Bryant U, Lee College, Wayne State Nab ACUTA Awards for Technology Innovation
Three schools received top honors for technological innovation from ACUTA at the organization's 37th-annual conference in Las Vegas this week: Bryant University, Lee College, and Wayne State University. The University of Utah also received honorable mention for its wireless networking spanning 1,400 acres.
"This year's Institutional Excellence award winners have an important common element, and that is the way that information communications technology is being used to great benefit for both the institutions themselves and their communities," said Jeri Semer, executive director of ACUTA, the Association for Information Communications Technology Professionals in Higher Education. "All of the winning applications reflect the inclusiveness that advanced technologies are making possible."
For Bryant University, this was the second ACUTA Institutional Excellence Award it's earned in the category of schools with fewer than 5,000 students. This year it received the award for its Collaborative Public Safety Network, a project aimed at improving campus safety and linking the university with first responder agencies in three states. Its previous award, in 2005, was for technologies related to the Collaborative Public Safety Network.
Lee College took the award for schools with 5,000 to 15,000 students for its Chambers County Community Network (CCCnet), a project aimed at providing educational resources to the college's community, including 10 computing labs in areas with underrepresented populations with high-speed wireless Internet access.
According to ACUTA, "The CCCnet project involved extensive construction to create the wireless network and computer lab facilities, as well as complex coordination efforts with local public agencies. An innovative public-private partnership is responsible for ongoing maintenance of the network."
Wayne State University won in the category of schools with more than 15,000 students for its WSU Broadcast Messaging Service, an emergency alert and mass notification system. It was developed by the university's Computing and Information Technology department.
Finally, the University of Utah received honorable mention from ACUTA for its wireless network, which uses 2,200 access points to provide wireless access to some 45,000 users across more than 200 buildings.