{"id":6261,"date":"2026-05-19T10:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T14:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/?page_id=6261"},"modified":"2026-05-19T10:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T14:39:08","slug":"tech-literacy-business-savvy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/winter-2023\/features\/tech-literacy-business-savvy\/","title":{"rendered":"Tech Literacy + Business Savvy"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Eliott Grover<\/em>
\nIllustration By Evan Field
\nPhotos by Ginny Kemp
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

The CEO of YouTube majored in history and literature, and the CEO of Nike was an economics major, as was the CEO of PayPal. Slack, a company that has revolutionized day-to-day business operations, was founded by a philosophy major. \"\"<\/p>\n

The fact that some of the most innovative minds working at the crossroads of business and technology hail from a liberal arts background speaks to the versatility such an education provides.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been an IT executive for the majority of my career, and I\u2019ve seen the value that liberal arts students can bring to the technology field,\u201d says Steven Gomes \u201983. \u201cThey bring a critical-thinking aspect to the job as well as the ability to collaborate and use diverse opinions to find creative solutions for business problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet the idea persists in some circles that a liberal arts background leaves a student less prepared for a career in business than a STEM education, and this theory creates unique challenges for liberal arts students entering today\u2019s job market, says Joseph Catrino, executive director of Trinity\u2019s Career and Life Design Center.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Colin Hoeffner \u201923, Destini Watson \u201923, Program Lead Steve Gomes \u201983, and Kristopher Kendall \u201925<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gomes adds, \u201cRight now, a lot of companies use AI and other technologies to screen r\u00e9sum\u00e9s. This means that as a liberal arts student, the chances of getting screened out are higher due to the lack of tech experience on your r\u00e9sum\u00e9. Tech-Edge closes that gap.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tech-Edge, an intensive three-week summer program run out of Trinity\u2019s Innovation Center at Constitution Plaza in downtown Hartford, helps liberal arts students gain technology experience. Developed as part of the Trinity-Infosys Applied Learning Initiative, the collaborative effort aims to bridge the gap between the liberal arts and the future of digital technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s valuable about it is that students get introduced to technology concepts alongside business concepts,\u201d says Gomes, who has served as the program lead since its inception in 2019. \u201cPersonally, the reason I got involved is because I think it\u2019s something that will really benefit students as they move forward in their careers. It opens opportunities for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Psychology major Kaila Dowd \u201925 participated in the Tech-Edge program following her first year at Trinity. She was interested in taking a computer science class as a sophomore and after hearing about Tech-Edge thought the program could give her a head start.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was drawn to it for that academic aspect,\u201d she says, \u201cbut it ended up being a lot more valuable. I learned about all the ways business is connected to technology, and it opened my eyes to all of the different career opportunities we have regardless of our major.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tech-Edge has three components. An academic portion introduces students to concepts such as coding, cybersecurity, and blockchain technology. A business innovation segment exposes students to industry professionals, often alumni, who demonstrate how the concepts students are learning can be applied in real-world situations. Finally, an emphasis on career enhancement helps students position themselves for future success.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Tudor Ionescu \u201925, Program Coordinator for Innovation Initiatives Evan Field, and Duncan Sopko \u201923<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the academic program, students can opt to receive credit for their coursework. The curriculum is rigorous but accessible, according to Associate Professor of Computer Science Ewa Syta, who serves as Tech-Edge\u2019s academic director. Syta notes that tech tends to be intimidating for students without a STEM background. \u201cWe want to break those barriers,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I never want to convey the idea that the liberal arts is not enough. I tell all the students on day one that I have zero plans to turn them into a STEM major. Instead, I want them to gain a valuable skill set to complement their knowledge and interests and to open up opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Syta, who earned a Ph.D. in computer science from Yale University, is a firm believer in the union of liberal arts and technology. \u201cI want students to learn that tech is a key enabler for innovation,\u201d says Syta, who also serves as chair of Trinity\u2019s Computer Science Department. \u201cIt\u2019s a powerful tool that can be used to offer solutions, but it will not solve real-world problems by itself. We want to produce creative students who can harness tech to solve these problems. We don\u2019t need them to be tech experts, but they should be tech literate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The business innovation aspect of Tech-Edge shows students how they can apply their newfound conceptual knowledge. Alumni including Lou Shipley \u201985, a Trinity trustee, and Daniel Krook \u201900 have been instrumental in sharing their experiences during interactive sessions. Shipley, an entrepreneur and former tech CEO who majored in economics at Trinity before earning an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School (HBS), currently serves as a lecturer at HBS and MIT\u2019s Sloan School of Management. Krook, who majored in political science and international studies, is a principal cloud architect at IBM, where he has played a leading role in running Call for Code, a global initiative that inspires developers to create sustainable open-source software solutions for the world\u2019s most pressing problems.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Colin Hoeffner \u201923 and Kristopher Kendall \u201925<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe industry speakers show how understanding and utilizing a small amount of tech can open doors in a number of different ways,\u201d Syta says. \u201cThere are so many different roles\u2014project managers, UX designers, testers. They\u2019re not necessarily computer science people by trade, but they\u2019ve learned how to successfully leverage a relatively small amount of tech alongside their other strengths.\u201d<\/p>\n

The culmination of Tech-Edge is a two-day challenge where students work in small groups to solve a real-world problem. Last summer\u2019s prompt focused on sustainability and elicited a number of creative ideas. One group proposed a campuswide rideshare program to capitalize on the shared migratory patterns of school life. Another developed a virtual reality tour of a nuclear power plant that could be used to educate citizens who are voting on whether to build such a facility in their town.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Kalia Dowd \u201925<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cTheir idea was based on this belief, which I agree with, that once you have firsthand experience with something, you\u2019re much more willing to give it more thought and change your beliefs,\u201d says Syta. \u201cThey designed it in a way that you could take the technology and apply it to any other societal problem or something you\u2019d like to educate people on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starting in 2022, Tech-Edge participants had the option to participate in an eight-week internship following the program. \u201cWe use our tremendously valuable alumni network and other key partners around Hartford to line up these opportunities,\u201d says Catrino. Tech-Edge students interned at Aetna, Infosys, and various departments within Trinity.<\/p>\n

Dowd worked with Trinity College\u2019s Office of Information Security, where she improved web content for students and faculty.\u00a0 \u201cAnyone who went into the program wanting an internship came out of the program with an internship,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

In a world where some employers use artificial intelligence to screen r\u00e9sum\u00e9s, a process that Gomes says can negatively affect liberal arts students, this kind of experience is invaluable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink about this,\u201d Catrino says. \u201cYou\u2019ve just finished your first year, and you\u2019ve been accepted into Tech-Edge. You\u2019re going to gain all these tech skills, and then we\u2019re going to get you an internship. Think about the investment you\u2019re making in your future. I look at it as scaling and stackable. The students who completed Tech-Edge got an internship that same summer. What\u2019s next summer going to look like for them? I think it\u2019s going to look even better.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information on Tech-Edge\u2014which is designed for undergraduates and recent graduates from Trinity or from other institutions\u2014please visit the Tech-Edge website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Eliott Grover Illustration By Evan Field Photos by Ginny Kemp The CEO of YouTube majored in history and literature, and the CEO of Nike was an economics major, as was the CEO of PayPal. Slack, a company that has revolutionized day-to-day business operations, was founded by a philosophy major. The fact that some of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"parent":6211,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6261","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTech Literacy + Business Savvy - The Trinity Reporter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/winter-2023\/features\/tech-literacy-business-savvy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tech Literacy + Business Savvy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Eliott Grover Illustration By Evan Field Photos by Ginny Kemp The CEO of YouTube majored in history and literature, and the CEO of Nike was an economics major, as was the CEO of PayPal. 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