RadioShack sponsors new
computer lab
Addition will be used to train e-business students

By Jennifer Koesling
Staff Reporter

The virtual ribbon-cutting of the futuristic RadioShack E-Business Laboratory provides the ultimate technological training ground for the e-business students in the M.J. Neeley School of Business.

The RadioShack E-Business Laboratory was dedicated Tuesday by TCU officials, Leonard Roberts, chairman and CEO of the RadioShack Corporation and representatives from Microsoft and Compaq, which donated the software and hardware for the laboratory.

The high-powered design and development computer lab features 45 sleekly-designed flat-paneled computers, round table seating and two laser-sensitive smart boards, which have been used by the 135 e-business students and instructors since January.

Roberts said TCU made an appeal to RadioShack for financial funding and the company decided to fund the lab because it is an avenue consistent with the business strategy of connecting people, places and things to technology.

“I like TCU’s objective to be a world-class business school — it’s effective,” Roberts said. “This is what tomorrow is about, this is how businesses will be run.”

Roberts said there is a real demand for employees with these skills said Roberts.

“TCU’s program will turn out graduates who will quickly be absorbed into entry-level positions because of the shortage of people with these skills,” Roberts said. “This is the first time RadioShack is actively hiring recent graduates.”

A demonstration of the lab’s two laser-sensitive smart boards was conducted by Evelyn Follit, senior vice president and CIO of RadioShack and chairwoman of the TCU e-business advisory board.

“We now have the ability to do almost anything you can think about doing in this lab,” Follit said.

Written notes, class lessons, projects and Web sites can be projected and further manipulated with hand-held lasers that can scan links from a displayed Web page and immediately move the user to a chosen site.

Up to three different projects or lessons can be in the works at the same time, while the in-the-round seating creates a team-work atmosphere for group case studies of a business’ Web site and gives students a hands-on experience with a variety of electronic strategies.

Judge Graham, a senior e-business and speech communication major, said the technology is unbelievable.

“The access we have here is what we really need in e-business, which is a combination of computer science and the MIS of the business degree,” Graham said.

Robert Lusch, dean of the M.J. Neeley School of Business, said the e-business degree plan began in the fall of 1999 and was the first undergraduate degree of it’s kind at an A International Association for Management Education-accredited university.

“TCU is ranked No. 8 for e-commerce in the nation’s best business department ranking, and this new lab models what these companies use in the real world,” Lusch said.

Yushau Sodiq, a senior e-business and marketing major, had the honor of cutting the virtual ribbon at the dedication.
He said that despite all that benefits of this new class room, he has wondered about the e-business degree and if it’s applications will always be in demand.

“I know things dealing with technology always change and that might change degree requirements from time to time,” Sodiq said. “Even if I have to keep adding classes, I don’t mind because I know what I receive from this program will always provide a good foundation.”

The first of the 135 students pursuing the e-business degree will graduate in the summer of 2002.

Jennifer Koesling
j.c.koesling@student.tcu.edu