Wayland Baptist University gets a $290,000 grant for distance learning

The AT&T Foundation, the corporate  philanthropy organization of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), and WaylandBaptistUniversityhave announced a $290,000 grant  to support distance learning initiatives.
The grant will help fully fund the equipment needs for distance learning  classrooms and help solve three major problems facing higher education today: a  critical shortage of nursing students; a critical shortage of qualified  elementary and secondary teachers; and an inability to find qualified college  level faculty in many of the smaller campus locations and traditionally  underserved areas.
         “AT&T’s grant gives WBU the opportunity to expand program offerings  and add classrooms, laboratories and distance education programs,” said Dr.  James Antenen, dean of WaylandBaptistUniversity– San Antonio.          The project, partially funded by AT&T, is helping expand WBU’s  capacity to serve the needs of an estimated 2,000 additional students annually  through distance education to directly address the following  issues:

• Shortage of skilled nurses
• Shortage of qualified elementary/secondary  teachers
• Shortage of bilingual teachers
• Shortage of schoolhouse seats for nursing and  teacher education students
• Shortage of non-traditional evening nursing and  teacher education degree programs for working adults
• Inaccessibility to nursing, teacher education, and  numerous other programs in the underserved surrounding area, including the  Rio GrandeValley, West Texas and New  Mexico.

Full story at
http://www.wbu.edu/news_and_events/2008/june/SAgrant.html