St. BONAVENTURE, NY — The St. Bonaventure University was awarded $125,000 from the George I. Alden Trust to upgrade its instructional computer science labs.
The university is seeking the grant for lab improvements to benefit all students, not just computer science and cybersecurity courses.
The upgrades will provide the infrastructure needed to include the technology module in SBU 101: Community of Learners, a first-semester course required of all new students as part of the general education curriculum at St. Bonaventure.
The Community of Learners module will provide all undergraduate students with a centralized pathway for technological literacy, including a hands-on experience in computing and peer-to-peer learning.
“We want to merge pedagogical innovation with technological improvements to provide technological literacy to all our undergraduate students,” said Dr. Megan Walsh, director of the Honors Program and acting dean of the School of Arts & Sciences when the grant application was submitted. “SBU will not only better educate its students for their careers but also provide them with the skills needed to become citizens in our global world.”
In 2017 the university moved to a general education core curriculum with a deliberate focus on several specific competency areas, including technology literacy. The revised core curriculum aligns with one of the four main goals of the university’s strategic plan – a focus on academic excellence.
As part of the SBU 101 course, all students visit the newly upgraded lab for two 50-minute sessions, each led by a full-time faculty member from computer science or cybersecurity .
Undergraduate student assistants, drawn from approximately 70 computer science and cybersecurity majors, can help learn some of the practical skills in the lab and earn internship credit within their majors, Walsh said. said.
The upgraded labs will also enhance the learning experience of students pursuing bachelor’s degrees or minors in computer science or cybersecurity.
Upgrades to the Walsh Science Center labs, rooms 101 and 203, are expected to be completed by September 2023.
The Alden Trust supports independent undergraduate education at institutions with student enrollments between 1,000 and 5,000. This support is directed to institutions in six New England states and New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
