But Soft Center officials in Ronneby say UMD and other colleges will have to move fast for Soft Center to succeed. The colleges will have to expand their information technology departments and adapt their programs to meet demand from software firms, said Curt Ahnstrom, managing director of the Soft Center Ronneby Foundation. Universities that can adapt to that need without feeling threatened can greatly expand their opportunities,'' Ahnstrom said. Students at several local colleges are already working on projects that could some day be found in the technology village. At UMD, Harold Pardue's business students are creating a computerized system to track college dorm repairs.
Students file an electronic work order over the Internet.
The request is automatically filed with the department secretary, the repair staff gets a copy, and the request becomes part of a database that makes it easier to track work orders. Pardue's students are majoring in management information systems, which is also offered at the College of St. Scholastica and the University of Wisconsin-Superior. These MIS specialists will likely provide the bulk of workers at the technology village. MIS specialists will create customized programs from the software designed by smaller groups of mathematicians, computer scientists and engineers. Students are the core of the Soft Center concept.