Richmond County Savings Foundation Grants $500,000 for Media-Rich Classrooms

NEW YORK, N.Y. – When professor Alison Smith joined Wagner College’s faculty in 1992, much of her teaching relied on what she calls “intensely impressive textbooks.”  That’s changed, thanks in part to media-rich classrooms that feature wireless internet connections, LCD projectors, motorized writing screens, and banks of white boards.

In the course Urbanization, Civilization, and Collapse, a popular learning community for freshmen, professor Smith will project a picture of the lid of a bishop’s burial vault showing not the man in the prime of his life, but as a skeleton ravaged by the Black Death.

She will ask her students why they think the bishop wanted to be portrayed in his final emaciated state.  The image of the sculpture will fuel their imaginations, the discussion, and their learning. “Using images and film,” professor Smith said, “has transformed the way historians think about and teach history.”

To expand these and similar opportunities for Wagner’s 2,000 undergraduates, the Richmond County Savings Foundation has provided the college with a grant of $500,000 over the next two years.  The college will match the funds dollar for dollar creating a $1 million investment in technology-assisted learning.

The grant will fund the creation of 18 media-rich class and seminar rooms, five carts that can move multi-technology capabilities to other classrooms on campus, extend the availability of wireless connections in the Wagner Union where students and staff gather and on Sutter Oval where outdoor classes are frequently held, and provide training for faculty on how to integrate the new technology with their teaching, said Pat Schoknecht, Wagner’s director of information technology and architect of the system.

“In 1998, the Richmond County Savings Foundation assisted Wagner in refurbishing many of its classrooms,” said Richard Guarasci, Wagner’s president. “This new grant is yet another example of the foundation’s inspiring tradition of investing in the institutions that make Staten Island such a special place among the boroughs of New York City.  The foundation’s philanthropic support of community organizations is truly exemplary.”

"The RCSF is proud to make this contribution to Wagner College and to the community that builds upon the foundation's historic commitment to expanding and improving teaching and learning,”  said Michael F. Manzulli, president and CEO of the foundation.  “Wagner College is an integral part of Staten Island and our partnership signifies our commitment to investments in technology to enhance the faculty and student experience and ensure a quality education." 

The additional media-rich classrooms, carts, and related technology facilitate the integration of theory and practice, the hallmark of the college’s signature curriculum, The Wagner Plan for the Practical Liberal Arts.

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For more information, contact John Ross, Office of Communications, Wagner College, ross@rosswrites.com, 718/420-4599, or Laureen A. Henry, Senior Program Officer, RCSF, staff@RCSF.org, 718/568-3516.