CSC News

Welcome New CSC Student Ambassadors!

The NC State Computer Science Department is thrilled to welcome the 18 additions to the NC State University Department of Computer Science Student Ambassador Program!

The Ambassador program is made up of sophomores, juniors, and seniors who serve as representatives of the department.  The program promotes leadership and communications skills by offering students the opportunity to represent our department at a variety of academic, social and networking events held throughout the academic year, and through personal interface with prospective students through our outreach efforts.  Ambassadors are the first point of contact for many visitors to NC State, so they are required to promote the University, the College of Engineering, the Computer Science Department, and the computer science discipline.

The NC State University Department of Computer Science Student Ambassadors program promotes leadership and communications skills by offering students the opportunity to represent our department at a variety of academic, social and networking events held throughout the academic year, and through personal interface with prospective students through our outreach efforts.

The 2019-2020 CSC Student Ambassadors are (new ambassadors in bold face):

Seniors – Colton Botta, Anna Chernikov, Sam Crochet, Alay Deliwala, Domenick DiBiase, Matthew Dzwonczyk, Paul Gartman, Sonali Karmalkar, Carl Klier, Sarah Korkes, Jimmy Long, Jack MacDonald, Oscar Molina, Anam Navied, Neill Robson, Jonathan Schertz, Lauren Siegel, Jasmine Wang, and Courtney Weglar;

Juniors – Crys Blackey, Liah Carpenter, Bridget Davis, Julia Ferrante, Varsha Gopal, Marcus Kim, Abigail Ormond, Anna Owens, Anisha Ponnapati, Jevon Ray, Jackie Sherman, Claire Stewart, and Rebeca Teran;

Sophomores – Evan LaFontaine and Manali Shirsekar.

All Student Ambassadors are matriculated CSC undergraduate majors at the sophomore level or higher.  Applications and nominations are taken in the spring and the competitive selection process includes an interview and group feedback from a special mixer event.  Ambassadors work in one-year terms, renewable until they graduate, at the discretion of the department leadership based on overall participation, performance and academic progress.

“Our CSC Ambassadors play an essential role in the department's outreach and broadening participation efforts,” says Ken Tate, Director of Engagement and External Relations.  “With just over 1,900 students, our department is larger than a number of colleges here at NC State," says Tate. "This can seem overwhelming to prospective students and their parents. Our ambassadors connect with prospects on a personal level and advise them on how to plug in to smaller communities of interest." 

Last year, CSC Ambassadors volunteered more than 800 hours of service engaging visitors at Open Houses, leading weekly tours for future students and their parents on 'Visit the Campus' days, serving as hosts and guides for countless departmental events, and even writing personal notes to all computer science intended accepted freshmen. Tate adds, "I've had countless students tell me that it was a handwritten note or a personal exchange with one of our ambassadors that ultimately led them to NC State." Tate notes that the percentage of females in the computer science undergrad program has increased over 80% in the last decade. "Our ambassadors continue to make a huge difference in the life of our department every single day!" says Tate. 

The CSC Ambassadors would like to extend their appreciation to their ePartner sponsors for the 2019-2020 academic year including Allscripts, Cisco, LexisNexis, Oracle and SAS.  Their support provides funds to cover special events, outreach-related travel, branded attire, service awards and a year-end recognition event.  Sponsors have the opportunity to engage directly with the ambassadors group via structured opportunities such as dedicated mixers, panels, info sessions and/or development sessions.

Learn more about each CSC Student Ambassador here.

~coates~