SUNY Orange receives $20,000 IIT grant

MIDDLETOWN — A project that will deliver a more extensive range of cloud-based technologies to students in SUNY Orange’s networking and cyber security programs has been selected to receive $20,000 as part of the State University of New York’s 2013 Innovative Instruction Technology Grants program.

The project, entitled “Introducing Virtualization via OpenStack ‘Cloud’ System to SUNY Orange Applied Technologies Students,” will allow the students in the networking and cyber security programs to utilize new technologies that will help prepare them for real-world employment.

At the same time, students will be able to broaden their portfolios so that they may become more successful in industry.

In addition to implementing the “cloud” system, faculty within the Applied Technology Department will also integrate innovative uses of instructional/teaching technology in order to improve student engagement and learning in those two programs. Instructor Chris Rigby and Cartmell Warrington, chair of the college’s Applied Technology Department, submitted the proposal and will oversee its implementation.

SUNY’s IITG program is designed to fund campus innovations and initiatives that have the potential to be replicated elsewhere within SUNY to benefit students and faculty across the state and worldwide.

Last year, SUNY Orange received nearly $13,000, in the inaugural year of the IITG program, to develop a series of customized video presentations and webinars related to the Accuplacer assessment instrument, which the college uses to determine if applicants to the college are required to take developmental courses in reading, writing and math before being able to register for college-level courses in those areas.