PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (July 24, 2020) – This week, Prairie View A&M University and technology giant Apple announced a new partnership that would bring coding and iOS application development training to learners of all ages in the Greater Houston and Waller County areas.
Part of two larger programs, Apple’s Community Education Initiative and Tennessee State University’s HBCU C2 Initiative (C2 stands for Coding and Creativity), PVAMU is one of ten HBCUs tasked with teaching coding to students, faculty, staff, and community members to help solve society’s problems.
“Apple believes everyone should have the opportunity to create something that can change the world. Learning to code and create apps can help make that happen,” said Director of Libraries Musa Olaka, Ph.D., who has taken the lead over the project at PVAMU for the past year. “This partnership will create a pipeline for new IT talent at HBCUs and their surrounding communities to inspire any individual to build a career in IT technology.”
The HBCU C2 national center is in the process of training a team of PVAMU faculty members, administrators, IT professionals, and librarians to teach coding and app development to participants of the program, which is housed in the Computer Science Department within the Roy G. Perry College of Engineering. After completing training, PVAMU’s team will begin integrating the coding and creativity curricula by launching coding clubs and courses, hosting community coding events, and creating workforce development opportunities.
Apple has already delivered the necessary equipment to PVAMU to support the program.
Watch This Week on “The Hill” below for more.
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By Marchita Shilo