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Duke Recognized for IT Initiatives

University named ComputerWorld Honors program laureate

Duke has been named a laureate in the 2011 Computerworld Honors Program, which recognizes visionary applications of information technology promoting positive social, economic and educational change.

Duke was selected based on its collaboration with Cisco Systems to implement TelePresence and other advanced collaboration tools in support of global learning, research, service and operations.

Among those efforts:

  • A 140-seat virtual lecture hall in the Fuqua School of Business designed to connect presenters and students in other global locations using TelePresence video conferencing.
  • Fuqua's pilot of a collaboration and enterprise social networking platform, based on Cisco Quad, for team projects. Faculty and students in the MBA-Cross Continent program can use the interface to access classroom video and documents, communication and social networking tools, as well as campus applications.

These tools are especially important as Duke expands its global initiatives, with a campus under construction in Kunshan, China; business school programs in Shanghai, China, and New Delhi, India; and a partnership with a medical school in Singapore.

"University leaders wanted to make sure that students throughout the world could fully participate in programs at any Duke campus, not as passive listeners, but as active participants in the learning experience. The goals were to prepare students to contribute to a global society, engage students who grew up in a digital world, and unify students and faculty internationally," according to the nomination.

"Duke's use of collaborative technologies and pervasive video allows remote experts and students to participate in classes as if they were physically present and empowers students to collaborate with professors and peers anytime, anywhere. Students also gain experience with advanced collaboration tools they will use in the workplace."

Duke was one of 254 laureates from 23 countries, selected from among more than 1,000 nominations. The case studies documenting the collaboration are available online and will be included in the program's International Archives and featured on the Computerworld Honors site.

The awards will be presented at a ceremony in June in Washington, D.C.