Technology had maintained a constant presence in Michael “Mikey” McCallister’s life for several years before he made the decision to attend Syracuse University, beginning with his involvement on technology project teams in middle school. It was only natural that he would choose to major in Information Management and Technology at the School of Information Studies.
However, McCallister, a junior, has expanded his passion for technology beyond his studies and made it the central focus of all of his activities outside of the classroom.
“[Technology] has always interested me because of all the different things that we can do to improve people’s lives around us through technology,” he said. “That’s the direction that the world is going in, because there are so many solutions within technology for major problems that we have in society, or even the tiniest problems that we have.”
On this week’s episode of Behind the Monitor, we spoke with McCallister about his involvement in technology-focused extracurricular activities and how they’ve augmented his knowledge of and love for technology.
Since the end of the spring semester, McCallister has been the president of Kappa Theta Pi, or KTP, the University’s professional technology fraternity. He joined the organization during his freshman year, hoping to find a community that shared his passion for technology, and climbed the ranks over the past few semesters until he was able to lead KTP.
The Syracuse chapter of KTP was founded only three years ago, and many of the organization’s founding members graduated at the same time that McCallister took on the role of president. On top of KTP losing a significant number of its members, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult for McCallister and the organization’s other executive board members to maintain member engagement and hold events that comply with campus safety regulations. For example, the organization’s recruitment of new members this fall was almost completely virtual, which presented its own set of challenges.
McCallister has embraced the challenges thrown his way as president of KTP and done his best to continue to make the organization a place for anyone with a love for technology, he said.
“We really put an emphasis on being open and wanting to have a fraternity that was built by the brothers … where everyone feels like a leader, and not just the people at the top,” he said.
For the past year, McCallister has also worked as a consultant at the ITS Service Center, where he assists members of the Orange community with any technology-related issues they might have. He took on this role because he was excited by the opportunity to take what he learned in his iSchool classes and apply them to real situations, he said, and he has deeply enjoyed being able to obtain hands-on experience with troubleshooting hardware and software.
In addition to allowing him to expand his technical knowledge, McCallister said working in the service center also has improved his communication and problem-solving skills. According to McCallister, the sense of triumph he feels when he helps students and faculty find solutions to tricky technical issues is the most rewarding part of his work.
“It’s satisfying for the client to solve their problem, and it’s satisfying for us, as consultants, to be able to use our skills that we’ve learned—in the Service Center, in classes, through our own research—to actually, physically solve somebody’s problem,” McCallister said.
McCallister’s passion for technology is clearly reflected by his area of study and his significant involvement in technology-related activities on campus. For him, technology isn’t just a component of his life—it’s at the heart of everything he does.
“I really think that there is a massive amount of opportunity to just expand your knowledge of the world through technology,” McCallister said. “And I’ve kind of had that as my driving force throughout college.”
To get in touch with Mikey, you can add him on LinkedIn or follow his Instagram @mikeymccallister. You also can learn more about Kappa Theta Pi at the organization’s website.