ATLANTA -- This summer, Oglethorpe University was challenged to update its technology infrastructure campus-wide to successfully blend traditional teaching methods with innovative learning tools. Students returned to campus to find multimedia classrooms, online teaching, thin clients in all the labs and library and the development of Oglethorpe-friendly Dell laptops and desktops available to students at a discount.

Oglethorpe University students and faculty have come to rely on technology in recent years, though the university did not have a cohesive plan for growth. “We had an infrastructure that had been pieced together year after year. What we were left with was a system that was complex and didn’t support the tools we wanted to use in teaching,” said chief information officer William Morse. Oglethorpe needed to rebuild the entire computing infrastructure from the network and data center to the classroom.

Oglethorpe’s information technology department devoted their summer to overhauling the school’s technology from the bottom up. They implemented new storage and security and replaced aging desktops that operated as servers with new servers. The university employed electronic teaching tools throughout campus and provided students, faculty and staff with more computing capabilities. Each piece is streamlined to work together efficiently, and the new network will be able to support the university’s expected growth.

Oglethorpe has been able to incorporate technology into every educational department. “We have built a solid infrastructure so now we can focus on integrating technology into the curriculum,” said Morse. “If the professor can dream it we can make it reality.”