Minnesota State IT Center for Excellence

We are here to support Minnesota IT Students, IT Teachers, IT Employers, and IT Professionals Minnesota State IT Center of Excellence is part of the Minnesota State College System The world of IT is in demand and ever changing. Careers range from development to management and process to implementation. There is a position for every unique personality and skill set, and each job keeps the modern world’s technology structure intact and moving forward. In addition, IT careers are lucrative and offer rewarding opportunities for people like you. In fact, in 2015, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics named Minnesota the fastest growing state for IT careers, which means job security, hiring opportunities, and higher salaries with good benefit packages. A few examples of much needed Minnesota specific careers include cybersecurity, software and app development, and data. For Minnesota State two year, four year, and advanced degree students the IT Center offers numerous opportunities through degree offerings, paid internships, IT specific events like CCDC and Data Derby, scholarship offerings and resume building events.We also participate in curriculum development, hosting student competitions and awards, and offering hands-on events to enable career readiness and student success. We help k-12 students learn more about future tech career opportunities through fun offerings like the IT Discovery Network which gives young Minnesotans the chance to “try out” various IT careers and learn valuable skills like coding. We also work to bring IT skills and the most up-to-date tech to our schools with high school technology curriculum development like IT Explorations. One of our most renowned opportunities for high school girls is Aspirations, which continues to grow each year. Employers and IT professionals can be connected with experienced and quality job seekers who can join your organization while still in college through intern to hire opportunities like the Fusion program at Metro State. We help educators at all levels prepare their students to be future leaders in the tech world through free workshops, conferences like New Directions, and marketing of papers and studies. We also offer curriculum development support that breaks down difficult information into learning modules to make it easy to understand and teach. Two current projects involve course design for Minnesota State faculty in the much in demand fields of data and cybersecurity. The IT Center of Excellence works hard to stay on top of the future of IT, and we are always working to develop new ways to teach, learn, and connect with the people of Minnesota.