[Hidden-tech] Fabulous Fair - Thanks to all!

[A - Z International]

Hi everyone,

What a scene last night at the UMass Fine Arts Center lobby! 
Hidden-Techies mingling with UMass students, faculty and 
administrators as the sunset lit up the surrounding trees and pond 
outside the glass doors.

If I'm waxing a bit poetic it's because this was really a glowing 
moment for all of us. UMass is one of our regional treasures and one 
of the largest employers in Hampshire County. Students are a 
tremendous resource for Hidden-Techies. It's thanks to student labor, 
in part, that we had a fair last night. So hat's off to Greg Heinz, 
one of our new student interns.

Faculty are another resource. Because of Craig Nicholson, chair of 
the IT Program -- which promotes IT to non-IT minors in 40 UMass 
departments -- we had a fair and we had students, faculty and 
administrators backing it. Some faculty who showed up included:

* Glenn Caffery, chair of the Information Technology Task Force;

* Mark Hamin, chair of the Regional Planning/Economic Development 
portion of the Department of Landscape Architecture;

* Ken Watts, Senior Software Engineer for a program called Research 
in Presentation Production for Learning Electronically (Ripples),

* Charles Bagley, instructor, Financial Engineering, Finance and 
Operations Management, UMass Isenberg School of Management (who 
informed me he wanted his wife to join Hidden-Tech as she is founding 
a business)

Administrators attended and were there doing the heavy lifting. They 
included Tina Acker and Ginger Goldsberry of Career Services, plus 
Marla Michels, who heads the Office of Research Liaison (formerly 
industry liaison).

And we had larger companies like Court Square Data Group in 
Springfield whose president, Keith Parent, was present for much of 
the event and even paid for the food! Keith is chairman of the 
Regional Technology Corporation board and hopes to work more closely 
with Hidden-Tech in the future. (Hidden-Tech is an affiliate of RTC).

And, of course, at least 40 Hidden-Techies were present with 20 
exhibiting. You all were terrific. Special thanks to Dan Fried and 
Theresa Cleary who ably assisted at the door. I know from discussions 
that ensued with UMass faculty and administrators that they were duly 
impressed with you and your extraordinary accomplishments. How you 
leverage the contacts you made last night is up to you. The 
Hidden-Tech board will be working behind-the-scenes with faculty and 
administrators in the months ahead to find many ways to connect us to 
UMass, including the possibility of making a fair like this an annual event.

Thanks to all of you and especially to Craig, Tina and Ginger for 
your hard work!

If you have ideas, please forward them to the list so the 
PR/Programming committee can assess them.

best,

Amy Zuckerman
Hidden-Tech Founder, Clerk