IBM Chooses Dr. Lowy as Professor Spotlight of the Month
ARMONK, NY, June, 2008 -- IBM today announced that Dr. Harvey Lowy of Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) has been named the IBM Academic Initiative Faculty Spotlight Educator of the Month. The IBM Professor Spotlight recognizes one college or university professor across the globe, who in collaborating with IBM, has demonstrated a long term commitment to teaching students emerging technology skills. This specific recognition for Dr. Lowy was based on his commitment to teaching enterprise systems skills.
Dr. Lowy is an Associate Professor at the Gildart Haase School of Computer Sciences and Engineering at Fairleigh Dickinson University. In the Fall of 2007, Dr. Lowy created an entirely new online course, "Enterprise Computing with System i and System z" that featured two popular IBM enterprise systems, covering the architecture and software of the IBM System i and System z technologies.
This class was first introduced and offered to students in the Fall of 2007 and through tremendous student interest and demand, the course was offered again in the Spring of 2008, and now there is a waiting list of interested students. Through IBM's Academic Initiative program, students are able to access IBM System i and IBM System z servers to gain practical experience based on the concepts they are taught in the classroom.
"An education in enterprise systems broadens the aperture of students and opens their eyes to something entirely different than the PC-based computing environment they typically see in the classroom," said Dr. Lowy. "The IBM Academic Initiative is a wonderful program that enables a top school like FDU to partner with IBM and help the future data base programmers and engineers of the world earn the experience they will need for the real world."
The popularity of this course has convinced FDU that there is a good demand among students for enterprise - related computing education and they want to expand their offerings in both traditional and online formats. After teaching this course again in the Fall of 2008, Dr. Lowy plans to make the course material available to other schools through the Academic Initiative Courseware Repository, and is already planning additional courses focused on all the IBM enterprise systems: System i, System z and System p.
"Enterprise computing is poised to continue the tremendous growth track and increased level of interest it has been on in recent years in the academic community," said Kathleen Pfeiffer, Program Manager, IBM Academic Initiative. "The students of today are going to be responsible for the future operations of the mainframe and enterprise computing, and it is thanks to professors such as Dr. Harvey Lowy that students are learning a wide range of enterprise computing skills and gaining hands-on experience. Dr. Lowy's passion and commitment is inspiring to his students, demonstrating the very essence of our Academic Initiative program."
The IBM Academic Initiative provides colleges and universities with educational resources to enhance the enterprise systems skilled resource base and helps students develop practical skills that enable them to find good jobs quickly upon graduation.
For information on the IBM "Professor Spotlight of the Month" visit the IBM Academic Initiative program at http://www.ibm.com/university/academicinitiative.
For additional information on the IBM Academic Initiative System z, System i and System p programs, visit http://www.ibm.com/university/scholars/academicinitiative.