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The Computer Science Department at Western Baptist has raised the bar of excellence. The CS program now has a dedicated 10-station computer science lab with 10 new and distinctive computer systems with ergonomic desks and comfortable chairs. Eric Straw, the department's lead instructor, joined WB president Dr. Reno Hoff on Aug. 28 in cutting the ribbon to open the new lab. Straw said the summer project also included upgrading software so students had the ability to learn software development, programming, testing and simulation. "While this is an incredible step for us, in many ways it's also mandatory to allow students to learn at their highest potential," Eric said. The new dedicated computer science lab consists of systems designed to handle the advanced development work that CS majors perform. With 20 new students enrolled in the entry-level course, Straw says the growing program requires more space and new technology. "These systems have impressive technical specifications and include an AMD Athlon XP 2000+ processor with 512 megabytes of RAM, an ATI Radeon graphics card, 40 gigabyte hard drive and a 19 inch monitor," Straw added. "The ergonomic desks were designed by our staff and built this summer by a cabinet maker in Philomath. WB is now a member of the Microsoft Developers Network
Academic Alliance (MSDNAA) is an annual renewable license for all of
Microsoft's development software. This includes their Visual Studio
.Net platform with Visual Basic and C++, as well as all operating systems,
Visio and Project. Straw said any student taking a CS course, or an instructor, can check out any software they want and install it on their personal computer. "It's just as if they purchased the software -- it is theirs to keep. Free software, now that's a great deal!" |
