Systems and Networking Lab Project - Press Release

The University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg has received a $63,450 award for workforce development from the Governor's Link-to-Learn I-Grad program. UPG will use the grant to help develop courses in system administration and networking and to upgrade classroom and laboratory facilities. The use of these funds will better prepare UPG's students in Information Science and Management for the information technology workplace.

UPG has also developed consulting partnerships with the information systems departments at Timken-Latrobe Steel, Elliott Company, and Westmoreland County. The three partner organizations will provide input on the design of courses and labs and assist with developing internship opportunities for students.

The new system administration course will provide instruction in the principles of system planning, configuration, management and security. Topics include system configuration, performance and process management, system policies, user profiles and security issues such as intrusion prevention and detection. A required laboratory component will offer practice in system administration tasks within the Windows 2000 and Linux environments. The existing networking course provides an introduction to concepts in data communications, local area networking, wide area networking and internetworking. The new lab component for the networking course will give students hands-on experience with networking tasks.

The I-Grad workforce development grant is part of UPG's larger effort to expand the reach of IT on campus and in the curriculum to better meet the needs of the students and the business community. In the last few years, UPG has made important gains in its information technology infrastructure. The most visible change is the installation of network connections and PCs in every dorm room on campus. Programs are also in place to upgrade faculty computers on a regular basis. Our recently remodeled computer center houses three computer classrooms that are used by instructors in computing classes, as well as by instructors in writing, language, math and science who want to teach with computers. More and more of our faculty are taking advantage of the Internet to access resource materials, post course materials and communicate with students. Computer literacy requirements have also been increased in selected majors such as Management. All UPG Management students must not only demonstrate competency in the use of PCs and productivity software, but also understand the application of information technology within the business world.