Penn State DuBois

School of Information Sciences and Technology


"Building Leaders for the Digital Global Economy"



In the Summer of 2009, the Penn State DuBois Information Sciences and Technology program was awarded a grant totaling $400,000. The funds were derived from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry in conjunction with the North Central Workforce Investment Board, Microsoft, and local matching funds. The grant provided funds to purchase equipment for upgrading the program on multiple projects.


Benefits to IST students


The upgraded equipment will better prepare and train students for entry into the fields of network administration and systems support. Paired with coursework including PC hardware, networking essentials, network administration, and other supporting topics, the interactive networking lab is equipped to provide students with hands-on activities to expand upon classroom theories of networking. These activities aid students in dealing with real world problems, situations and solutions and allow learning to happen beyond the "chalk and talk" of the traditional college classroom. The layout of the lab is such that each row becomes a local area network containing five workstations and two server class machines in a server rack. Each rack contains network equipment including a switch, multiple hubs, and a router. This is very typical of what students will encounter in the workplace.