Bates ranks third among nation's most "wired" college campuses

Bates College ranks third among the most “wired” college campuses in the nation, according to the May 2000 issue of Yahoo! Internet Life Magazine.

Williams placed first in the college category, with Colgate second in the magazine’s annual rankings. Bates, up from fifth last year, received high marks for having 100 percent of its classrooms wired to the Internet (even the tennis house at the new James Wallach Tennis Complex is wired) and for its Web-based online registration service, where students can register for classes as well as add or drop them, view and update their course schedules and forward transcripts, all from any campus computer.

According to the magazine, “Undergraduates are as interested in a college’s Net resources as in its curriculum or social life. Schools are as boastful of powerful network infrastructures as of celebrity professors. And prospective students are as likely to take a college tour virtually as in person.”

“We pride ourselves more in the use of technology than the technology itself,” said Eugene Wiemers, associate vice president for academic affairs, director of informational services and librarian at Bates. “Teaching, learning and accessing information are all critical functions potentially enhanced by digital technologies. Bates has devoted itself to creating and disseminating information and knowledge.”

Other Maine colleges listed in the rankings were Colby at number 20 and Bowdoin at number 25.

Publishing its Yahoo! Internet Life survey for the third consecutive year, the magazine considered 40 factors to rate colleges and universities in the four areas of access and infrastructure, administrative services, general resources and student support. The outcomes were divided into two lists, “Top 50 College/Baccalaureate Schools” and “Top 50 Universities/Research Schools.”
For an expanded list of college and university rankings, check <www.wiredcolleges.com> on April 18. For more information, call Wiemers at 207-786-6260.