Microsoft: names UMass its first ”Information Technology Showcase School" in the nation – Company recognizes Amherst campus for teaching innovations

Microsoft Corp. is naming the University of Massachusetts at Amherst its first ”Information Technology Showcase School" in the nation, a recognition of the university’s efforts to promote new technologies in the service of teaching.

”We see the university as a true pace setter in higher education," Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, who will disclose the designation during a breakfast visit to the campus today, said in a prepared statement.

Over the past decade, the university has used $1 million in grants from the company to create the Microsoft Center for Women in Engineering and Science. In addition, it created a minor in information technology and incorporated computers and technology in classrooms to allow professors to hold snap polls during lectures.

This semester, students in Gino Sorcinelli’s Introduction to Business Information Systems class are working on research projects with students at the National University of Ireland in Galway. Every other week, Sorcinelli’s students discuss their projects with their counterparts across the Atlantic through a Web-based teleconferencing program.

By Eric Goldscheider, Globe Correspondent

Full Story: http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/10/21/microsoft_umass_a_tech_showcase/