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Real World Experience

Posted on Nov 09, 2007

President Harrison and DMDCAt CSUMB, much of the learning takes place in the real world. The university partners with organizations that provide students the opportunity to use the skills they've acquired in the classroom, make professional connections and build an impressive resume.

One of those organizations is the Defense Manpower Data Center. DMDC and CSUMB have worked together since 1996, providing real-world opportunities for students.

The two organizations recently signed an agreement to continue working together.

"This is a very exciting event for me, our campus, and most of all, our students," President Dianne F. Harrison said at the signing ceremony. "I talk about this program a lot when I talk about partnerships and hands-on experiences for students."

The data center, located adjacent to campus in a former hospital building on the Seaside portion of Fort Ord, is the principal repository of personnel, military manpower, survey, testing, training and financial information for the Department of Defense. In other words, it's the personnel and payroll office for the U.S. military, among other things, and routinely handles large-scale information technology projects.

Over the past five years, about 145 CSUMB students have worked at DMDC as part of the Consortium Research Fellows Program. And 43 of them - 10 percent of the organization's workforce - have become permanent employees.

"The Department of Defense is doing business in a way that's multicultural and multilingual," said Mark Breckenridge, DMDC's acting deputy director. "CSUMB students are poised for this. That's why we hire so many of them."

The Consortium Research Fellows Program started in 1981, when universities in the Washington, D.C., area and the Army established an educational and research partnership. The goal was to provide a few students in the behavioral and social sciences a chance to work in a federal research setting. Since then, the program has expanded in size and mission and now includes research opportunities for faculty. And students are now placed in a variety of government agencies, including the data center.

What kinds of CSUMB students enter the program? They have been undergraduate and graduate students and have come from more than 24 academic programs. They enhance their education by working at DMDC, and their presence enriches the DMDC workforce.

The students are assigned to research teams and work up to 20 hours per week during the school year and full-time during the summer. They earn a salary, but, more importantly, they develop professionally under the mentorship of national experts in their fields and co-author publications and presentations. Many complete their capstone projects based on their DMDC work experience.

Five former CSUMB students who are full-time employees of the agency are now mentoring the next generation of Fellows. The progression from student to employee to mentor "illustrates the vibrant spirit of cooperation that exists among DMDC, CSUMB and the consortium fellows program," according to DMDC officials.

This year, 28 of the 30 participants are CSUMB students. According to Dr. Robert Ruskin, director of the consortium research program, that represents the largest group of fellows outside of the Washington, D.C., area.

Said Dr. Ruskin: "Establishing partnerships between academic and governmental worlds is extremely useful, and I'm glad that DMDC and CSUMB will be progressing toward an even greater working relationship."

One project CSUMB students worked on involves "smart cards," Defense Department identification cards that contain microprocessor chips. One chip contains a Defense Department employee's highly secured digital credentials. Millions of the smart cards have been issued.

"This is very exciting," concluded Dr. Harrison. "We're all about assessments and outcomes. That's what this program is about."

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