The best way to foster equality in STEM and beyond is for those who have reached success in less-than-diverse industries to help guide others to follow in their inspiring footsteps. This is the concept behind an IT Pipeline. Dr. Rhonda Talford-Knight, DEI Project Director, chats with Stephen Collins, Executive Director of Technology for Little Miami Schools in the Greater Cincinnati area, about being visible and creating opportunities for all students in a semi-rural district.

Rhonda Telford Knight
There is this great myth that black people will not go to rural communities, because of the population or location. Talk to me about what it means for you as a black male to decide to work in a rural community.

Stephen Collins
I looked at the overall opportunity. Starting my career, I was a pure technologist working for an organization in Appalachian County that helped people get off of public assistance. The desire was to expand my skills into training and facilitating technology to help people. Little Miami aligned with what I wanted to do within the tech space and just happened to be in a semi-rural district.

Rhonda Telford Knight
You just debunked the myth right out of the gate by choosing a semi rural community because of what the job offered. It was recognizing an opportunity to do work you were genuinely committed to because of your previous experiences.

Stephen Collins
I saw the listing on our job board. I was a little hesitant initially, but I thought, let me at least get some experience interviewing. Maybe it will warm me up for some another position.

Rhonda Telford Knight
I love that you were able to say, you know what? How am I going to make a decision about a potential opportunity if I don’t even interview?

Stephen Collins
The internal culture was prevalent very early on. It was a group interview and the staff members were very warm, very welcoming, so I didn’t feel on edge. Even sitting next to the the secretary while waiting to be interviewed, the conversation was easy and flowing to the extent that when they asked her about my presence, it was another green flag. With those variables, even without a true understanding of the total demographics of the organization, their comfort level with African American people let me recognize it would be a safe place for me to work. participate in and contribute.

Rhonda Telford Knight
Here’s what we understand, the majority of the workspaces we’re going to go into are going to be predominantly white. Whether it’s semi-rural, rural, small town, big city. The idea that just because it’s located in a particular environment, it’s going to be a barrier for us to enter is a myth. The more important thing is a level of comfort that allows you to navigate that space as who you are. Have you ever thought about a job or a career opportunity, and said, wait, what are the demographics?

Stephen Collins
I think it’s always a consideration, but not a barrier. There’s a sense of awareness to say, “Hey, what does that look like? Are there gonna be commonalities that I have with other coworkers? If I use a term, are they going to be comfortable or look at me strange to where I have to dissect what they didn’t understand in order to to translate it to a common language.

Rhonda Telford Knight
There are those barriers that exist, we need tools, support, strategies— this is the importance of the IT pipeline. How can you impact increasing the number of folks from historically underrepresented groups in the IT pipeline?

Stephen Collins
My school district is 89%, very predominantly white. When we have opportunities to to hire interns, I make sure to be inclusive with minorities, women, etc encouraging them to apply. I try to be visible within the high school, walking around and being seen so that there is an awareness of an African American employed within the district.

Rhonda Telford Knight
This is something that we know as a strategy as people of color and historically underrepresented groups —being visible.

Stephen Collins
When I walked into the elementary school, the kids would always ask the single black student in the classroom, is that your dad? My non-black counterparts weren’t hearing this from the kids. Soon I would get the smiles and the recognition from the younger kids, as they realized I worked with the school. I decided, let me be a little bit more intentional and go into the middle and high school to be visible, too. I wanted it to be known that there is somebody who is employed on staff who could be a voice if there were concerns.

Rhonda Telford Knight
You’ve implemented one of the strategies of the DEI IT pipeline— helping children understand it’s an opportunity. They need to see us. Visibility is sometimes just showing up in the rooms, even if that first question is, “Is that your dad?” It’s a safe starting point, but it also gives you that marker that lets you know what level of thinking is going on. Children need to see us in their spaces, especially in high school when they’re making those decisions about what to do or where to go for school.

Stephen Collins
As the Director of Technology, I’ve worked on the administrative side sharing what University of Cincinnati is offering for our students within the building— a program for their junior and senior year that leads them to having a master’s at at UC—but I haven’t had that one-on-one conversation: “You should do this. There’s different tracks within IT that you can pursue.” There are minorities in the classrooms, but to be fair, I haven’t sought out mentees to discuss what options they have.

Rhonda Telford Knight
This here, in realtime, is an example of what it looks like to deepen conversations, to learn about becoming even more intentional. There are things a step deeper than being visible as a model, such as hosting round circles with those students to provide a higher level of understanding of the career path and who to connect them with. What we know is students are doing a lot of that learning on their own and being intentional about becoming that resource for them is an ideal way to have a greater impact on the DEI IT pipeline. Stephen, you’re a purist. You didn’t leave. I’m sure there are opportunities where money could be a factor and led you away. But you stay and add to the community, to the culture.

Stephen Collins
I think the biggest thing is to know who you are, so you can pursue things that align with what you want to do. When you know that, the initial optics of an environment becomes a variable in your decision-making piece, but not the biggest variable. Be intentional in pursuing what you want to do.

Read more about CoSN’s Belonging & Inclusion  resources here.

Stephen Collins, MS, CETL, CAPM

stephen collinsExecutive Director of Technology, Little Miami Local Schools (OH)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephencollinssr/

Stephen is a highly experienced Certified Education Technology Leader (CETL) with a proven track record of leading teams to technology solutions that align with the educational mission and strategic vision of the organization. He has demonstrated expertise in Team Building & Management, Aligning Technology Strategies with Organizational Goals, and Business Process Improvement.

————————————–

This interview has been made possible in part by a grant from Chan Zuckerberg initiative DAF, an advised fund of Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

CoSN is vendor neutral and does not endorse products or services. Any mention of a specific solution is for contextual purposes.