January 23, 2003 News Releases
Released 1/22/03
UTAH
STATE STUDENTS LEND AN EAR TO HELP GOVERNOR LEAVITT
LOGAN — Utah State University students and the Innovation
Campus at Utah State are lending an ear to help Utah State Gov.
Michael O. Leavitt.
During Leavitt’s State of the State Address Tuesday evening,
he said that up to 1,500 new jobs will be created in the health
information management field.
In anticipation of this announcement creating interest and generating
many questions from the public, Utah State students and staff
from the Information Alliance were asked to lend an ear says
Kim Larson, president of Information Alliance and Information
Connections, part of Cache County’s Smart Site located
at the Innovation Campus.
Cache County was one of seven initial Smart Site locations designated
by Leavitt in March of 2001. Utah’s Smart Sites have quickly
become one of the largest single sources of employment in rural
Utah, with locations in 14 counties. Since the inception of
the program, which allows companies to set up shop in rural
areas to do outsourcing, 600 new jobs have been created.
Across the state, companies are partnering with Smart Sites
providing opportunities in fields like software testing, technical
call centers, database management, data entry and website development.
According to the Governors office, rural Utahns don’t
have to leave the small towns they love to hold a quality job.
Smart Sites have proven to be a “win-win” for both
employers and rural workers.
“The state asked us to help out with the large amount
of phone calls they expect to generate after the announcement
at Governor Leavitt’s state address,” said Larson.
“We are happy to be of help and to donate our services.”
Information Alliance is donating its employees time to handle
the incoming calls from people throughout the state as well
as its call center equipment, and Utah State students are volunteering
their time to answer the phones as well said Larson.
“We could never have done this without the students,”
said Larson. “We have all of the equipment – that’s
the easy part. We have staff answering the phones, but students
are taking time from their busy schedules to help us throughout
the rest of the week.”
Cache County’s Smart Site team includes Information Alliance,
a privately funded charitable computer training program, and
Information Connections, a private market research firm, as
well as Cache Economic Development, the City of Logan and Utah
State.
The university Smart Site employs 270 people, two-thirds of
which are Utah State students said Larson. Locating the site
at the university made perfect sense for her because of the
vast amount of resources available to her through Utah State.
“Our company provides inbound technical support, customer
service and DVD authoring for various entities ranging from
technical companies to research studies,” said Larson.
“My staff is here to provide the call-centers, help desk
services, or graphic and web design that these companies require.”
Larson calls the Smart Site “a perfect partnership between
academia, government and business.” She says she often
consults with the university for technical support in the math
and science areas. “If the math gets too complicated,
I will call up the Utah State math department and ask for help.”
Larson also sees the smart site as a valuable tool for Utah
State Extension efforts. “Utah State has the knowledge
and expertise to provide much-needed technical training to people
throughout Utah and the Smart Site will provide an additional
vehicle to deliver that training.”
For more information about the Utah State University Smart Site
located at Innovation Campus and the services they provide,
visit their website at http://www.infocnxn.com/default.aspx.
For information about Utah State University Innovation Campus
visit http://www.usu.edu/innovationcampus/.
January 22, 2003
Contact: Kim Larson (435) 750-8767
Writer: Maren Cartwright (435) 797-1355
utah
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