West Virginia Executive Fall 2019 | Page 53

Learn and Earn at WVU Parkersburg WVU Parkersburg’s computer and information technology (CIT) students have the opportunity to gain real-world work experience while earning their degrees. The Ntiva Service Desk Academy, located on campus in the Caperton Center for Applied Technology, enables students in the college’s CIT Learn and Earn program to work remotely for the Washington, D.C.-based tech company while completing their associate degree. Through this new partnership, students are provided the opportunity to work with customers on IT requests, technical issues and projects in a live, fully functional, professional IT service desk environment. Participants earn $16 an hour and may work up to 1,200 hours during the internship period. Ntiva employees work alongside the students to train and mentor those selected for the program. “We are pleased to partner with Ntiva to offer this one-of-a- kind internship opportunity to our CIT students,” says WVU Parkersburg STEM Instructor Doug Rhodes. “It is very exciting to have the service desk located in the same building where our students are learning. It not only helps the students hired by Ntiva, but all our CIT students, to better understand what a modern service desk looks like, how it operates and the skills we are teaching in the classroom.” (304) 424-8000 | www.wvup.edu 300 Campus Drive, Parkersburg, WV 26104 SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION