By Jake Palmateer
ONEONTA _ Hartwick College is receiving an upgrade in its information technology capabilities thanks to a $100,000 grant from a private trust.
The college will install seven Crestron systems designed to provide an expanded hands-on experience with digital media, presentation equipment and discipline-specific software, according to a media release from Hartwick.
Funding for the installation is from the George I. Alden Trust and was announced last week by the college.
The Crestron systems allow students and faculty to work with DVDs, cameras, the Internet, streaming media and computer applications to present curricula and interact with classmates, according to college officials.
They will be installed in Clark Hall, Yager Hall and Anderson Center for the Arts. The technology is already available in other buildings on campus.
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Michael Tannenbaum led a group of faculty members in an effort to determine the college's classroom-technology needs.
"The effort put forth by Mike and Hartwick faculty members assured that we will meet the needs of our students and faculty while honoring the intentions of George I. Alden," Hartwick President Margaret L. Drugovich said in the release.
Alden taught mechanical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in the late 1800s and later was a co-founder of the Norton Emery Wheel Company. He was a pioneer in hydraulics and had a role in inventing the first hydraulic elevators, according to information from the George I. Alden Trust. He died in 1926.
Alden founded the trust in 1912, and the organization is designed in part to provide financial support to higher education, especially at colleges with undergraduate enrollments of between 1,000 to 3,000 students. The colleges that receive funding are located in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and New England.
Colleges eligible for the funding are those that "demonstrate a combination of educational excellence, exciting programming and efficient and effective administration."
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