5/18/99
News directors, editors: A satellite feed of the 12:30 p.m. news conference will be available at KU Band, Telstar 5k-03 lower, downlink 11778 MHZ (v). The feed will be broadcast from 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Anyone experiencing trouble downloading the feed can call (740) 593-4989. Ohio University President Robert Glidden will also be available to speak with media representatives via a telephone conference call following the news conference from 1:45 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. To participate in the conference call, dial (913) 981-5520.
Contact: (Print) Dwight Woodward, (740) 593-1886
(Broadcast)Todd Anderson, (740) 593-1885
ATHENS, Ohio -- First-year students at Ohio University will find their residence hall rooms equipped with a state-of-the-art personal computer and Internet access when they arrive on campus fall quarter, Ohio University President Robert Glidden announced Tuesday at a news conference.
Twenty-three residence halls containing about 1,600 rooms will be equipped with personal computers, Glidden said.
"We believe that student access to technology is so important to our learning environment on a residential campus that we have reordered our priorities for residence hall renovations to make this possible," Glidden said. "We know that our students must be computer astute' for nearly any pursuit in life, and that requirement will only become more intense in the future. While technology is not a panacea for higher education, we do believe that it affords the opportunity to make learning more engaging and more effective. We want both our students and our faculty to have that advantage."
Ohio University is the first state-supported university in Ohio to provide first-year students with computers in their rooms.
Funding for the computers will come from a student fee already in place that is earmarked for renovation of the residence halls, said Bob Hynes, director of Residence and Campus Auxiliary Services. Hynes said computer companies have indicated the cost for such a program would be about $1,000 per computer and printer.
The computer initiative follows a resolution from the Ohio University Board of Trustees in April that called for a freshman computer requirement by the beginning of classes fall quarter 2001, or sooner if possible.