Seton Hall University was ranked 15th on the first ever U.S. News and World Report list of "Most Wired Campuses" in the United States. The ranking was based solely on the number of computers available to students, and Seton Hall achieved a high ratio due to its mobile computing program that provides laptops to all undergraduate students. While the Chief Information Officer believes other factors should be considered, he is confident Seton Hall would still rank highly given its excellent network, high technology use by faculty and students, and strong support services relative to its size.

1. Seton Hall ranks on ‘Most Wired’ list - The Setonian - News http://www.thesetonian.com/news/seton-hall-ranks-on-most-wired-list-1....
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By Alyana Alfaro
Copy Editor
Published: Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Updated: Wednesday, February 23, 2011 23:02
U.S. News and World Report has ranked Seton Hall University as no. 15 on its
first ever list of "Most Wired Campuses" in the United States.
"U.S. News and World Report is very candid that their ranking is based solely on the number
of computers that are available to students on campus," said Chief Information Officer
Stephen Landry in an e-mail interview.
He said the University's mobile computing program, which provides a laptop for each
undergraduate student and some graduate students, depending on their program, resulted in
the University obtaining a high "computers-per-student" ratio, as computed by U.S. News.
Peter Capar, The Setonian
"The ranking is acknowledgement that Seton Hall University has excellent technology available Junior Chris Childers works on his laptop,
to faculty and students to support their teaching, learning and research," Landry said. provided by the University, in the Cove.
This is not the first time Seton Hall has been ranked on a most wired list.
"The idea of a ‘most wired colleges and universities' list started in the late 1990s by Yahoo! Yahoo!'s rankings were determined by a
national survey that evaluated many different factors, including the number of computers on campus, the speed and capacity of the campus
networks and Internet connection, faculty use of technology and the campus' academic programs in information technology," Landry said.
"During the time that Yahoo! did the rankings, Seton Hall was consistently ranked as one of the ‘most wired' campuses in the nation."
Landry also said, however, the methodology for the ranking system could be improved. He is confident that even if other factors were taken
into account, Seton Hall would still be ranked. He believes the ranking system should also consider factors such as the level of faculty use of
technology, the speed of the campus Internet connection and other technological innovations made by the University.
"For the size of our campus… Seton Hall has an excellent network, relatively high use of technology by faculty and students, and good
support services." Landry said, "For these reasons, I believe Seton Hall's ranking would remain high if these additional factors were taken
into consideration."
Landry also emphasized that Seton Hall strives to be on the forefront of technological innovation.
"For the past two years the University has been piloting the use of handheld mobile devices, similar to a cell phone, in certain classes, and
has developed a first version of a SHUMobile app," he said. "The SHUMobile app is currently available for the Android, Blackberry and
iPhone, as well as through a mobile web browser."
In addition, University IT Services is in the midst of a year-long network upgrade. Over the Christmas break the Internet connections were
upgraded from 200 megabits per second to 1,000 megabits per second, providing five times the Internet capacity to the campus.
At this time, Walsh Library and all the residence halls on-campus have been upgraded. This week the first two floors of Jubilee Hall will be
completed.
"The University is committed to supporting faculty and students in their teaching, learning, and research," Landry said. "For IT, that means
supporting faculty innovation in teaching and learning with technology."
Alyana Alfaro can be reached at alyana.alfaro@student.shu.edu.
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