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Pictured at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the South Shore Bank Center for Data Science and Analytics are, left to right, Massasoit Computer Science Professor Janet Brown-Sederberg; Dr. Michael Roggow, Dean of Massasoit’s Business & Technology Department; Massasoit President Ray DiPasquale; South Shore Bank CEO James Dunphy; South Shore Bank Chief Data and Robotics Automation Officer Chris McGowan; Massasoit Trustee Ann Sullivan.
Weymouth-based South Shore Bank has sponsored a data science center at Massasoit Community College that the bank said would help students access careers in the data and analytics field.
The South Shore Bank Center for Data Science and Analytics at Massasoit opened last week as a dedicated space for the community college’s new data science transfer program. South Shore Bank said in a statement that the center would make studying data science accessible to community college students and replenish the workforce with needed new talent.
“South Shore Bank is proud to help provide access to valuable data science and analytics training to Massasoit’s students,” South Shore Bank CEO James Dunphy said in the statement. “We are supporting those interested in earning degrees and pursuing careers with opportunity while helping our industry attract the brightest and best-trained workers for the future.”
The South Shore Bank Center for Data Science and Analytics is a dedicated space for in-person classes, lectures, student study and research. Features include a 75-inch interactive touchscreen display and a 43-inch display panel in the student workshop area. Students in the program will take classes in data science, Python programming language, data visualization, data structures and algorithms.
“As workforce demands across Southeast Massachusetts change, colleges need to adapt to ensure that students have the skills their future employers need,” Ray DiPasquale, president of Massasoit Community College, said in the statement. “Massasoit’s computer science and data science transfer programs and the South Shore Bank Center for Data Science and Analytics will do just that. We are grateful to South Shore Bank for their gift to make the center a reality.”
Students will have resources to complete the first two years of study toward a bachelor’s degree in data science, a cost savings when compared to enrolling in a four-year program, the statement said.
“The knowledge and experience Massasoit’s students will gain in this classroom are readily transferable to real world use,” Chris McGowan, South Shore Bank’s chief data and robotics automation officer, said in the statement. “There’s a need for trained data science and analytics professionals, not only at South Shore Bank, but it’s also a growing field,”
South Shore Bank said it would continue to develop community programs with Massasoit Community College to provide growth and educational opportunities in Southeastern Massachusetts, including financial literacy and training that will benefit employees and employers.
