Denison University President Dale Knobel announced this week that a campus-wide wireless data network will be installed and ready for service by the start of the 2006 fall semester. "Denison's wireless data communications will serve up Internet browsing, Denison e-mail, and Novell LAN (local area network) access to our students, faculty and staff, and will provide for guest access to the Internet from anywhere on campus," Knobel said.

Knobel's announcement came after a six-month study by the college of wireless technologies and strategies. The firm of 5G Wireless Communications Inc., has been contracted to begin the installation within days of Denison's 175th Anniversary Commencement Exercises on May 14. According to Lisa Bazley, Denison's director of computing services, "the service is intended to reach across the entire campus from the upper academic quadrangle to the lower fine arts quad to the residence halls and throughout the athletic complex, indoors and out."

This initiative puts Denison in some very rare company, if not in a category of its own. In a September 2005 survey of the Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges, an organization comprised of many of the top liberal arts colleges in the United States, none of the 62 member institutions responded as having campus-wide wireless access, and only nine reported having plans for such a network "at some time" in the future.

Bazley said, "The ability to sit outside on a bench on our beautiful campus or on a bunk in a dorm room untethered to the wall and surf the Net, chat with friends, or process e-mail is the convenience we will all appreciate. When it's necessary to have serious computing power and bandwidth though, it will still be advantageous to plug in."

Denison is already a well-wired campus by any measure, with its fiber access to the Internet and access to Internet 2, an academic supercomputing network. In addition, the university offers several compter labs, a number of classrooms with hard-wired network connections for all students, and what colleges call a "port for every pillow" in all residence halls.

Denison University, located in, was founded in 1831 and is a privately supported, coeducational college of liberal arts and sciences, offering three different bachelor's degrees (B.A., B.S. and B.F.A.) among more than 40 majors and concentrations. Some 2,100 full-time undergraduate students represent 47 states and 34 foreign countries. Denison is fully accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and is a member of the Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA) and a founding member of the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC). Denison's chapter of Phi Beta Kappa was established in 1910. Dale T. Knobel is Denison's 19th president.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

For press inquiries:

Name

Barbara Stambaugh

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Director, Media Relations

Primary Email

stambaughb@denison.edu

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(740) 587-8575