Spring Break
New phone program: Big Brother is calling
Cell phones to aid students
Dana Owen, Life/Styles Editor
Issue date: 2/22/06 Section: Campus News
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"We like to call it a 'communicator' not a cell phone," Dr. Richard Ferguson, vice president and chief information and technology officer, said. "There are many reasons for us to do much more than a cell phone."
Ferguson and Fred Tarca, the director of administration and project management, are the masterminds behind a program set to launch within the next two weeks that will provide 50 university-issued cell phones to students at Quinnipiac University. It is a plan that will eventually expand to include the whole school.
Similar to the university's laptop program, which began its first stages of implementation 10 years ago, the cell phone program is an effort to increase interaction among students.
"We want to create a channel of communication for students," Ferguson said.
"We figured out how to get our arms around the laptop program but we haven't figured out how to get our arms around the cell phone as a device that contributes to a student's unique college experience," Tarca said.
Rave Wireless Inc. was secured as a consultant for the project, and the duo was introduced to Nextel.
Manny Carreiro, the vice president and dean of students at Quinnipiac University, also relayed a suggestion from the SGA.
"Manny told us that SGA wanted a ticker, or better expressed, a form of 'visual signage' on which they could broadcast messages like the ones in the financial classroom," Ferguson said. "But with something like a ticker, there is just a certain amount of real estate and resources would need to be allocated which would limit communication."
Thus, the idea of campus data exchange was born.
"With a personal device, the individual gets to decide what's on the screen," Ferguson said. "We want to use the phones as a 'display device' for student activities and student groups that way, everyone can have access."
With the new cell phones, students will be able to log onto the Rave Wireless Web site and choose from a variety of customizable features, such as GPS tracking of the university shuttles.
"A student could be taking the shuttle bus to New Haven one night and want to know where the shuttle is or when it's coming," Tarca said. "So all they would have to do is pop out the phone, open an application, and see if they should wait or jump in the car with a friend."
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