On Tuesday morning, Benedict College unveiled their new ServiceNow Tech Center which aims to broaden the scope of today’s tech workforce pipeline.
The center, located inside Benedict’s Business Development Center is part of a $1 million multiyear strategic partnership between Benedict and ServiceNow, a California-based company that aims to equip traditionally underrepresented students with the digital skills needed in today’s workforce.
The partnership was announced in Nov. 2021 and includes five years of ServiceNow-awarded scholarships for students pursuing science, technology, engineering, arts, math, and STEM degrees. It also includes access to a ServiceNow HBCU Bootcamp program that uses customized, hands-on learning to help students prepare for careers in technology.
The new tech center includes a state-of-the-art computer lab with a maker space, laptop stations, a pitch room, private study rooms and a student lounge, as well as updated network infrastructure and new devices to provide students with critical access to technology.
The university held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the center yesterday and was joined by president and CEO of Benedict College, Roslyn Clark Artis, and ServiceNow’s chairman and CEO Bill McDermott. Community members and Benedict students were able to tour the center’s brightly lit spaces decorated with minimalist, fashionable furnishings.
Karen Pavlin, chief equity and inclusion officer for ServiceNow, described how the partnership and its goal to diversify the tech industry is already benefiting the students, showing them that anything is possible.
“One of my best experiences was talking with a Benedict student who said she was excited to see someone who looked like her in a leadership position in the tech industry,” Pavlin said. “Serving underrepresented groups and getting them involved in the industry is what gets me up every morning.”
Artis said the center is part of Benedict’s ongoing commitment to preparing its students for the global workforce. In 2020, the school was named one of the Top 10 smaller HBCUs for STEM education by The Hundred-Seven, a national database of information about historically Black colleges and universities.
“Benedict always strives to produce human potential,” Artis told SC Biz News. “We know America has been rapidly diversifying, and this tech center allows us one more opportunity we can provide for our Black and brown students and also offers a chance for us to help diversify the tech industry.”
