BU Honored For 'Visionary Use' Of Information Technology

by Alan Hunt

SAN FRANCISCO -- A project by Baylor University's Office of Institutional Research and Testing has been recognized by the Computerworld Honors Archive on Information Technology as one of the year's most innovative technology applications.
The Baylor project uses a data warehouse to integrate information from separate transaction processing systems and disseminates the information to any location within the Baylor campus using an institutional web browser interface, said Dr. Reagan Ramsower, associate vice president and Baylor's chief information officer.
Highlighted innovations were the use of a data warehouse to integrate information from multiple enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, the use of a sophisticated browser interface developed with the latest web development tools, and the applications of this technology to solve difficult problems faced by institutions of higher education, he said.
"The Computerworld Honors are presented on an annual basis to men and women around the world who have achieved outstanding progress for society through visionary use of information technology," said Patrick J. McGovern, chairman of the Computerworld Honors Chairmen's Committee and the Founder of International Data Group. Organizations that are using information technology to benefit society are nominated for inclusion in the Computerworld Honors Online Archive and the Collections of the Academic Council, which represents the more than 40 countries with case studies in the Collection.
Founded in 1988-89, the Computerworld Honors Program recognizes leadership in 10 information technology categories: Business and Related Services; Education and Academia; Environment, Energy and Agriculture; Finance, Insurance and Real Estate; Government and Non-Profit Organizations; Manufacturing; Media, Arts and Entertainment; Medicine;
Science; and Transportation.
Nominated by Dr. James H. Goodnight, president and chief executive officer of SAS Institute Inc, in the Education and Academia category, the Baylor project is now part of a collection that includes more than 300 of the year's top technology applications and will be housed in the archival institutions of the Academic Council across the world.
"Each year, The Computerworld Honors Program identifies and honors men and women from around the world whose visionary use of information technology produces and promotes positive social, economic and educational change," said Alan Guibord, president of Computerworld. "The innovators represented in this Collection are true revolutionaries in their
industry and have been recognized by the leading chairmen of the industry as such."
Case studies from the 2001 Computerworld Honors Collection will be available at http://www.cwheroes.org, the official Internet site of the Computerworld Honors Program. The entire Collection is available to scholars, researchers and the general public worldwide.