Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

7/11/2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES- Faculty at Northwestern State University have received $208,496 in grants from the Louisiana Board of Regents Support Fund Enhancement Program.

Those earning grants were Dr. Kelvin Bentley, Department of Psychology, "Using Multimedia-Based Instructional Resources, Online Advising, and Assessment to Maximize Online Learning in Psychology," $16,000;

Bobby Nowlin, Department of Industrial and Engineering Technology, "Enhancement of the Industrial Engineering Technology Curriculum Through the Use of CAD/CAM/CNC Technology," $108,115;

Dr. Lissa Pollacia, College of Business, "Data Communications: Enhancing the E-commerce Curriculum," $60,381;

Dr. Karen McFerrin, College of Education, "Science/Math/Technology Graduate Fellows for Teachers at NSU," $24,000. This was funded through the Board of Regents Support Fund Graduate Fellowships for Teachers Program.

Pollacia's proposal was top ranked among all traditional enhancement proposals among those submitted statewide in computer and information sciences.

The grant awarded to the Department of Psychology would provide new instructional advising and assessment resources to serve online learners. New resources would be provided to faculty to develop more innovative and engaging multimedia based instructional material to share with students.

Under the grant, both prospective and current online psychology majors would have a way to communicate with faculty in real time in an online chat environment. The Department of Psychology would also be able to maintain an online database of online and traditional majors that would let faculty more effectively track student performance, attrition and satisfaction within the program.

"Enhancement of the Industrial Engineering Technology Curriculum Through the Use of CAD/CAM/CNC Technology," will provide equipment that will update the technology equipment giving Northwestern students access to cutting edge technology with industrial standards. Students will be able to import their AutoCAD drawings directly into Computer Aided Manufacturing software. The software will produce machining instructions or toolpath instructions to make the finished part by using the Computer Numerical Controlled Machine.

Infrastructure for a state-of-the-art data communications curriculum will be provided through the grant awarded to the College of Business. The curriculum will include both networking and telecommunications to support electronic commerce (E-commerce) instruction within Northwestern's computer information systems program.

The computer information systems program will build a data communications lab which will support both teaching and learning activities as well as research activities of CIS faculty. Members of the CIS faculty will also attend a series of training courses and seminars to further their knowledge.

The grant, "Science/Math/Technology Graduate Fellows for Teachers at NSU," will train superior science/mathematics/technology graduate students at the master's level to use technology as a vehicle for curricular innovation in science, mathematics and technology classrooms. Those educators will be prepared to apply and operate a range of educational technologies, work with university, community and local business sponsors to develop activities which integrate technology across the curriculum as a vehicle for creative problem solving and engage students in the active use of classroom technologies as a means of addressing economic and social concerns.

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