UPMC’s Information Technology Rotational (ITR) program is a two-year leadership development program that provides participants with four, six-month rotations exploring areas of information services and technology.
What are your plans after college? It’s a question every college student has heard too many times, and it’s a tough one to answer. We in the Information Technology Rotational (ITR) program have two common interests: We’re passionate about technology, and we want to use our skills to improve lives. These qualities helped us answer that tough question; they brought all of us to the ITR Program at UPMC.
Before we became the newest participants in UPMC’s ITR program, we were just kids with a dream. Now, we’ve started living our dreams, and we’re sharing our stories with you. Find out why we chose UPMC as the place to begin our careers—and why you should, too!
There’s No Place Like Home: I always knew that I wanted to help people and I thought health care was the way to go! Being born in Pittsburgh, and after interning with UPMC for two summers, I knew I wanted to go forward with the ITR program and continue my experience with UPMC full-time. – James Ungerman
My Full Circle Future: My first memory of UPMC was when I saw the Steel Tower as I drove into Pittsburgh for the first time to tour colleges. In that car ride I told my parents that if decided to go to school in Pittsburgh, I was going to end up working there. I studied Health Information Management (HIM) at the University of Pittsburgh because it combined my career interests of health care, business, and technology. The summer after my junior year, I started an internship with UPMC Telemedicine where I was able to use knowledge from my HIM classes on various projects and reports. While in college, I learned about the ITR program and decided to apply. Everything has come full-circle, and I am employed with UPMC just as I predicted back in high school! – Kendall Cutrona
Destination: Innovation: Health care and IT have always been interests of mine. By combining the two together, it creates my dream career. I came to UPMC because I strive to be innovative and change the health care system and the way we deliver care through technology and truly lead in the industry. – Justin Wetzel
Middle School Dreams: I’ve been interested in computers since middle school– there was so much you could do and learn! I went on to attend the county technical school for IT my last two years of high school before I studied IT Networking at Youngstown State University. I learned about the ITR program from a peer who was a part of the program, and I was excited about the opportunity for growth and exploration that the ITR program offered. I am proud to be working for a company that shares my values and strives to help people and improves lives. – Sasha Monroe
A Change in Plans: When first entering college, I wanted to become a nurse. I soon realized that the clinical tasks of being a nurse were perhaps not the best fit for me. Instead of pursuing my interest in health and medicine, I decided to pursue my passion for technology! UPMC allows me to use technology to help others. – Rebecca Kahlbaugh
Problem-Solving For Life: When I was quite young, I always liked to tinker with electronics and play computer games and figure out how they worked. Years later, the ITR program at UPMC caught my attention with its ability to, directly and indirectly, help people by providing top quality customer care solutions. – Kyle Anders
Role Models Pave The Way: Growing up, I loved to build, fix, and find new ways to solve problems. I grew up in a health care centered home as my mother is an administrator for an integrated health system. When I was in college, I heard about UPMC from a teammate. He told me about his experience here and sparked my interest in the opportunity to develop, test, and maintain technologies that directly affect patient care. – Paul Kuhn
And the Rest Is History: From attending elementary school technology fairs to working in the IT department at my high school, I developed an early interest in technology that continued to grow as my education progressed. Additionally, in college, my interest in Leadership and Management progressed. The UPMC ITR position offered the perfect combination where I could strengthen my skillset in both of these areas of interest while growing as an IT professional. My senior year of college, I reached out to a current ITR/college classmate, and he gave me all of the information on the program. After that, I applied for and finished the summer associates program, applied for ITR, and here we are! – Chris Sinisi
Whether it was a mentor, a lifelong love of technology, or an interest in medicine, each of us came to UPMC’s ITR program with our own life experiences, goals, and dreams. As current participants in the program, we are glad that UPMC chose us, and we’re really glad we chose UPMC, too!
Interested in becoming an ITR at UPMC? With a full-time salary and full-time benefits, you will gain high-level exposure to all of our executives, and gain valuable industry experience while you’re at it! Upon completion of the program, graduates are highly sought after for complex roles across the organization. Learn more about UPMC’s ITR program here.
