Dr. David Fenske, dean of Drexel’s iSchool, or College of Information Science, doesn’t have a hard time placing his students in jobs out of college. He estimates there were five job offers for every iSchool grad last year, and even with the economy forcing companies to scale back, there are probably two to three jobs for every grad.
It’s all the more reason that Fenske is trying to keep alive the Governor’s School of Excellence at Drexel, one of eight programs from across the state that attracts some of the brightest and most talented sophomore and junior high school students. The state last month eliminated all of the $3.2 million in funding for the Governor’s School, which was also hosted by institutions like Lehigh University and the University of Pittsburgh and was tuition-free to qualifying students in a variety of subjects like the arts and entrepreneurship.
Fenske said his school is planning to continue the program, which will now be called the Drexel University Computing Academy and will be co-sponsored by iSchool and the computer science department of Drexel’s College of Engineering.
”We’re motivated to do so by the needs of our own society,” Fenske says.
Drexel will have to charge tuition for high school students who are accepted into the five-week program, but the money will be returned to the students in the form of scholarship if they should matriculate at Drexel, according to Fenske. He expects more than 100 applicants and hopes for 50 students to enroll in the academy.
”We need more people who are well qualified, and that’s what these students are.”
Source: David Fenske, Dean of Drexel University’s iSchool
Writer: Joe Petrucci
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