the iSchool is completely collaborative. Students are encouraged to work together to solve problems and develop solutions. You see this spirit of community most clearly in NEXIS, an entirely student-run research lab located in the iSchool.

NEXIS has provided me with a platform to put what I learned in the classroom into action. It has opened the door to incredible opportunities I would not have otherwise considered.

Opportunities to make lasting alumni connections

As a sophomore, I took a fully-funded trip to New York City to visit the New York headquarters of EY and Microsoft. I participated in hands-on profes

sional development exercises and made lasting connections with Syracuse alumni. My team of students even presented our project to partners at EY!

World-class internship and job prospects

My summer before junior year was spent in Washington, DC at the Federal Reserve Board as an Applications Development + User Experience Intern. Right away I got to work on bug fixes, automation, usability expansion, and participated in client meetings. The work I did made it into production across the entire Federal Reserve Board! This incredible internship was made possible thanks to connections I made at the on-campus iSchool Spring Career Fair.

This internship served as a great way to practice the interpersonal skills I learned through the iSchool. Since I was working with both clients and developers, I had to speak both the technical language of my development team, as well as the business language of our clients. The iSchool taught me the importance of “speaking both languages” and putting it into practice further emphasized my classwork.

Immersion experiences in the real-life business world

During the Spring Break of my senior year, I traveled to the San Francisco Bay Area through the iSchool Immersion Experience program. We visited Syracuse alumni and friends at companies across Silicon Valley and the greater Bay Area. I made 100 new contacts at huge organizations like Google, Uber, Cisco, and Twitter. We even met with startup companies like Density, which was started by iSchool alumni. It was incredible to learn about the tech-driven business culture of the Valley directly from members of the Orange family.

A background in management and technology has prepared me for a future of possibilities. My experiences have strengthened my interpersonal and communication skills and my technical knowledge. More so, I now understand the necessity of these skills in a business world that is growing more technologically-oriented. The iSchool’s flexible curriculum allowed me to take the courses that interest me most. Plus, the school’s abundance of extracurricular involvements have enriched my educational experience. I’ve even decided to spend another year at the iSchool to earn my Master of Science in Information Management through the Fast Track program!

How to Build Genuine Relationships with Alumni

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One of the most rewarding parts about Syracuse University is meeting incredible alumni that were once in the exact same position you are.

I’ve had the opportunity to connect with SU alums from all walks of life. From executives at multi-national corporations to entrepreneurs starting businesses from their parent’s houses. I’ve come to notice they all share a similar trait: an immense passion for Syracuse University.

As a student, you can take advantage of that passion by reaching out to alumni. Here’s a secret: SU alumni love talking to SU students.

You can meet alumni everywhere. During homecoming weekend tons of alumni come back to campus for events. You can also reach out to alumni through LinkedIn, an online professional network. Alumni will also come back to campus throughout the year for recruiting and other events.

Here are few simple things you can do to build genuine relationships with SU Alumni:

When you’re reaching out to an alumni for the first time, don’t do it because you want something

The absolute worst thing you can do when trying to build a real relationships with someone is to reach out to them for the first time and ask for something. It indicates that you’re only interested in what they can do for you.

The best way to start a relationship with an alumni is to reach out and ask to learn more about their career. Set up a quick phone call with them to talk about what they do for a living and how they got there.

It’s easy to tell when you’re talking to someone that’s just interested in getting something from you. Before you start reaching out to people, develop a genuine interest in learning about others.

Keep the relationship going

What’s worse than having no network? Reaching out to a bunch of people and not following up.

The best relationships are developed over time. Keep in touch with the alumni you connect with by following up with them every couple of months. Keep a spreadsheet of the people you’ve talked to and what you talked about. It will help you keep track of your professional relationships.

An easy way to initiate follow-up contact with an alumni is by sharing a news article relating to what you talked about last time you spoke, or even better, a piece of SU news they would care about.

Offer your help

This seems trivial, because how could a student possibly help an established alumni? The point of offering help is less about helping someone on the spot and more about letting the person know you want to help them if and when they need it.

You would be surprised how many people could use your help once you start offering it. Relationships are supposed to be mutually beneficial. Everyone has some sort of knowledge or skill they can share with others. Figure out what that is and distribute it.

Written by Daniel Strauss ’19, a Finance major in the Whitman School of Management. Daniel is a member of the Daily Orange, the SU Investment Club, Delta Sigma Pi, and Syracuse University Enactus.

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Seriously, Don’t Skip Class (especially the 8 am’s!)

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I was not looking forward to 8 a.m. classes when I started college. In fact, I was a little weary of classes in general. I’d heard from some older friends that you go to college and spend four years in giant lecture halls, memorizing information, regurgitating it for a test, and then completely forgetting it. I expected I’d be able to skip a lot of classes and I would never get to know my professors. However, I am almost halfway through my undergraduate education, and I’m glad to say that, at least in my experience, I was very, very wrong about college classes. Here’s a little insight into what I was thinking:

My expectation for college classes:

Ugh, it’s Monday and I have an 8 a.m.

I get up, drink three cups of coffee, throw on a sweatshirt and walk to class. I sit among 80 other kids who are asleep with their eyes open. Our professor talks, and talks and talks. No one asks questions because it’s very uncool to be interested. I secretly text under my desk, but of course no one’s awake, so I curl up and close my eyes. I don’t think I’m going to go on Wednesday. I can basically teach myself all of this. I’ll just show up for the midterm and the final and I’ll be good.

Reality:

It’s Monday and I have an 8 a.m. I get up, drink three cups of coffee, throw on a sweatshirt and walk to class (that’s never changing). I walk into a classroom with 15 other students. We’re all tired, but ready to work. Our professor discusses what the focus is for the day. We spend about half an hour openly discussing the latest topic, and then we break up into two groups and work on our respective PR campaigns–campaigns we are executing for real clients with real goals and real contributions to society. We stay a few extra minutes after class to call our client and plan for what needs to be done for Wednesday.

What a change, right?

As a public relations major, every class I have taken thus far has been goal-oriented and focused on experience. I am currently taking Public Relations Writing in a Digital World, and we are working with Syracuse alum Michael Short, ’10, President of the Global Social Enterprise Institute (GSEI) and CEO of Short Enterprises. The Institute, an initiative of Short Enterprises with more than 250 university and institutional collaborators and projects spread across six continents, provides consulting for socially engaged organizations. Over the past few years, GSEI has had over 100 students and a number of courses involved in their work from the Newhouse, Maxwell and Whitman Schools.

Short and Professor Joe Cunningham have given myself and my classmates the priceless opportunity to essentially intern for a well-respected organization and earn credits simultaneously. We didn’t have to apply. We didn’t have to interview. All we have to do is show up to class and try our best.

I truly love going to a school where the professors not only respect the students, but also encourage us to rise to expectations that we may have never set for ourselves. So if you ever think about skipping your morning classes, think about what you’re missing. It might be in that class you realize a love for what you’re doing, or at the very least perhaps, you may realize that 8 a.m. class offers much more than you expected.

 

Samantha Trombley ’18, is public relations and policy studies major. She is originally from Franklin, CT. Sam is a member of Hill Communications, the on-campus public relations firm. She is also a member of the Girl Code Movement, the women’s club lacrosse team, and the Kappa Alpha Theta women’s fraternity. In her free time she enjoys hiking, volunteering, traveling, and spending time with friends. More blogs from Samantha Trombley.

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