Southwestern awarded competitive HP grant

Southwestern Oregon Community College is one of 42 institutions of higher education in the United States and Puerto Rico to receive a Hewlett Packard equipment grant.

The grant initiative, designed to support innovative and effective uses of technology in higher education learning environments, includes $19,000 in cash and HP technology valued at around $49,000 for a total of more than $68,000.

“It was a very competitive grant,” said Dr. Stephen Schoonmaker, vice president of instruction and student services. “It was, for Southwestern, a typical teamwork approach to the grant. What’s nice about this grant is it comes with Hewlett Packard equipment and it comes with this cash reward, unrestricted.”

More than 300 institutions applied for the grant. Of those, Southwestern is the only community college in the state to receive funding. Computer science instructor Diana Schab said the equipment can be used to develop interactive labs for engineering and physics classes, as well as create modules for presentations to high-school students to create interest in engineering among those students. Instructors also plan to create interdisciplinary projects that incorporate technology.

“We are going to use it to promote interactive and visualization of engineering concepts and physics,” Schab said. “I’m going to put together a module for the mechanics of motion. … We can take it into the high schools and show them to foster engineers of the future. We’ll use it on campus to develop some interdisciplinary projects.”

Press Release Date: May 22, 2007