Monthly Archives: February 2015

Women in Technology at ESPN

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My department here at UMass has scheduled a series of lunch time talks about topics in Information Technology; they cover a diverse range of subjects and they all sound pretty interesting.  Today’s talk was titled “Women in Technology Careers at ESPN” and who wouldn’t want to hear about that?  Women, technology, sports TV!  I didn’t have to be urged to attend and joined about 40 others in the Campus Center for the panel discussion starting at 1 pm.

The five panelists introduced themselves and talked a bit about their work and how they ended up in their current jobs at ESPN, which is headquartered in Bristol, south of us in the Connecticut River Valley.  They spoke in this order:

  • Diane Larivee, Associate Director of Data Center Services
  • Jessica Dang, Portfolio Coordinator
  • Farhanah Sheets, Software Engineer II
  • Maureen Barend, Associate Director of Transmission
  • Maura Maloney, Principal Technology Business Operations Analyst

For you non-sports fanatics out there, ESPN, the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, a global cable and satellite television channel, was founded by two Connecticut businessmen in 1978; their first broadcast was September 1979.  Since that time, and in an often rocky journey to profitability, the company has grown tremendously; it is currently a joint venture between the Disney Company, which owns 80%, and the Hearst Corporation, which owns the rest.  In addition to the flagship channel and its seven related channels in the United States, ESPN broadcasts in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Diane began her career as an Electronics Technician in the US Navy, serving in Guam.  She became interested in routing and switching and in subsequent jobs worked in the financial industry, in health care, and in insurance.  She has become an expert in network forensics and is still excited about the nitty-gritty of communications, of data moving across the wires.

Jessica graduated with a degree in Psychology in 2013.  She worked first for Teach for America, then as a volunteer for a Yale project on emotional intelligence.  She came to ESPN via an internship at Disney.  For her, an ideal job combines working with both technology and people.

Farhana was mentored by her brother, a classic computer nerd; she started working with computers in high school, though she said it never occurred to her that she would make a career out of it.  In college, she began as a business major but then switched to Computer Science, graduating in 2011.  Prior to landing at ESPN, she worked for an automation company in North Carolina.  She loves the logic of programming.

Maureen hails from California, where she spent 20 years in the broadcast news business in San Francisco working at KRON-TV and KGO-TV/ABC, and yes, in the early years, she was often the lone female in a male-dominated field.  She loves the excitement of the rapidly changing technology and entertainment world.

Maura has come home again: she graduated from UMass-Amherst with a degree in Electrical Engineering in 1985.  While a student here, she fell in love with television while working in the Video Instructional Program.  She was hired in 1991 by ESPN as an engineer in the Transmission Department.  In 2000, she was promoted to manage both the Network Traffic and Transmission departments.  Currently, she is a Principal Analyst in the Technology Business Operations Department, supporting ESPN’s Technology Division.

The presentation was quite lively, as we were treated to some short video clips and also were encouraged to jump right in with questions to the panelists.  I found myself wishing I could have heard about these kinds of opportunities when I was trying to find my way toward a satisfying career.  I understand that there are drawbacks to working for a global company whose operations are 24×7, with a constant sense of urgency, but I can also understand how someone could get hooked on the excitement of developing and using cutting-edge technology and reaching millions of people.  The panelists also emphasized that at ESPN headquarters, the atmosphere is welcoming and open, with employees willing to help and teach each other.

UMass Art Crawl Part Two

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Do you remember that a couple of months ago I wrote about visiting five art galleries on the UMass campus?  I ran out of time that week and was not able to visit the sixth gallery on my list, but by now, we’ve begun another year and another semester.  Although it was bitterly cold today even at mid-day, with a piercing wind, at the start of my lunch hour I headed across campus to the University Museum of Contemporary Art, a small gallery on the ground floor of the Fine Arts Center.  This space was not always known as the UMCA; I remember previous visits when it was simply the Fine Arts Center Gallery. Perhaps the focus has sharpened and the mission has changed. At any rate, the website declares:

The University Museum of Contemporary Art – the teaching museum of the University Massachusetts Amherst – is a multidisciplinary, international laboratory for the exploration and advancement of contemporary art.

Through exhibitions, a permanent collection, educational programming, and a visiting artists program, the University Museum of Contemporary Art acts as a forum where renowned and emerging artists can test ideas and where diverse audiences can participate in cultural experiences that enhance understanding of the art of our time.

This year the gallery is celebrating its fortieth year with a special exhibit titled 40 Years/40 Artists.  In recognition of the UMCA’s impact on their careers, local, national, and international artists agreed to donate works to the UMCA’s permanent collection; this diverse group includes such figures as Daniel Buren, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Jenny Holzer, Robert Irwin, Ellen Phelan, Avery Preesman, Scott Prior, Joel Shapiro, Beat Streuli, Andy Warhol, Carrie Mae Weems, and William Wegman.  Insofar as the Museum collects primarily works on paper, most of these donated works are photographs, drawings, or prints.

As I mentioned before, I have conventional tastes, so I must confess that my favorite works from this exhibit were the six silkscreen prints by Andy Warhol; I especially liked Sitting Bull, 1986, and Hammer and Sickle, 1977.

I brought my camera with me, and when I saw some other students taking photos with those ubiquitous smart phones, I snapped a few shots, without using flash, of course.  I’m not sure of the legality of all this, but these materials are copyrighted; please don’t re-publish them without attribution.

Warhol-1

Warhol-2

I also admired William Wegman‘s silver gelatin print Double Header, 1992, and Scott Prior‘s Pumpkins and Snowman, both polymer intaglio and digital pigment ink prints from 2005.

Also on exhibit at the UMCA until March 8th is Yu-Fei Ji‘s Migrants, Ghosts, and the Dam.  This contemporary Chinese artist is known for his use of traditional ink painting on handmade rice paper: he uses centuries-old painting techniques, including calligraphy, in the style of traditional Chinese landscape painting.  On display are a number of his works from the past ten years, including a scroll painting, which when unrolled is over ten meters long, as well as a three-meter-long watercolor woodcut print.  The contrast between his style and his subjects, such as the Three Gorges Dam and its negative consequences for millions of village people, is striking.  The artist has been in residency as UMass this past week and participated in a number of public talks and workshops.  Last night the film Still Life, directed by Jia Zhangke, was screened at the School of Management Auditorium, with the artist on hand for commentary.

This photo is a close-up of one section of Four People Leaving Badong, 2009, ink and watercolor on Xuan paper:

Ji-YunFei-Badong