October 6 , 2004

Written by Larry Becker

As part of its ongoing mission to “Create Value and Make a Difference” in students’ lives, La Sierra University’s School of Business and Management opened a new state-of-the-art computer lab at the beginning of the 2004 Fall term.

Located on the main floor of the School of Business building, the new lab features a wide range of computer hardware and software chosen to meet the specific needs of business students. According to Ed Brugman, School of Business coordinator of technologies, the new lab features:

• 36 Dell PC computers , with:
  P4 3.6Ghz with /HT Technology
  1 GB RAM
  DVD/CD-RW Combo
  40 GB 7200 RPM HDD
• 5 New Apple Macintosh G5s with SuperDrives.
• Completely Wireless Projection and Professor Lectern for mobility.
• Full featured Final Cut Editing Suite. (ONLY video edit suite on campus)
• Professional Scanners for photo manipulation. Including Adobe Creative Suites.
• Networked disk drives for students to store their data on.  Students are able to transfer date to all computers in lab and across campus.
• All new 17” flat-panel monitors for Dell and Apple 23” Cinema Display.
• Desktop viewing software for professors. Teachers can monitor all computers in lab or display their content on all screens as well as share files between computers.
• Color Laser printer.
• 41 copies of SPSS (a specialized statistical analysis computer program) for allowing a full class to use their individual computers.

Johnny Thomas, School of Business and Management dean, said the upgraded lab was a result of student requests for access to the latest technology as part of their educational process. Thomas and La Sierra University administration agreed, and worked together to upgrade the old SBM computer lab over the summer of 2004. University funding and private donations supported the upgrade project.