Excellence in Networking 2001 Award Winners

Bentley College

Bentley College is remarkable in its thoroughly integrated strategic planning for and innovative implementation of technology in support of its mission. As the "Business School for the Information Age," the college has made mobile computing a critical component of its academic experience for over 15 years. Bentley is committed to infusing information technology inside and outside the classroom-throughout its undergraduate and graduate business curricula, through five specialized learning centers that parallel technology-driven operations of global business leaders, and in the way it delivers services to faculty, staff, and its 5,800 undergraduate and graduate students.

Bentley approaches the integration of technology as a three-level cumulative process. Level One, the building of a sophisticated infrastructure, is solidly in place, grounded in Bentley's long experience with laptops for all students. Level Two, leveraging the infrastructure to change how teaching is conducted and administrative functions are managed, has been implemented across many academic disciplines, with Internet resources providing dynamic content and, in many cases, the core of learning processes, and such features as high-tech breakout rooms in Bentley's Center for Marketing Technology. Administratively, the school has an array of Web-enabled functions, accessible through its thoughtfully structured E-campus gateway, developed in-house. Level Three comprises fundamental change in what is taught: an accounting course becomes an accounting information systems course, business law becomes cyberlaw, and marketing becomes e-marketing. Recent Level Three accomplishments are five learning centers: the Trading Room, Center for Marketing Technology, Accounting Center for Electronic Learning and Business Measurement, Design and Usability Testing Center, and a Center for Languages and International Collaboration. The new, $25-million Smith Academic Technology Center supports teaching and learning, as does a $500-thousand annual Faculty Development Fund for Technology. International corporate partnerships provide Bentley with state-of-the-art technologies and educational content, students with critical business skills and contacts, and partner companies with relevant executive education programs that draw on the expertise of Bentley faculty. Bentley College is a model of Excellence in Campus Networking for small institutions as well as for graduate schools, with elements that could be of value to any educational institution.