TTU Looks to Assist in Growing IT Field

Tennessee Tech University is looking to assist in the growth of the information technology field in the Upper Cumberland.

TTU President Phillip Oldham said the region first needs to build on existing elements to grow the IT field in the area.

“Creating programs that continue to produce more and more IT-related graduates and connecting them with employers,” Oldham said, “and hopefully encouraging those employers to come local and move to Cookeville or the Upper Cumberland where they have access to that talent, it’s beneficial to everybody.”

Oldham said growing the IT field in the Upper Cumberland is important in keeping up with growing demands.

“The nature of our world today is so heavily digital,” Oldham said. “From the economy throughout the job market, it’s going more and more digital. It creates opportunity and challenges for communities to be able to supply those kinds of jobs and provide that kind of infrastructure.”

Oldham said having companies like SAIC and Digital Dream Forge move to the Upper Cumberland in recent years helps prove IT companies can be successful in the region.

“IT companies like these can be very successful in this community,” Oldham said. “Nothing shows that more than some success, so the fact that we’ve been successful at recruiting a couple of those companies recently is also showing other similar companies that this is a good community to be a part of. I think the word is getting out, but we just need to continue to press that point.”

According to the Highlands Economic Partnership, approximately 325 jobs were lost in the IT and analytical fields within the region between 2005 and 2014.