News > October 8, 2003

By Jessica Pritchard

Old Gold and Black Reporter

Oct. 2 Forbes Magazine and the Princeton Review named the university the second most connected campus in America.

Since the survey was started in 1998, the university has consistently been ranked in the top tier and usually somewhere between third and twentieth, according to Jay Dominick, assistant vice president of Information Systems.

The Princeton Review began by testing 351 colleges around the United States with a list of technology requirements, the Forbes article reports. Additional features were used to distinguish among the Top 25, including the student-to-computer ratio, online registration for classes, student Web pages, interviews with over 100,000 students and the presence of a wireless network on campus.

The university was the only North Carolina school in the top 15. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was ranked 20 and Duke University was 317. The Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey ranked first on the list.

Dominick said he was surprised at the rating but still very pleased, especially with the positive publicity the university will receive as a result.

“Technology is very important in the strategic plan (of the university),” he said. “It’s nice confirmation to see ratings like this, to show that we’re making progress and keep us focused on meeting the goals of the university.”

While he said the university did not take into account ratings and lists when making decisions, Dominick said it was beneficial to the university to be included in lists such as these.

The university, in addition to giving all students ThinkPads and printers, is implementing a system to enable wireless computing on campus this spring, Dominick said.

According to the current plan, students with the newer model laptops will go to Information Systems at a designated time and have a wireless card installed.

Those with older models, such as the A30, would need a different type of installation that might take a bit longer, he said.

Dominick suggested that this process will take place in February 2004.

Other new technology to make the campus even more connected is currently being tested in both classrooms and the Technology Quarters living area in Luter Residence Hall.

Freshman Will White, who lives in the area of Luter designated as the Technology Quarters, has been using a handheld computer provided by Information Systems.

The 14 Technology Quarters residents are given many free devices to test for the university before they are distributed to the entire student body, White explained.

Both White and Dominick mentioned cell phones or some other method of instantaneous portable communication as the next addition to the trial runs.

White said the use of technology here is much more sophisticated than what he experienced in high school.

“In high school,” he said, “you had 56K modems on a few computers. Here, you bring your computer to class and actually use it.”