HWS News
2 October 2020 Hackathon 2020 Goes Virtual This Weekend
Hackathon, sponsored by the Centennial Center, challenges participants to hack a complex social issue in just 24 hours. For the first time in HWS Hackathon history, this year's topic, mass incarceration, was disclosed in advance of the event and all programming will take place virtually.
Beginning at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 3, Hackathon participants will participate in roundtables with experts on the topic of mass incarceration, engage in team strategy sessions and work with assigned coaches as they develop their solutions. At 10 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 4, pitch presentations will be delivered, with the announcement of winners following at noon.
Nine teams from Hobart and William Smith are competing in the event, along with three teams from Union College. The keynote address will be delivered by Chair and Associate Professor of Sociology Jim Sutton, who teaches courses on criminology, juvenile delinquency and social deviance.
Roundtable discussions will be led by James Schuler, assistant director of Wayne County youth advocate programs, director of Wayne County Youth Court and cofounder and chair of the Wayne County My Brother's Keeper advisory board; Samuel Leach, chief probation officer in Calaveras County, Calif.; Rosemary Avila, program coordinator for workforce programs, reintegration services at the Center for Community Alternatives; and Brian Lewis, deputy director at exalt.
This year's judges are Ruth Shields, associate director for the HWS Center for Teaching and Learning; Rene Grant, associate director of Intercultural Affairs at HWS; Elias Beltran, student in comparative literature and Spanish language instructor at Cornell University; and Anastasia Wilson, instructor of economics at HWS.
The image above features roundtable speakers Rosemary Avila, James Schuler, Samuel Leach and Brian Lewis.