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The delivery of computers to faculty and staff through the Carolina Computing Initiative (CCI) is ahead of schedule, paving the way for computers to start rolling into other departments.
A four-department pilot program will finish before February ends, meaning more than 350 computers will have been delivered and installed since September by the Academic Technology and Networks (ATN) staff.
The departments of psychology, statistics, economics and English received computers through the pilot program, and the ATN staff already has installed computers in folklore, American studies and the Writing Center and Learning Skill Center, said Linwood Futrelle, co-chair of the CCI Logistics Team, which is charged with delivering the computers.
"People have really been working hard to get these computers in and the department chairs have gone out of their way to help us," Futrelle said.
ATN, in conjunction with the College of Arts and Sciences, has established the order in which departments will receive computers during the next 16 months. The next five academic departments are dramatic art, communication studies, cultural studies, religious studies and geography. (For the complete schedule, see chart.)
The CCI is a University program for upgrading computers used by faculty and staff through a more cost-efficient purchasing plan. Another major component of the CCI is the requirement that all students own laptop computers beginning with freshmen entering in the fall of 2000.
The early completion of the pilot program came from the combination of hard work by the people installing the computers and the cooperation of the people receiving the computers, Futrelle said.
The ATN staff learned a lot during the pilot program about how to make the installation process as hassle-free as possible.
The process starts with a survey of the computer needs of each department, said Kathy Thomas, head of the CCI Techno-Comfort Team. Trainers use those answers to tailor each department's orientation presentation to fit each group.
"We usually show the same computer tools to every department, but we don't show the same examples to dramatic art that we would for mathematics," Thomas said.
The orientation meeting is the crucial part of installing computers, according to Futrelle and Thomas. That's because the orientation allows everyone in the department to get their questions answered -- such as the time the computers will arrive and what faculty and staff need to do in advance -- as well as allowing the ATN staff to learn about any unique needs for the department.
The session also allows staff and faculty members to learn about training opportunities so that the new computers can be used to improve teaching, research and support work.
The cooperation between departments and the ATN staff has a big payoff: new computers.
"The departments we're hitting generally are technology-equipment poor," Futrelle said. "Giving everyone a consistent level of technology is making a huge difference."
The installation teams have gotten faster as the process has gone on, Futrelle said. ATN now installs 14 computers a day, up from eight per day at the start.
The CCI effort will broaden this summer, as ATN staff begins conducting computer training for incoming freshmen. Although the requirement that students purchase computers is a year away, students starting in the fall may sign up for computer training.
Futrelle said he would know in about a month how many students he expected to take the training.
Delivery schedule
The following list is the order departments and units within the College of Arts and Sciences will receive computers through the Carolina Computing Initiative. The delivery schedule runs through July 2000.
n Dramatic Art
n Honors
n General College of Arts & Sciences
n Communication Studies
n Cultural Studies
n Religious Studies
n Geography
n Asian Studies
n Public Policy Analysis
n Archaeology Research Labs
n African and African-American Studies
n Anthropology
n Mathematics
n Applied and Material Sciences
n Physics/Astronomy
n Women's Studies
n Philosophy
n Study Abroad
n Foreign Language Lab
n Romance Languages
n Germanic Languages
n Slavic Languages
n Linguistics
n Comparative Literature
n Recreation Administration
n Art
n Biology
n Physical Education
n Peace, War and Defense
n Sociology
n Political Science
n History
n Music
n Chemistry
n Marine Sciences
n International Studies
n Classics
n City/Regional Planning
* Geology
* Humanities and Human Values
* Russian/European Studies
* Latin American Studies
* Operations Research
* Urban Studies
* Computer Science
* Outdoor Drama
* Arts & Humanities
* Naval Science
* Aerospace Studies
* Dean's Office
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