Sponsor: Roy Pea of Stanford University Kicks Off Syllabus2003

Syllabus2003, the 10th annual summer conference on education technology, July 27-31, opens with a keynote by Roy Pea, Professor of Education and the Learning Sciences at Stanford University. Dr. Pea has spent his career exploring how technology can transform learning and teaching in the classroom. Focusing on high performance learning environments, he'll describe his experiences at Stanford's Wallenberg Hall and elsewhere in enhancing place-based learning. Don't miss out on all the tremendous speakers, sessions, networking, and educational opportunities this summer. Make plans now to attend Syllabus2003 at the San Jose Marriott and Stanford University. To register and for complete details, go to http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=1042.

Duke Undergrad Named Top Collegiate Programmer

David Arthur, a Duke University Junior, won the 2003 Sun Microsystems and TopCoder Collegiate Challenge, held at MIT in Cambridge, Mass. Arthur beat 15 of the world's best Java and C++ programmers for a $50,000 grand prize and the claim of the world's best college programmer. Arthur, who is on a full academic scholarship at Duke, finished in third place in the 2002 tournament. The competition is sponsored annually by Sun Microsystems Inc. and TopCoder Inc., which organizes onsite and online programming contests and skills assessment. The company says the competitions "create a powerful community of programmers," access to which is "provided to corporate partners for the purposes of sponsorship, hiring, and software development."

For more information, visit: www.topcoder.com

Higher Ed Projects Honored by Computerworld/Smithsonian

Last week Computerworld honored 313 "Laureates" for its 2003 Honors Program, which annually recognizes information technology applications that have "… really touched citizens around the world in significant ways," according to the magazine’s founder, Patrick McGovern. Case studies of the projects will become part of an ongoing archive at the National Museum of American History, part of the Smithsonian Institution, a partner in the awards. In June, 50 projects will be chosen from the current nominees for special recognition. They will be honored at an awards ceremony to take place June 2 at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Several higher education projects are among this year’s nominees. Examples include:

The Borough of Manhattan Community College for the replacement of a pioneering student registration system that depended on 3270-type terminals, greatly facilitating the process of enrolling more than 20,000 students in the courses of their choice.

Howard University for ResNet II, a high-speed voice, data, and video network that delivers telephony, e-mail, Internet, and cable television to every dorm room in 14 residence halls, providing students with the same high-level connectivity they receive in computer labs.

Michigan State University for the LON-CAPA Courseware System, a distributed open source learning content management and assessment system, which provides instructors with a common, scalable platform to assist in all aspects of teaching a course.

To view all of the 2003 Laureates, visit: www.cwher'es.org

Books in Print Database Standardizes to Library Systems

R.R. Bowker, publisher of the Books in Print and Global Books in Print databases, announced that the two bibliographic references are now Z39.50 compliant, enabling library professionals and their patrons to perform cross-database searches from within their digital collection management systems and other library automation systems. Vendors that have completed testing and are now offering integration with the Books in Print and Global Books in Print databases include Ex Libris' MetaLib and ALEPH systems, Gaylord Information Systems' Polaris, and Endeavor Information Systems' Voyager and ENCompass systems. Books in Print is already compatible with Auto-Graphics Inc.'s AGent library search tool.

Key Events on Higher Education and Technology

The University of Central Florida’s Office of Resources for Business and Information Technology (ORBIT) is hosting a briefing on ways technology, IT, and business executives can increase the value, productivity, and financial return for their organizations. The briefing, titled, "Achieving & Sustaining IT Business Value in an Uncertain Economy," will be held on Fri., May 9, at the Westin Grand Bohemian in Orlando, Fla. The keynote speaker will be Bill Miller, vice president of information services at Harris Corp. in Melbourne, Fla. He will be joined by Gary Henkel of Time Customer Service, a Division of AOL Time Warner in Tampa, and Bill Metz of Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati. Tupperware's CIO Bob Wagner, Collegis' Bill Moran, and NTS' Dr. Marilyn Buckner of Atlanta will also be participating.

For additional information, visit: www.orbit.ucf.edu

The IC2 Institute at the University of Texas-Austin will announce on Wed., April 16, a collaboration with Stanford University to fund research and interactive technology initiatives aimed at "stimulating access to shared global prosperity." The announcement speakers include Dr. George Kozmetsky, founder, IC2 Institute; Dr. John Sibley Butler, director, IC2 Institute; Dr. Alex Cavalli, deputy director; Dr. Syed Shariq, director, Project on Knowledge, Beliefs and Institutions, Stanford University. The briefing will take place at the IC2 Institute, 2815 San Gabriel, Austin, Texas, at 10:30 a.m. CT.

For more information, visit: www.ic2.org

Deals, Awards, Contracts, in Higher Education

NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE: The Utah Education Network (UEN), a statewide network that connects all public schools, colleges, and universities in Utah, awarded Qwest Communications International Inc. a five-year contract for the end-to-end delivery of voice, video, and data services. The UEN core network will be based on Qwest's GeoMax service, a high-speed, high-capacity network solution for multimedia Internet-based applications, such as distance learning.

BROADBAND: The State University of New York (SUNY) at Oneonta signed a three-year contract with Fastnet Corp. to provide high-speed Internet access to the university's 5,500 full-time students and 1,000 faculty and staff. The school provides Internet services to its student and faculty populations, but also to the greater Oneonta community, offering public workstations in its library that local residents are welcome to use.