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New Rochelle, NY, November 27, 2000 - President James A. Liguori, CFC, of Iona College, has announced that students will have the option of using wireless technology on the campus, beginning Fall 2001. “This is an extremely important commitment the College is making to its students. We believe that their total learning experience will be greatly enhanced with wireless technology. And, we are among the first in the metropolitan region to fully embrace wireless technology as a value-added component of our students’ overall education.”

Creating a wireless campus environment at Iona is planned in three phases. Phase I is being offered to incoming freshmen and residential students. This phase includes Loftus and Rice Residence Halls, Ryan and Arrigoni Libraries, the Murphy Technology Center, the Hagan School of Business and Spellman Hall, currently the hub for student activities. All new buildings, including the proposed Robert V. LaPenta Student Union and the Hynes Athletic Center, will have wireless technology. Phase II, expected to be completed by September 2002, will include the remainder of the College’s classroom and administrative buildings, the quad in front of Cornelia Hall and the outside of Spellman Hall. Phase III will complete the campus and will include all outside areas not already fitted for the wireless technology.

Right now, students can access library databases and the Internet through wired connections in classrooms, dorm rooms and college libraries. In the future they will be able to access these services via their own laptop through a wireless card. Working online in classrooms, the library, the food court or outside on the lawn will be a mere click away. By bringing laptops into the classroom, professors can have students access software programs, the Internet or the College’s library system during class time. This change will undoubtedly enhance the students’ academic experience. Classrooms throughout the campus will be able to instantly transform into high-tech multimedia centers.

Students interested in accessing the wireless technology will have to purchase or lease a laptop with a PC Wireless Card. Iona is currently working with vendors to negotiate a discount for students who wish to purchase a laptop. These efforts are to ensure that as many students as possible will be able to access the wireless technology. Unlike many institutions across the nation, Iona is not mandating the purchase of a laptop computer. Wireless services will be offered in addition to the over 500 wired computer workstations currently available for student use in the College’s computer laboratories, classrooms and libraries. Many of the wired workstations across campus are available, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.

“Wireless access will enable more students to use technology anyplace on campus at any time,” commented Joanne Laughlin Steele, vice provost for Information Technology. “The technology now available to empower our students would have been unthinkable, a few years ago. Wireless technology will enable us to significantly increase the number of students with access to the Internet and other learning materials from any part of the campus. Iona College is committed to preparing every one of its students for a world that is increasingly dependent on technology. Iona graduates are prepared for the future because they are immersed in the use of technology as a decision-making tool.

“We expect that our students will benefit from the convenience of visiting cyberspace without being tethered to a network,” said Tom Delahunt, Iona’s vice provost for Enrollment Management. “We are also serious about equipping our student body with cutting edge technology. Technology changes so quickly, that by the time current students graduate, wireless technology will probably be everywhere. We are determined to prepare them well.”

Iona College is currently involved in a Teaching and Learning assessment project that measures the impact of integrating technology into the total educational experience. The development of a campus-wide wireless network reconfirms Iona’s commitment to the use of technology to enhance learning.

For more information, please contact the College’s Information Technology Division at (914) 633-2691.

For questions or more information please contact:
Meghan Finn
Public Relations Office
Iona College, 715 North Avenue, New Rochelle, N.Y. 10801
tel: 914 633-2005 fax: 914 637-2711

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