UALR magazine
Spring/Summer 2007 • Vol. 3 No. 1
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Energized Recruitment
The long-vacant Little Rock Municipal Library building at 700 Louisiana is getting back into the information business. Stacks of books and card catalogues are being replaced by enough disk and tape data storage to hold the equivalent of 1.1 billion books, more than 20 miles of data communications wires, and six miles of fiber optic cabling.
The establishment of the new data center by Entergy and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Entergy’s technology services provider, has resulted in about 100 new professional jobs. The rehabilitated building will house 20 new SAIC employees and 80 others will work in additional downtown Little Rock locations, all to support one of two primary data centers serving the Entergy system which delivers power to 2.7 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.
“The reliability of the whole Entergy operation depends heavily on the reliability of its data centers,” said Wayne Alphonso, Entergy director in charge of the project. Filling these new positions with qualified, long-term employees is critical to SAIC.
How do you recruit and retain 100 qualified high-tech employees quickly and effectively? SAIC, which already has recruited a majority of these employees, determined that one good tool is a recruiting agreement with UALR’s information technology and engineering college.
Entergy was instrumental in the birth of UALR’s Donaghey College of Information Science and Systems Engineering through its Maulden-Entergy Chair of Information Science. The new alliance with SAIC is another example of the synergy of economic development and education.
“SAIC is very proud to be a part of the central Arkansas community, and we look forward to a successful long-term relationship with UALR,” said Mike Cawthon, SAIC operations and deputy program manager.
The SAIC Career Development Fund helps UALR recruit students with the potential to support the SAIC Little Rock operations, provides paid internships for selected Donaghey College students, and funds College scholarships to qualified interns. As a result, SAIC has a high profile with potential employees, and UALR students reap educational and economic benefits.